St Pat’s turn on style

Final heartache from last year spurred team on

ST. PATRICK’S SHAMROCK GAELS 6- 8 2- 8

St Patrick’s will be playing Intermediate football in 2017 as they stormed to victory over Shamrock Gaels in the Junior Football Final at Markievicz Park on Saturday afternoon.

Inspired by the impressive Emma Kevany, Martin Giblin’s side put last year’s final defeat behind them, hitting Gaels for 6- 08 to earn Intermediate status for next year.

Gaels were in the lead after 18 minutes by a mere two points, but Pats were here to play and they were ahead by 3- 05 to 2- 03 by the half- time whistle.

The West Sligo side got their scoring up and running early, with the aforementioned Kevany beating Catherine Tuohy in the Gaels goal after two minutes, with Leahy Kelly hitting over seconds later.

Gaels, to their credit, responded well and Simone Kelly hit the back of the net after she was played in by Roisin Kearns, before they almost scored their second goal of the game, only for Kelly’s goal to be disallowed. But they were level soon thanks to Kelly, before her second point of the day was added to by Rachel Boyd to give Gaels the lead.

That lead was short- lived though, as Pats went on the rampage and hit 2- 03 unanswered, with Shaunagh Brady and Brid Leonard scoring past Tuohy in goals. It could have been worse for Gaels but for an excellent and brave block from Aoife Morrisroe which prevented Leonard from getting an opportunity to score her second goal of the afternoon.

Rachel Boyd’s 29th minute goal gave Gaels a glimmer of hope as half- time approached, but Aisling Giblin’s point seconds before half- time ensured that Pats held a five point lead at the break.

Gus Chapman’s side attacked with intent in the second- half, and Louise Merrick and Fiona Baker brought them to within three points of their opponents, but they very well have edged even closer were it not for the number of wides hit at this period of the game. Undeterred, though, Gaels continued to attack and Boyd and Simone Kelly’s points brought them to within a mere point of the West Sligo side, but whatever Gaels could do Pats could do better.

Kevany and Eimear Kelly restored a healthy three point lead for Pats, but Kevany’s 49th minute goal ensured they were comfortable heading into the last ten minutes of play.

Kevany, who took home the player of the match trophy, again burst forward adding a further 1- 01 to her tally for the day, which at this stage stood at 3- 02.

The game was out of Gaels’ hands at this stage, but they did continue to fight, and managed to close off their day’s work with a point from Baker, but their opponents weren’t done yet.

Kelly McMunn, a second- half substitute, scored a wonderful 60th minute goal to round off an excellent day for the West Sligo side whose six goals saw them comfortably overcome Shamrock Gaels, who will certainly be hopeful of going one step forward in 2017.

Shamrock Gaels: Catherine Tuohy, Aoife Morrisroe, Edel Lyons, Roisin Durey ( Eilis O’Connor, 31), Chloe McTiernan, Aisling Boyd, Naomh Quinn, Siobhan Brennan, Roisin Kearns, Rachel Boyd, Simone Kelly, Louise Merrick, Mairead Tuohy ( Erin Mullaney, 46), Sonia McDermott ( Joanne Harrison, 57), Fiona Baker.

St. Patrick’s: Aoife Keane, Claudia Finnerty ( Gina Lynch, 39), Claire Walsh, Cara Avery ( Katie Lang, 51, blood sub), Lynn Kilgallen, Michaela Mahon, Eimear Kearins, Shaunagh Brady, Emma Kevany, Aisling Giblin, Leah Kelly, Tara Marie Gallagher, Aisling Brady, Una Clarke ( Eimear Kelly, 31), Brid Leonard ( Kelly McMunn, 43).

Afterwards, St. Patrick’s manager Martin Giblin felt his side got their rewards for the year’s hard work on Saturday as they earned promotion to the Intermediate Championship. St. Pats were defeated in the junior final last year, and felt that this year they could make matters right again by going one step further.

“The girls have put in an awful lot of hard work. I don’t think we’ve ever had to cancel a training session due to a lack of numbers. We’ve always been able to train. The only thing is the Junior Championship has been drawn out. It’s hard to keep a team motivated. The hunger was in them this year though,” Giblin said following his side’s victory over Shamrock Gaels on Saturday afternoon. “Last year we set the team up and we were blessed and fortunate to get to the final. We lost it on the day, we weren’t as poor on the day as Calry but we weren’t strong enough to go up to intermediate football. We stuck with it this year, as I said we lost players, we gained players. We said we’d go all out this year to get to the final. That’s all I asked of them and we’d take it on the day. We’re here today and we have a win,” he added.

St. Pats won the game 6- 08 to 2- 08, and while Giblin admitted he was worried at times, he felt that once his players settled into the game they were more than able for the challenge of Shamrock Gaels.

“It was tight. A lot tighter than I thought it would have been, and tighter than the scoreline suggests.”