First half goals fire Drom past Annacarty

CAMOGIE: FBD Insurance Senior Championship Semi Final

Drom & Inch 4-9

Éire Óg Annacarty 0-15

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Niamh Treacy (Drom & Inch)

SCORERS - Drom & Inch: Niamh Treacy 2-1, Miriam Campion 1-3; Eimear McGrath 0-4frees; Niamh Ryan 1-0, Aoife McGrath 0-1.

Éire Óg Annacarty: Eva O’Dwyer 0-10 (7 frees, 2 45s), Eibhlis McDonald, Orla O’Brien 0-2 each, Ciannait Walsh 0-1.

An incredible first half attacking display paved the way for Drom & Inch to book their spot in yet another County Senior Camogie final as they got the better of Éire Óg Annacarty in the semi-final at the Camogie grounds, the Ragg, on Saturday.

First half goals from Niamh Treacy (2), Miriam Campion, and Niamh Ryan put Drom in what proved be an unassailable position, as they completely overran the Éire Óg full back line, as the West women simply couldn’t live with the pace and attacking flair of their opponents.

Niamh Treacy in particular had a fantastic game, deployed at full forward for much of the game, her hard running and pace was a big benefit to a Drom & Inch team currently going hard in search of four county titles in a row.

Drom started the match like a team who were looking to lay down the law to their challengers, and they had Niamh Treacy to thank for providing the scoring touch, finishing to the net from close range with just ninety seconds gone.

Indeed, they continued to exploit the weaknesses in the Éire Óg full back line in the next five minutes with an Aoife McGrath point from distance, before a second goal for Drom and Niamh Treacy, who once again took full advantage of space in the full forward line to power through and let fly to score her second.

It was quickly turning into a horror-show for Éire Óg as they had conceded a third goal in the thirteenth minute, this time, Miriam Campion being afforded way too much room to fire home a rasper after good play, and by the time that goal went in, Drom led 3-2 to 0-1.

Eíre Óg were keeping in touch with frees from Eva O’Dwyer but they were being torn apart way too often, looking incredibly open at the back, and despite a good save from Aoife Butler in the 25th minute from a Miriam Campion shot, she couldn’t keep out Niamh Ryan on the rebound, as that goal gave Drom a 4-5 to 0-8 lead at half time.

Annacarty would need a very productive opening to the second half to have any chance at pulling that lead back, and to be fair, they did start well despite an early Eimear McGrath free, scoring the next four points in a row up to the 43rd minute from three Eva O’Dwyer points (2 frees), and a well-taken point from Eibhlis McDonald pulled the game back to a six-point contest.

They did manage to come within five points in the final quarter, but it was never going to be enough for Éire Óg as Drom & Inch copper fastened their win with a brace of frees from Eimear McGrath to take the game away from their opponents as they go one step closer to another county title.

TEAMS - Drom & Inch: Caoimhe Bourke (7); Maureen Ryan (7), Christina Brennan (7), Eimear Cahill (7); Aoife McGrath (8), Mairead Eviston (7), Aine Greed (6); Niamh Long (6), Mary Burke (8); Eimear McGrath (7), Anne Eviston (6), Caroline Shanahan (7); Niamh Treacy (9), Miriam Campion (8), Niamh Ryan (7).

Subs: Katie O’Dwyer (NR) for N Ryan; Michelle Woodlock (NR) for Long; Joanne Ryan (NR) for A Eviston.

Éire Óg Annacarty/Donohill: Aoife Butler (7); Mary O’Dwyer (6), Rosanna O’Donnell (6), Laura Heffernan (6); Shauna Heffernan (7), Karen Fox (7), Orlagh Walsh (7); Ciannait Walsh (8), Elaine Kelly (6); Leah Heffernan (7), Rachel O’Dwyer (7), Orla O’Brien (8); Jean Kelly (6), Eva O’Dwyer (8), Eibhlis McDonald (8).

Sub: Cora Heffernan (NR) for E Kelly.

Referee: Philip Shanahan (Nenagh Éire Óg).