Kilrush win with late burst
SPECTATORS in Oylegate on Saturday were treated to some injury-time drama as two late goals gifted Kilrush a 4-7 to 3-6 win over Cloughbawn in the Under-14 camogie Premier championship final.
The Castleboro girls were underdogs before proceedings began, but belied that status with an heroic performance. Indeed, they looked set for victory when holding a 3-6 to 2-7 advantage as the stopwatch ticked well into injury-time.
However, Kilrush’s Amy Tobin-Cosgrove chose an ideal moment to grab the game by the scruff of the neck as she powered her way through and confidently flashed low to the net for a 3-7 to 3-6 turnaround.
And Cloughbawn had hardly absorbed that setback when Eimear Byrne nipped in to flick to the net to secure the silverware for the north county side.
Both teams demonstrated their propensity for finding the net in the first-half, when they shared four goals evenly between them as Kilrush held the slight edge by 2-3 to 2-2 at the break.
Hermoine Murphy poached the opening green flag for the victors on seven minutes, and although Rachel Kavanagh struck home the rebound from Abbie Walsh’s saved penalty to make it 2-2 to 0-2 after 22 minutes, two firsttime ground strokes from Faye Codd and Leah Furlong brought Cloughbawn to within touching range by half-time.
And they really staked their claim for honours when a kicked goal from Sinéad Roche was followed by unerring accuracy from joint captain Méabh Wickham who hit three points to transform proceedings.
Cloughbawn duly led by 3-6 to 2-7 with the finish line in sight, only for Kilrush to break their hearts with that late two-goal burst.
Kilrush: Kate Butler; Aoife Kinsella, Edana Mimnagh, Niamh O’Rourke; Zoe Tobin-Cosgrove, Eilish O’Rourke, Emer Fitzgerald; Aoibhe McSweeney (0-1), Emma Tomkins (capt., 0-1); Abbie Walsh (0-4, 3 frees, 1 ’45), Amy Tobin-Cosgrove (1-1), Rachel Kavanagh (1-0); Sadhbh Buttle, Hermoine Murphy (1-0), Eimear Byrne (1-0). Subs. - Rebecca Kavanagh for Buttle, Amy Kehoe for Byrne, also Aine Doran, Chloe Tobin, Lisa Crawte, Cáit Byrne, Karen Tomkins.
Cloughbawn: Isobel English; Caoimhe Curtis, Róisín O’Neill, Siobhán Hudson; Ellen Gill, Elizabeth Dempsey, Lisa Murphy; Ellie Kehoe, Méabh Wickham (joint capt., 0-4, 2 ’45s, 1 free); Rebecca Ogilvie, Faye Codd (joint capt., 1-1), Leah Furlong (1-0); Sinéad Roche (1-0), Caoimhe Larkin (0-1), Katie English. Subs. Aisling Flood, Ellie English, Guevara Hughes, Aine Doyle.
Referee: Joe Kelly (Naomh Eanna).