O’Shea nails winning point

Shauna was the hero for UL

ANNACURRA’S Shauna O’Shea was the shoot-out hero for University of Limerick as they overcame Maynooth University in a thrilling Donaghy Cup final at MTU Cork on Thursday evening.

All square at 1-10 apiece at the end of full-time, the teams headed for two cracking halves of extra-time where Blessington’s Sadhbh Fisher continued her amazing game for the Kildare college, but there would be no separating the sides at the end with the sides tied at 1-14 to 2-11.

And so it was on to 25-metre kicks. Laura Moran was first up for UL and the Mayo woman nailed it. She was followed by Wicklow’s Sadhbh Fisher who split the posts with style to level matters.

Mayo’s Clodagh Keane pulled her effort to the left, but Maynooth missed their next one as well. Cork’s Aideen Goggin stepped up next, but her effort cracked back off the post and AGB’s Annmarie Keegan’s did likewise.

Chloe Flaherty raised a white flag and Heather Bennett hit the mark with her kick to leave things finely balanced.

And then up stepped dual player Shauna O’Shea and she sent her right-footed effort over the black spot.

And then all the pressure fell on Meath’s Ciara Buckey as she looked to keep the Maynooth dream alive, but alas her kick tailed to the left and wide sparking wild celebrations for the Limerick students.

Shauna O’Shea was joined on the UL team by April Harty from Bray Emmets and they came up against several Garden County names on the Maynooth side.

Sadhbh Fisher would be presented with the player of the match award after the game following her superb showing with 10 points to her name (two frees). Her Blessington colleague Becky Doran lined out t full-back and was the

Maynooth captain.

AGB’s Annmarie Keegan had a fine game at midfield while her club colleagues Aoife Mooney and Aine Ni Chonchuir were ready and able on the bench.

Sadhbh Fisher opened the scoring in this exciting game and that was followed by a Rachel Fitzgerald goal to give the Maynooth side the perfect start.

Another Fisher point left five between the sides, but UL stirred from their slumber, bagging the next 1-1 to get themselves right back into the game.

This nip-and-tuck affair ended all square at the end of full-time and nothing could separate them after extra-time, but it was the boot of Annacurra’s Shauna O’Shea that proved the difference.

Elsewhere, there was no joy for Lucy Dunne of St. Patrick’s as she finished up on the losing Maynooth University side in their Giles Cup final against MTU Kerry on a score of 3-7 to 0-10.

The Wicklow footballer did get on the scoresheet with a fine effort in the first half but missed goal chances and a strong MTU Kerry outfit condemned the Kildare college to defeat on the night.