BANTEER TAKE COUNTY CAMOGIE TITLE
Banteer 2-6 Na Piarsaigh 1-8
THE battle for the Junior A County League between Na Piarsaigh and Banteer went right down to the wire with the game being played on a carpet like surface in Castle Road recently. Both teams gave it there all and as a result kept both supporters on the edge of their seats forthe closing ten minutes of an exciting and hard fought encounter.
It was Banteer who started the stronger and inside three minutes Rosie Twohig laid off a great pass to Karen O Keeffe who slotted over a fine point on the run to open the scoring. Banteer continued to keep the Na Pairsaigh defence under pressure by running at them and returned a second point through Lisa Howard on the ten minute mark. Thirteen minutes in Northsiders failed to clear their lines and adequately and it was Rosie Twohig who struck for the opening goal of the game when her superb shot went low to the left hand side of Amy Lee in the Piarsaigh’s goal.
A minute later and trailing by five points Na Piarsaigh opening their scoring through Trish Coleman point before Vanessa O’Connor just off the bench with her first touch of the action, passed to Orla Connolly who split the posts with a the game and began to settle by racking up three unanswered points through two placed balls from the stick of free taker Leona Crowley and Connolly adding from play. Na Piarsaigh worked hard to close the gap and draw level on the 12 minute before Banteer struck for a brace of points through Aine Cott and Rosie Twohig to leave the half time score Na Piarsaigh 0-5, Banteer 1-4.
The opening quarter of the second half witnessed Banteer do some ferocious defending as Na Piarsaigh surged forward in attack and were eventually rewarded with a hard earned 45 metre free which Crowley made no mistake in pointing. Banteer held on to their tentative one-pint lead as Na Piarsaigh dominated however Eleanor Twohig briefly put two between the sides but this was quickly cancelled out by Crowley with a pointed free on the 43rd minutes.
Banteer once again opened up a two point lead with a fine effort from Cashman who split the post after an Aine Cott pass found her unmarked on the 30 yard line. The Banteer mid field pairing of Gemma Cashman and Shelly Twohig continued to cause problems for the Na Piarsaigh but Na Piarsaigh remained focused and a free from a tight angle taken by Crowley sailed all the way to the roof of the Banteer net to put them ahead for the first time in the game.
However the lead was to be short lived as Banteer struck for a goal of their own through Lynda Dunlea who rattled the back of the Piarsaigh posts.
With Banteer holding on to their precarious two-point lead, deep in injury time Amy Lee came forward from goal to take a free from close in but her drilled effort grazed over the cross bar and as time ran our Banteer held on to win by one 2-6 to 1-8 in a thrilling encounter. HUGE credit must go to trainers Mike Withers and Gabriel Tully for the work they put in with the team through the year as well as selector Imelda Vaughan, Chairman Donncha Foley and Eileen O’Donoghue (first aid) for their commitment.
BANTEER PANEL: Imelda Vaughan, Yvonne Coleman Eimear Murphy Elaine O’Donovan, Olivia Roche, Kate O’Donoghue, Anna Foley, Shelly Twohig, Gemma Cashman. Eleanor Twohig, Aine Cott, Una Twohig, Karen O’Keeffe Rosie Twohig, Lisa Howard, Laura Murphy, Vicky Weathers, Aisling O’Keeffe, Caroline Barry, Lauren McGeogh, Mary Buckley, Grace Lane, Lynda Dunlea, Mairead Weathers, Sarah Reilly.