Wybrant’s women on a roll after league win
KNOCKANANNA claimed the Senior camogie league on Tuesday night with a dominant display over Glenealy from start to finish in Aughrim.
They took the lead after three minutes through Sinead Byrne and it was a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.
The ladies from Knockananna mounted serious pressure on the Glenealy goal from the off and were nearly rewarded with an early goal after a long ball from Claire Byrne found Margaret Roche.
The ball dropped over her shoulder and her first time effort went agonisingly wide which would have been an excellent goal if it had found the back of the net.
Ciara Byrne added two points, the first of which was assisted by Aine Byrne and the second was from a Glenealy attack overturned underneath the stand.
Laura Manley reduced the gap to two points from a free after April Dickson was fouled and Glenealy almost struck for goal soon after but a rasper from Erynn O’Brien rebounded back off the upright to safety.
Ciara Byrne again found the range with another point on 20 minutes and Manley kept the Glenealy women ticking over with a point from a free shortly after. Knockananna looked the most threatening early on and the Glenealy women could not get to grips with the pace and accuracy of corner-forward Ciara Byrne who scored five of the six first half Knockananna points.
Knockananna’s defence were dealing with everything coming at them with Aine O’Keefe shepherding the full-back line with great command.
The second half started with a flurry of goals in the opening 10 minutes. With less than a minute on the clock, a long ball from Rachel Byrne found its way between Margaret Roche and Jessica Driver and into the back of the net.
Two minutes later, a 45 from Sinead Byrne dropped just short but Sarah Byrne was on hand to finish to the back of the net.
Both players added points shortly after before a fantastic run from Laura Manley along the wing resulted in her squaring the ball to Kasey Doyle who fired home a goal for Glenealy.
Rachel Byrne added a second major for herself shortly after when her attempt at goal could not be kept out by Jessica Driver.
Aine Byrne played a long pass to Emily O’Reilly who found herself one on one with Jessica Driver and she also found the back of the net with 10 minutes on the clock for the second half.
Eireann Moules added a point on the half way mark before Aine Byrne again supplied Sinead Byrne who finished with aplomb despite the best efforts to hook her by Lisa Hogan.
Laura Manley added two points, one from play, to lift Glenealy morale but Ciara Byrne stepped up again to split the posts before a rasper from Elizabeth Fahy crowned a dominant win for Knockananna.
Glenealy: Jessica Driver; Zoe Devlin, Denise Walsh, Aimee Beale; Ailbhe Dowling, Lisa Hogan, Megan Kennedy; Laura Manley (0-4), Niamh O’Brien; Erynn O’Brien, Kasey Doyle (1-0), Aoife Weir; Jade O’Connor, Katie Boucher, April Dickson. Subs: Lottie Cullen for K Boucher, Emma Cruise for J O’Connor.
Knockananna: Macayla Murphy; Edel Byrne, Aine O’Keefe, Sarah Tallon; Claire Byrne, Kellie Byrne, Jessie Byrne; Sinead Byrne (1-0), Aine Byrne; Laura Hogan, Emily O’Reilly (1-0), Sarah Byrne (1-1); Rachel Byrne (2-2), Margaret Roche, Ciara Byrne (0-6). Subs: Emily Hadden for E Byrne, Eireann Moules (0-1) for E O’Reilly, Orla Kealy for C Byrne, Shannagh Goetelen for S Byrne, Hannah Keogh for R Byrne, Elizabeth Fahy (1-0) for M Roche