Tinahely turn on the style
TINAHELY were the better team and fully deserved their win but the margin of victory doesn’t reflect how well Arklow Geraldines Ballymoney played in this match.
For the ten-minute period either side of half-time AGB caused the Tinahely defence all sorts of problems and created a number of chances, they just failed to take them.
They scored 1-02 in that period but kicked five wides.
The Tinahely defence parted like the Red Sea whenever AGB ran at them and the impressive Anne Marie Keegan was usually the player running through it, her speed and strength a lethal combination. Even when Tinahely took remedial action and placed county corner-back Emily Mulhall on her Keegan still had the upper hand. She’s one to watch.
Alongside Keegan, the diminutive Grace Hurley jinked her way past any tackler while a few other teammates did well at times.
Their play didn’t deserve a 27-point loss, they kicked 11 wides, forced Tinahely goalkeeper Shauna Bermingham into three excellent saves and two of their shots crashed off the upright. A final tally of 3-10 or thereabouts would be a better reflection of AGB’s performance.
Tinahely will be happy to take another step on the rung towards a county championship with room for improvement.
Their defence ought to be a concern, though the return of county captain Sarah Hogan will help remedy that, and they only finally shrugged AGB off in the final quarter.
They started well with 3-05 on the board by the 20th minute and pulled away with 2-09 in the final quarter, AGB’s good play limited them to 2-01 in the middle third of the game.
Sarah Byrne finished the game with a nice haul of 3-02 and she started the scoring for her team with a shot that crept over the bar. Rachel Byrne added the second following a mistake in the Arklow midfield and then Ciara Byrne struck the game’s first goal when she was left unmarked.
Grace Hurley got AGB’s first point in the seventh minute and almost got a goal moments later, she glided past Aine Byrne and flashed a shot inches wide.
Sarah Byrne didn’t have such problems for her first goal and it was 2-02 to a point by the tenth minute.
Ciara Byrne and Jackie Kinch, a beauty off her left, kicked the next two points before Sarah Byrne was fouled for a penalty.
Kinch expertly dispatched the penalty into the top corner. Indeed, Tinahely’s finishing was sublime and Linda Dempsey had little to no chance of stopping some of the rockets into a corner of her goal.
Jessie McElheron and Ciara Byrne traded points to make it 3-05 to two points by the 20th minute when AGB took over as the dominant team.
Emma Furlong made a couple of good runs through the Tinahely defence but her shots went wide.
Eve Rogers did something similar before Aine O’Reilly forced Shauna Bermingham into a finger tips save.
From the 45 Anne Marie Keegan waltzed through the defence and slotted the ball home to the net.
That jolted Tinahely into action and some lovely play between Loretta Gilbert and Rachel Byrne presented Sarah Byrne with her second goal chance which she duly took.
AGB finished the half well though and Keegan and McElheron kicked two late points to make it 4-05 to 1-4 at half time.
AGB started the second half even better, Keegan ran straight through the Tinahely defence from the throw in, Roisin O’Reilly had a shot, Keelin Stafford made another searing past the Tinahely rearguard. Their only problem – each shot went wide and any hope of salvaging a result or a lower margin of defeat never materialised.
Tinahely were much more clinical in front of goal and the final quarter was merely a matter of keeping the scores totted up, such was their frequency of points. At one stage they kicked 1-03 in four minutes.
They look unbeatable, Arklow look like they’ll cause other teams lots of problems.
Scorers – Tinahely: Sarah Byrne 3-02; Ciara Byrne 1-03; Jackie Kinch (1-00 pen) 1-02; Rachel Byrne 0-04; Aoife O’Gorman, Loretta Gilbert 1-00 each; Laura Hogan (1f) 0-03.
AGB: Anne Marie Keegan 1-01; Jessie McElheron (1f) 0-02; Grace Hurley, Katie Hurley 0-01 each. TINAHELY: Shauna Bermingham; Ciara Stokes, Aine Byrne, Emily Hadden; Niamh Kenny, Jessie Byrne, Aimee Maher; Aoife O’Gorman, Jackie Kinch; Emily Mulhall, Sarah Byrne, Ciara Byrne; Rachel Byrne, Loretta Gilbert, Laura Hogan. Sub: Sinead Byrne for Jessie Byrne (53 mins). AGB: Linda Dempsey; Doireann Kavanagh, Rachael Byrne, Caoilfhionn Kavanagh; Keelin Stafford, Emer Kelly, Emma Furlong; Ella Byrne, Sue Tyrrell; Aine O’Reilly, Anne Marie Keegan, Eve Rogers; Jessie McElheron, Grace Hurley, Roisin O’Reilly. Sub: Katie Hurley for Emma Furlong (24 mins, inj.) REFEREE: Declan Peppard