End of the line for brave Our Lady of Lourdes side
IT was end of the line for Our Lady of Lourdes on Saturday lunchtime last as they lost their All-Ireland Colleges ‘C’ championship semi-final to a classy Cashel Community School side in Leahy Park.
Driven on by their inspirational half-back Caoimhe Perdue, and propped up by their sharpshooter Karin Blair, the host school simply possessed too much firepower for a no-quit OLOL side.
The Rosbercon school have been building an impressive camogie pedigree in recent years and their Leinster title success was another positive step forward. Despite the result, they showed incredible heart in this game, battling right to the final whistle.
They had some superb performances too. Ella Dollard was maybe the star of the first half for Our Lady of Lourdes, her style in possession kept Cashel on their toes and on more than one occasion she won important frees.
Further back Darcy Bolger was strong again at Number 6 but Chloe Mullally shone just as bright beside her with a relentless performance. Another star performer, arguably the best for OLOL was the sensational Marie Claire O’Dwyer.
Her side did trail after three early Cashel points but the Rosbercon team responded with a Kirwan free. After Sarah Delaney hit the net for the hosts, Kate Lyng scored one of the points of the day for her side, soloing thirty metres with possession before flighting over from close to the sideline.
It was 2-3 to 0-2 when Blair netted for Cashel Community School midway through the opening half. But Our Lady of Lourdes battled away and, despite playing against the breeze in the first period, were still in the game at half-time thanks to points from Kirwan and Lyng (2-7 to 0-4).
A positive start to the second stanza was badly needed for the visitors but it was Aoife Linehan who next found the net to help open the Cashel lead to fourteen. Kirwan responded but Perdue, now influentially playing at full-forward, set up Rebecca Farrell to make it 4-9 to 0-5.
Weaker minded teams might have thrown in the towel but Our Lady of Lourdes kept battling away and registered five of the next six scores. The first of them, one of the scores of the game, came when Bolger drove forward from her own ‘65, all the way to the Cashel ‘21 and tapped over and inspiration score.
OLOL kicked on and Kirwan pointed before the excellent Sophie Mullally knocked over two in a row (4-10 to 0-9).
Not to be outdone by her opposite number Perdue soloed through and sent an unstoppable shot to the top corner of Elizabeth Phelan’s net to settle any growing nerves.
OLOL kept battling and Kirwan did collect her fifth point but it wasn’t to be for her side. Despite the loss, Rosbercon will still be thrilled to end their campaign with a Leinster title, their second senior success in three years.
CASHEL: Kate Gayson Molloy; Leonie Farrell, Sorcha Roche, Leah Kavanagh; Meabh Elle Ryan, Caoimhe Perdue (1-1), Grace O’Dwyer; Aine O’Dwyer, Aoibhe Gayson Molloy; Grace Moloney, Karin Blair (1-8), Leah Baskin; Rebecca Farrell (1-0), Sarah Delaney (1-1), Aoife Linehan (1-0).
OUR LADY OF LOURDES: Elizabeth Phelan (Glenmore); Lauren Dollard (Glenmore), Leah Hanrahan (Tullogher-Rosbercon), Siobhan Cummins (Tullogher-Rosbercon); Katie Bookle (Tullogher-Rosbercon), Darcy Bolger (0-1, Graiguenamanagh), Chloe
Mullally (Glenmore); Sarah O’Sullivan (Tullogher-Rosbercon), Aimee Hanrahan (Tullogher-Rosbercon); Kate Lyng (0-2, Tullogher-Rosbercon), Sinead Lanigan (Graiguenamanagh), Marie Claire O’Dwyer (Glenmore); Sophie Mullally (0-2, Glenmore), Annie Kirwan (0-5 frees, Graiguenamanagh), Ella Dollard (Glenmore). Subs. - Ellie Kehoe for C. Mullally, Aoife Cullen for S. Mullally, Erin Foskin for Bookle.