’Mines fail to fire in championship opener

Silvermines 0-5

Cashel King Cormacs 0-17

By Joe Scully in Dolla

A STRONG second half performance by Cashel saw them cruise to a 12-point victory over the home-side at a sun-swept Dolla on Saturday evening.

Leading by just two points at half-time, after a very low scoring first half, which saw just six-scores, and saw defensives very much on top, the away team came out in the second-half and inspired by Anna Fahie, Philly Fogarty and half-time substitute Caoimhe Purdue, put their foot down and pulled away to win quite comfortably in the end to pick up their first win in the championship, following a draw against Thurles Sarsfields in their first outing.

The game was far from a classic, with a number of stoppages throughout the game for injuries, which took from the flow of the game at times, but the effort and commitment from both set of players can’t be questioned. Cashel over the hour were deserved winners, as they had too much fire-power for a Silvermines team, which failed to fire in attack. Cashel gave away very little in defence and were marshalled excellently by Sorcha Ryan and Lily Fahie down the centre. This was Silvermines’ opening game of the championship, and they will know they have a lot of work to do, before meeting Thurles next weekend. For Cashel they will be very happy with their outing as they were the better side throughout the game, and now find themselves in a strong position in the group with two games left.

The game started off slowly, with both sides struggling to find any sort of rhythm in the early stages, and it wasn’t till the ninth minute that the game’s opening score would come when Anna Fahie pointed from play, after a mistake by a Silvermines defender in clearing the ball. Cashel would add to their lead four minutes later with another point from play this time from the stick of Karin Blair. Blair would then add her second and her side’s third in the 19th minute, again from play, as the away side were starting to get on top.

After a brief stoppage in play when two Cashel players went down injured after colliding with each other, Silvermines opened their account, through a Ciara Ryan point from play, but Cashel had the lead back out to three just two minutes later when Fahie hit her second of the game from a free. This would be Cashel’s last score of the half, as ‘Mines came more into the game in the last ten minutes of the half, and had their second score of the game in the first minute of added time, this time through Nicola Butler; again, this score came after another brief stoppage in play. Despite Cashel’s dominance in the first half, they were very lucky to go in at the break ahead, as Silvermines had a great chance for a goal deep into injury time, after a Nicola Butler effort from distance was batted down by the Cashel keeper Aoife O’Brien, and Laura Cunneen was quickest to react but flashed her shot wide with the goal gaping.

This let-off for Cashel seemed to wake them up as they came out at the start of the second half a different outfit, and within 20 seconds had the lead out to three when substitute Caoimhe Purdue showed a great burst of pace to beat her marker before knocking over a wonderful point on the run. The game then turned into the Anna Fahie show as she would knock over the next four points unanswered, the first from a free, and the next three all from play to put her team 0-9 to 0-2 up by the 42nd minute. ‘Mines would reply a few minutes later through an Elaine Murphy free, but Fahie would put over another free soon after to extend the lead again. Ciara Ryan would then reduce the arrears with a point from play. But, Cashel again stepped on the after burners and would hit the nest three points, with a Philly Fogarty effort from play sandwiched in between two Fahie frees. Ellen Cunneen replied with a free for the home-side, which would be their last score of the game, as Cashel would finish strongly, knocking over the final four points, through first Fogarty again, then a Fahie free, which was followed up by an Aine O’Dwyer effort from play. And it was left to Fahie to have the last say with a pointed free.