Tinahely too strong
Old Leighlin of Carlow await in Leinster IFC decider
TINAHELY ST RYNAGHS (OY) 7-15 0-1
ON Saturday the women of Tinahely and St. Rynaghs (Offaly) took to the field of Tinahely to do battle to try and secure a place in the Leinster LGFA Intermediate final with Tinahely hoping for another chance after falling at the last hurdle in 2019 against Naomh Ciaran.
From the start it was clear that the women from Tinahely were determined to go one better than last year. The first score would come from the boot of Ciara Byrne after some good team work, to direct the ball out to Ciara who rounded her marker to slot the ball over off her right.
It was obvious from the start that Tinahely planned on pushing up on the St. Rynaghs kick out and the Offaly champions were finding it impossible to get the ball out of their half of the field.
A great catch from Jackie Kinch saw her take off on a run straight down the heart of the St. Rynaghs defence and she buried the ball low and hard into the bottom corner.
The hard-working Sarah Byrne was making her presence known as she roamed around the forward line creating space for her full-forward line and some great direct running was opening the St. Rynaghs defence and the in-running wing forward Eimear O’Brien and Emily Mulhall were reaping the rewards of this space as they both slotted over two points in the opening half.
The second major of the half came after a ball won around the centre of the field by Aoife Gorman who laid it off to Jessica Byrne who arrowed a ball straight into Laura Hogan who turned for goal and passed the ball into the path of her partner in crime Ciara Byrne who
made no mistake and slotted it to the back of the net.
Unfortunately for Tinahely, while dominating the ball they weren’t making it stand on the score board with some poor finishing in front of the goal.
The half-time score read Tinahely 2-6, St Rynaghs no score.
Whatever was said to the Tinahely women at half-time they were not going to miss the same chances as they had in the first half and they had a point on the board straight from the throw in.
Jessie Byrne claimed the throw in and ran straight down the heart of the defence, the ever-willing Laura Hogan looped around,
the ball popped out and Laura slotted it over the bar. The umpire had no sooner put the white flag down when the green flag was being risen after a short kick out went directly into the hands of Laura Hogan who popped it over her marker into Ciara Byrne who kicked the ball into an empty net.
This well-oiled Tinahely outfit were not taking their foot off the pedal as they were determined to lay down a marker to their management team that they wanted to be part of the starting lineup come final day.
What was clear to those that were lucky enough to get to the match was the determination from all wearing the white and red of Tinahely, the constant calling to push up, to put them under pressure was clear to all.
The high press was working well as it wasn’t long before the green flag was being raised again. This time it came from the boot of Jessie Byrne after another kick out was turned over.
Sarah Byrne, who had put in a good shift, was to get her name onto the score board after a great high field from Aoife Gorman who laid the ball off to Sarah who put the head down and drove through the heart of the defence and popped it over the bar.
It took until the 15th minute of the second half for St. Rynaghs to registered their first and in fact their only score of the game. A free after some come close play from full-forward Louise Mannion. She stood up and sent the ball between the uprights.
Just as the game was moving towards the second half water break Emily Mulhall pops the ball
over the bar to keep the scoreboard ticking along.
Straight from the water break the hard-working Jessie Byrne fielded the kick out and played the ball into Jade Shannon who was just after coming off the bench and she beat her marker and rattled the back of the net.
As the subs rolled on the level of work rate never dropped and a ball from Ciara Byrne, who was looking to play the ball into her new strike partner Jade Shannon, saw the ball evade everybody and go straight into the back of the net.
As the game was entering the final stages and St. Rynaghs players just awaiting the final whistle, Jade Shannon was determined to put her hand up for a starting position for the next day out as she played a neat one-two with Eimear O’Brien and kicked the ball into an empty net.
Jade would have the umpires reaching for the white flag again as she closed out the scoring with a point.
While this was a well-deserved win, the women of Tinahely will be hoping for much of the same the next day out as they take on Old Leighin of Carlow in the Leinster final at some stage in the future.
Final Score: Tinahely 7-15, St. Rynaghs 0-1.
TINAHELY: Loretta Gilbert; Shannagh Goetelen, Sarah Hogan, Emily Hadden; Aimee Maher, Aine Byrne, Ciara Stokes; Jessie Byrne (1-0), Aine Gorman (0-2); Eimear O’Brien (0-2), Jackie Kinch (1-0), Emily Mulhall (0-3); Ciara Byrne (3-3), L Hogan (0-3), Sarah Byrne (0-1). Subs: Niamh Kenny, Jade Shannon (2-1).
ST RYNAGH: H Cannon; I Butler, S Flannery, A Leonard; R English, E Corcoran, N Finneran; G Dolan, K Flannery; C Queegan, S Glynn, L Sullivan; K Kennedy, L Mannion (0-1), K Grogan.