Better late than never as Finuge/St Senans beat Spa

Spa 2-10 Finuge/St. Senans 2-14

IT took the last few minutes in injury time for Finuge/St. Senans to snatch victory from Spa in their home ground.

Finuge/St.Senans were quick to open the score board in the first minute by the talented half forward Niamh Carmody. Shortly followed by another great score from half forward Aoife Behan. Niamh Carmody scored her second from a free with a foul on Aoife Behan.

It took Spa ten minutes to score their first point with a free from Niamh Kearney and she slotted another over the bar in quick succession. The visitors replied with a great score from Behan to claim her second.

Spa settled with a great score from Mairead Bennett created deep within their defence. The teams exchanged scores from Spa’s Loretta Maher and the North Kerry side tapped over another from Aoife Behan and the half back Miriam O’Keeffe going into the first water break with one point between the sides.

The second quarter saw some great football from both sides both desperate to gain and hold possession. Half forward Niamh Carmody played deep to gain possession and got a great score.

O’Keeffe was a constant threat to Spa’s defence and tapped a point over the bar. With Jacqueline Horgan moving to full forward it opened up Spa’s backs to score two points. The home side were not going to quit and came back with a great score from full forward Niamh Kearney. Finuge was rewarded with a ‘45’ after a great save by Spa’s midfielder Cass Buckley to deflect from the goalmouth. It allowed Finuge’s Miriam O’Keeffe to kick it into Jacqueline Horgan to score their first goal.

Spa replied with a great pass from Liadh Tobin to Saoirse Kelly to tap it into the net narrowing the deficit to three points, 1-8 to 1-5, at half time.

Spa started strong in the second half with three great scores from Liadh Tobin (two) and Cassandra Buckley. It was all Spa in the first quarter with most possession in Finuge/St Senans defence. Half forward Niamh Carmody played a stormer and played deep to break down Spa’s attacks to gain possession and yet again start off the visitors scores.

O’Keeffe and Carmody kept the visitors in the game as Spa were causing all sorts of problems for Finuge/St Senans. Spa’s defence were very strong and lead by captain Ciara Moynihan as most of the home sides scores started from her blocking and gaining possession.

Spa’s Niamh Kearney scored a point from free but it was half forward Lynn Jones goal that put them in the lead for the first time during the game. The last fifteen minutes were tense and very tight with both sides playing great football. A foul on Jacqueline Horgan on Spa’s goalmouth resulted in a penalty awarded to them. Niamh Carmody stepped up and blasted it past Caoimhe Claffey to pull away by two.

Spa scored another point from Saoirse Kelly but Finuge/St Senans ran away with victory with two more scores from Miriam O’Keeffe and sub Olivia Stack to win by four.

The Northsiders were served well by Niamh Carmody, Niamh Leen, Aideen Cronin, Jacqueline Horgan and Katelyn Stack.

Spa tried hard with Ciara Moynihan, Mags Cronin, Elisabeth Stack, Aisling Mahony, Lynn Jones and Mairead Bennett.