LEINSTER SCHOOLS JUNIOR FINALS A step too far for St. Mary’s
CAMOGIE Kilkenny girls in fine form
IT WAS a step too far for St. Mary’s (New Ross) as they went under to a heavy defeat to an excellent Loreto (Kilkenny) outfit in this one-sided Leinster Colleges Junior ‘A’ camogie final at Grantstown on Saturday.
Having put up a spirited challenge through the opening quarter, St. Mary’s were unable to match the all-round strength and skill levels of their opponents.
Once they upped the tempo of their game, the visitors the initiative to serve up some quality camogie as they picked off excellent scores from a variety of angles.
But still the St. Mary’s girls showed great spirit. They battled right through the 60 minutes, even when the game was long gone from them, but they lacked the strength in depth to match their opponents.
Still they had some fine individual displays with Marguerite Furlong, Ciara Walsh, Nora Higgins, Kate Foley, Hannah Dunphy and Oonagh Barden particularly prominent during different stages of the game.
With Hannah (two) and Rachel Kelly sharing the opening three points, the Kilkenny girls led by 0-5 to 0-1 after eleven minutes. Then came St. Mary’s best spell inspired by a Nora Higgins pointed free, which was followed by two further points from Hannah Dunphy and Kate Foley, to leave the minimum separating the sides (0-5 to 0-4) after 20 minutes.
But once Rachel Kelly responded with a fine individual goal, the Loreto girls took the initiative as the same player also found the net two minutes before the break, a score that left her side with a 2-7 to 0-5 interval lead.
On the resumption, Loreto continued to stretch their lead through two Rachel Kelly points, one free and one ‘65, before Hannah Kelly found the net after 38 minutes to leave them with a 3-9 to 0-5 lead.
The Kilkenny girls’ dominance became more pronounced as the half progressed as they added further goals through Elizabeth Kehoe and Rachel Kelly to round off a fine all-round performance, with St. Mary’s solitary second-half point courtesy of a Nora Higgins free at the end of the third quarter.
St. Mary’s: Sophie Roche (Rathnure); Elaine Quigley (Cloughbawn), Amy Cahill (Rathnure), Leanne Rowe (Horeswood); Tara Doyle (Cloughbawn), Marguerite Furlong (Cloughbawn), Oonagh Barden (Cloughbawn); Róisín Parker (Horeswood), Ciara Walsh (St. James’); Niamh O’Shea (Rathgarogue-Cushinstown),Nora Higgins (Rathnure, 0-3 frees), Niamh Kehoe (Cloughbawn); Kate Foley (Horeswood, 0-2), Hannah Dunphy (Mullinavat, 0-1), Eva Mooney (Rathnure). Subs. - Elena Keny (Horeswood) for Kehoe, Aisling Prendergast (St. Fiacre’s) for Mooney, Aine Galavan (The Rower-Inistioge) for Doyle, Katie Lennon (Rathnure) for Barden, Cria Lanigan (The Rower-Inistioge) for Dunphy.
Loreto (Kilkenny): Hannah Brennan; Caoimhe Holland, Clodagh Hanlon, Ciara Mullan; Kate Dempsey, Nicole Carter, Sinéad Keoghan; Ciara O’Keeffe, Ruth Kent (0-2); Hannah Kelly (1-7, 0-2 frees), Steffi Fitzgerald (0-1), Rachel Kelly (3-5, 0-2 ‘65s, 0-1 free); Jane Cass, Tara Walsh (0-2), Rebecca Cuddihy. Subs. - Elizabeth Keher (1-0) for Cuddihy, Eimear Leahy for Holland, Sinéad Bass for J. Cass, Maddy Lawson for Walsh, Olivia Mahoney for Brennan.
Referee: Johnny Murphy (Carlow).