Éire Óg emerge from goal-fest
19 majors bagged in Junior sizzler
ÉIRE ÓG BALTINGLASS 10-5 9-3
THE footballers of Éire Óg and Baltinglass produced a scintillating goal-fest of a championship semi-final in Laragh on Sunday morning that saw 19 green flags raised over the course of the hour.
The result of this game was very much in the balance right up until Eddie Leonard’s final whistle, but it was an energetic Éire Óg side inspired by Meadbh Deeney at midfield and Elaine Fusciardi at full-forward that had that little bit extra to seal their place in the Junior county final where they will meet An Tochar after the Roundwood side dispatched AGB in the other semi-final.
This was a fierce battle from the start with the goals flying in from as erly as 30 seconds when Ella Parke grabbed the first of her five-goal haul after a lovely move.
It didn’t take long for county star Meadbh Deeney to bring her influence to bear on this game and she rattled off a rapid 1-1 (the point from a free) to propel Éire Óg into an early lead.
The sides were tied at the break at 5-2 to 5-2, the goals coming for Baltinglass from Ella Parke and Ciara O’Brien (three) while for the Greystones side it was Megan Healy, Ciara Doyle, and Meadbh Deeney with two, the last an absolute screamer to the top corner that gave Beibhinn Wilkins no hope whatsoever in the Baltinglass goal.
Baltinglass emerged for the second half full of gusto and tried limiting Meadbh Deeney’s impact on the game by assigning the very impressive Kubra Matomni to mark the strong-running midfielder.
Early pressure on Gemma Kiely’s kick-out gave Ella Parke the chance to goal and she did so with aplomb and things looked really positive for Baltinglass as they found the net twice more to leave it 7-3 to 5-3.
But Éire Óg fought back. A goal from Rachel Purcell and a pointed free from Deeney brought them right back into it and then Elaina Fusciardi found her shooting boots and began to wreak havoc around the Baltinglass goal, scoring two majors herself and setting up the majority of the rest.
Baltinglass to their credit battled on bravely and continued picking off goals themselves with Hannah McHugh getting in on the act but the west Wicklow side seemed to run out of fuel as Éire Óg proved stubborn and they held out to progress to the county decider.
Scorers - Éire Óg: Meadhbh Deeney 5-4, Elaina Fusciardi 2-0, Eva Roche 1-0, Ciara Doyle 1-0, Rachel Purcell 1-0, Erin Miley 0-1.
Baltinglass: Ella Parke 5-1, Ciara O’Brien 3-1, Hannah McHugh 1-0, Jorja Malone 0-1.
Gemma Kiely, Wendela Zegers, Ciara Patrick, Orla Doherty; Sinead Kelly, Aoife McTague, Eva Moore; Claudia Randels, Meadbh Deeney; Eva Roche, Rachel Purcell, Erin Wyley; Megan Healy, Elaina Fusciardi, Ciara Doyle.
Beibhinn Wilkins; Teresa Kilcoyne, Molly Kennedy, Niam O’Brien; Louise McGeer, Mary Kate Burke, Emily Hannafin; Kubra Matomni, Megan Keogh; Chloe O’Neill, Katie Edwards, Ella Parke; Katie Murphy, Jorja Malone, Ciara O’Brien. Subs: Kate Brown, Jessie Moore, Catriona Timmins, Hannah McHugh, Leah Sheridan.
Eddie Leonard (St Patrick’s)