Clanmaurice make history to claim first club crown for the Kingdom

AIB ALL-IRELAND JUNIOR CAMOGIE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL REPLAY Clanmaurice 3-6 Raharney 0-6

OVER the course of two hours of tough and physical winter hurling, it could be argued that Clanmaurice’s bid to finally put their name on the All-Ireland club camogie roll of honour succeeded for one key reason.

Twice they took control of the contest; there was the first half of the drawn encounter, then the last 20 minutes of play on Sunday. Twice Clanmaurice enjoyed meaningful spells of dominance; in the second half of the draw and again for the first 20 minutes of this encounter.

Out of those four spells in which one side was on top of their opponents, only once did the dominant side make it pay on the scoreboard – and that was in the closing stages of this replay, when Clanmaurice fired an unanswered 2-4 to secure their first ever All-Ireland, and a first club hurling or camogie All-Ireland title for a Kerry club since Ballyduff (representing the county) won senior honours in 1891.

Certainly Raharney will live to regret their inability to build a more substantial lead early in this game, while Clanmaurice will look back at the strength and resolve of their defence as the key reason they kept themselves in touch.

Raharney looked threatening when they tried to run the ball at their direct opponents in the Clanmaurice back division, and their first three scores (all frees) came from this approach. Yet that needs to be mixed up with a good long ball game to be properly successful, and that approach never gained any traction, largely because of the central defensive axis of Liz Houlihan and Sara Murphy, who seemed to clear a world of ball in particular.

Out the field, Mike Enright had his work cut out fighting fires – but bit by bit, the Rubik’s cube started to take shape. Laura Collins moved back into midfield where she proved to be every bit as influential as she was in the draw, when Clanmaurice controlled this sector, while Jackie Horgan got through a lot of work in terms of stopping the Raharney half-backs playing the targeted clearances on which their forward division would thrive.

Enright had changed up his forward line from the side that lined out the previous week, introducing Saidhbhe Horgan and Clodagh Walsh, both substitutes in the drawn game. He spoke of how this was in the interests of defending from the front, but the tactic bore fruit when Horgan fired in 1-1, her goal coming from the rebound after Clodagh Walsh shot for a point and sent the sliothar straight into the upright.

Clanmaurice would have been the happier side at half time, 1-2 to 0-4 in front without playing well, but Raharney kicked off the second half hour with a spell of pressure, albeit one that only yielded one point after six minutes, a neat lift and strike from Andreanna Doyle.

The play continued to be very congested and littered with rucks and mauls, a reflection of the soft, heavily-divoted ground and the cold air. Gradually however, Clanmaurice started to control this battle ground and once Patrice Diggin put them back in front with a ’45, they started to exert huge pressure on the Raharney back line.

Fiona Leavy, Amelia Shaw and Jade McKeogh were all to the fore as Raharney tried to hold their ground and stay in touch, but they weren’t getting support elsewhere as more and more of the play started to unfold at the Raharney end of the field.

Inevitably, that led to scores – and for the second week in a row, it was mercurial corner forward Jessica Fitzell who broke Raharney hearts. It was her sensational solo point that brought this contest to a replay, and here she fired over two more glorious points, either side of a close-range goal that gave the Kerry side real breathing room.

Her goal was a more mundane effort – swept across the goal line after she won a long delivery in behind the full back line and then linked up with Clodagh Walsh in a bid to get a shot away.

With ten minutes to play, Raharney’s All-Ireland dreams were hanging on by a thread. With five to play, they were blown away entirely. Rachel McCarthy delivered the final hammer blow, sprinting nearly half the length of the field with the sliothar on her hurl and then shooting for a point, only to watch her slightly-mishit shot dip at the last minute, and creep into the top corner of the net from nearly 30 metres out.

It wasn’t a dagger to Raharney’s chest – that blow had already been sunk by Fitzell – but it did reduce the closing minutes to nothing more than an exercise in damage limitation. Clanmaurice had already done more than enough, the players knew it and their supporters knew it, and that was reflected in the raucous greetings that heralded every score, every clearance, every pass, every move.

The party was well and truly underway, all that remained was for it to move from North Tipp to North Kerry. CLANMAURICE: Aoife Fitzgerald; Elaine Ryall, Liz Houlihan, Michelle Costello; Niamh Leen, Sara Murphy, Áine O’Connor; Patrice Diggin (0-2, 1f, 1 ‘45), Rachel McCarthy (1-0); Olivia Dineen, Jackie Horgan, Saidhbhe Horgan (1-1); Jessica Fitzell (1-2), Laura Collins (01), Clodagh Walsh Subs: Alanna Maunsell for Walsh, 54, Julianne O’Keeffe for S

Horgan, 57

RAHARNEY: Anna Weir; Teresa Lynch, Jade McKeogh, Meghan Carroll; Amelia Shaw, Fiona Leavy, Andreanna Doyle (0-1); Aoife O’Malley, Laura Doherty; Amée Nea, Pamela Greville (0-5f), Aoife Doherty; Erin Core, Elaine Finn, Hannah Core Subs: Sarah Coleman for Nea, 45, Ellen Shaw for E Core, 57

REFEREE: Paul Ryan (Kildare)