ALL SAINTS’ DAY!
Pat’s overcome Tinahely to recapture the Minor crown
ST PATRICK’S 2-09 TINAHELY 1-07
ST. Patrick’s of Wicklow town recaptured the Minor Ladies title when they defeated a valiant Tinahely side at Ballymoney on Saturday.
This was a closely-fought contest in which Tinahely made the brighter start.
Síofra Byrne opened the scoring for Tinahely with a point from play in the fourth minute. Eimear O’Brien got a second from a free in the seventh minute.
St. Pat’s Erynn O’Brien struck the upright in the ninth minute and Tinahely breathed a sigh of relief as a goal was averted.
They counter-attacked and struck three consecutive wides from scorable distance in the 12th, 14th and 15th minutes of play. In the 13th minute Pat’s again targeted the Tinahely net but a crucial block by full back Emily Hadden preserved their clean sheet.
Despite some Trojan defending by Sarah Evans, Natasha Fitzgerald and Áine Cahill, Tinahely added two further points in the 16th minute, both from the boot of the hard-working Sarah Byrne.
Sarah’s next effort was just wide of the mark and from the kick-out the Wicklow side won possession and advanced purposefully through the middle via the safe hands of Sinéad McGettigan and on to the ever watchful Saoirse O’Reilly.
Erynn O’Brien finished the move and scored the opening point for her side in the 18th minute of play.
Tinahely’s Sarah Byrne narrowly missed in a further attempt at a point but pressure on the kick out secured possession for Tinahely and the resulting attack led to the hard-working Pat’s defence conceding a free which Eimear O’Brien dispatched over the bar for her team’s fifth point in the 19th minute of play.
St. Patrick’s continued to worry the Tinahely defence and were rewarded for their efforts when Saoirse O’Reilly scored their second point in the 21st minute.
This was followed by a third from the boot of Erynn O’Brien who was proving a real thorn in the side of the Tinahely defence.
At the opposite end Tinahely squandered two further opportunities to extend their lead with two wides in the 26th minute and Emma Katus struck the upright in an attempt at goal that was not far off target.
Their persistence was finally rewarded when Katus rattled the Wicklow net to extend Tinahely’s lead to five points.
Immediately Sinéad McGettigan battled through the tiring Tinahely defence to keep her side in the running with a cracker of a reply as she rattled the net in the 28th minute with a goal that the sporting Tinahely supporters acknowledged as a superb effort.
This spurred on the Wicklow girls and points from Sinéad McGettigan and Niamh McSorley tied matters in injury time, leaving the half-time score 1-5 apiece.
St. Patrick’s made the stronger start in the second half and two early points from Erynn O’Brien settled the team in the second and third minutes of play.
At the other end Tinahely wasted two opportunities to level matters with two clear chances squandered.
Full credit to the Wicklow backline and mid-field pairing of Sinéad McGettigan and Rachel Armstrong who dug in to keep a clean sheet for their defence for a solid 30 minutes, despite Tinahely’s many attempts to break through for that all important score.
St. Patrick’s Sadhbh Murphy replaced Niamh McSorley in the sixth minute of the second half and was quick to settle into the fray scoring a lovely point from play off her left boot in the ninth minute.
It would be another eight minutes before another score was recorded as both back lines were under siege and worked tirelessly to protect their lines.
Naoise O’Reilly replaced the hard working Molly Hodgkinson as St. Patrick’s refreshed their defensive line.
Tinahely’s hopes were dealt a blow when Aisling O’Gorman was yellow-carded in the 13th minute and the girls in red found themselves a player down for ten crucial minutes.
Erynn O’Brien pointed for St. Patrick’s in the 17th minute to extend their lead to four points, Tinahely having failed to score up to this point.
To the credit of the Tinahely defence this was the only score they conceded during the ten minute period that they were a player down.
With the return of Aoife O’Gorman Tinahely spirits lifted again and St. Patrick’s had to dig deep to respond to the onslaught.
Excellent defending by Emily Hadden denied Tinahely a second goal chance in the final quarter and this would prove crucial as the game advanced toward injury time.
Emma Katus and Sara Byrne were involved in adding two further points for Tinahely, one of these in extra time. Zoe Katus replaced the hard-working Aisling Winterbotham, the number 2 having put in a serious shift on behalf of the Tinahely ladies.
At the opposite side another trouper St. Patrick’s no. 6 Áine Cahill, was forced to retire due to injury and was replaced by Siobhán Gorman for the crucial closing minutes.
With two minutes of injury time remaining Tinahely trailed by two points and the girls threw everything they had at the exhausted Wicklow defence.
Consequently they left themselves vulnerable to the breaking ball and St. Patrick’s capitalised on this with the lightning speed of Saoirse O’Reilly and the combined efforts of Emer McNulty and Erynn O’Brien saw the Tinahely net breached for a second time in the sixth minute of injury time and victory sealed for St. Patrick’s on a score line of 2-9 to 1-7.
There were some very strong individual performances on both sides particularly from the back lines and the mid-field pairings. Sinead McGettigan was a crucial leader for the winning side scoring a vital goal when it was most needed.
Emily Hadden, Emma Katus and Eimear O’Brien were very influential players for Tinahely throughout the sixty minutes but with a tally of 1-5 for the day, Erynn O’Brien was the player of the match for St. Patrick’s.
On soft ground the going was extremely tough for all of these young players at the end of a long and busy season for both clubs.
They were a credit to their clubs as both sides battled to the very end in a tough and competitive game.
Tinahely came up short on the day but will no doubt have learned a lot from this and the many other games they have played throughout their busy and successful season with victories at U14, Intermediate and Senior grades.
Many of these young players were involved with several teams throughout those campaigns.
St. Patrick’s victory in the Junior A Championship and now their recapturing of the Minor title will encourage them greatly going forward.
Well done to all concerned for a job well done and an entertaining end to the long awaited Minor Ladies Championship 2017.
ST. PATRICK’S: Zoe Byrne, Sarah Evans, Kellie Phelan, Natasha Fitzgerald, Molly Hodgkinson, Áine Cahill, Lucy Dunne, Rachel Armstrong, Sinéad McGettigan (1-1), Luci Hobbs, Ríoghna McGettigan, Saoirse O’Reilly (0-1), Niamh McSorley, Erynn O’Brien (1-5), Emer McNulty (0-1), Sadhbh Murphy (0-1), Sophie Porter, Siobhan Gorman, Amy Kavanagh, Naoise O’Reilly, Ellen Griffin, Chloe O’Donovan.
TINAHELY: Shona Byrne, Ashling Winterbotham, Emily Hadden, Abby Doyle, Anna Lalor, Shanna Gorteaugh, Amy Maher, Aoife Gorman, Orla Kealy, Dervla Byrne, Emma Katus (1-0), Sarah Byrne (0-3), Alice Mulhall, Eimear O’Brien (0-3), Síofra Byrne (0-1), Anna Doyle, Niamh Byrne, Zoe Katus, Maude Robinson Greene, Leah Geraghty, Jade Shannon, Caoimhe Murphy, Lauren Byrne, Alanna Davison, Niamh Mutton, Heather Tallon, Eimear Mutton.