County Camogie title worth the wait for Moneygall juniors

CAMOGIE: FBD Insurance County Junior ‘A’ Championship Final

Moneygall 4-12

Brian Borus 1-1

Report: Liam Hogan at The Ragg

Player of the Match: Mary Ryan (Moneygall)

SCORERS – Moneygall: Caitlin Treacy 0-6 (5 frees, 1 45); Mairead Teehan 2-0 (1 pen); Niamh Larkin 1-2; Bronagh Kenneally 1-1; Mary Ryan, Lauren Maher, Caitriona Doughan 0-1 each.

Brian Borus: Kacey Meehan 1-0 pen; Caoimhe Ryan 0-1.

A very impressive Moneygall won their first County Junior ‘A’ Camogie Championship title with ease when defeating Brian Borus on Sunday.

Twelve months from their disappointing final defeat at the hands of Boherlahan-Dualla, Moneygall got over the concession of a penalty goal in the fourth minute before taking the game to the team based close to South Tipperary/Cork border involving Skeheenarinky, Ballylooby/Castlegrace and Fr Sheehy’s.

Moneygall got over an early setback to lead 1-7 to 1-0 at half time. Miserable weather of wind and rain threatened to spoil the day but not these Moneygall girls who, despite an increase in the amount of water that fell, completely out-manoeuvred the brave South girls who lost Caoimhe Ryan to a red card in the 40th minute. Moneygall went into another gear when adding 3-3 without response.

County final wins are few but precious in Moneygall and when they won their first it was at Junior ‘B’ in 2001. The club was six years old then and they decided to jump past junior ‘A’ and straight into intermediate level taking part in three county finals in a row before winning the 2005 decider defeating close neighbours Bournea.

Sunday’s win gave Mary Ryan, Brid Ryan, and Julie Kelly their third county medal. All three played in the 2001 success and once again they showed no signs of relenting as the trio played huge parts in the win.

Julie Kelly’s return to six, gave the side a great platform for the victory in the company. Edwina King and Mary Teehan played their part. Brid Ryan was the hard-working leader on the forty while Mary Ryan was my player of the game. Operating at midfield she commanded the sector with aplomb with her hands of magic rarely making a handling error. She scored a point for good measure as did her brilliant midfield partner in Lauren Maher who won the official player of the game. There could be no qualms with that decision either. A great day for Lauren who was out of action for some time last year after falling off a horse.

And if the experienced trio led the way, there could be no complaint about the younger members where the team were outstanding from goalkeeper Monica Kirwan to Bronagh Kenneally at left corner forward. Kenneally was a last minute replacement for Rachel Donovan and she honoured the decision with a goal after half time. The full forward line of Kenneally, Niamh Larkin and Caitriona Doughan scored 2-4 from play with Larkin contributing 1-2 and unlucky not to add another goal in the first half but for goalkeeper Alanna English coming off her line to save.

Spare a thought for Brian Borus. They never gave up with their defence working overtime in keeping the Moneygall attack grounded. They succeeded in the first half where Ava Caplice and Shauna Maher shored up the spine of the defence with Leah Caplice, Helen Burke and Alison O’Mahoney providing cover for a vigilant goalkeeper in Alanna English made a number of good saves.

Helena Walsh tried her best at midfield while Eimear Moyles carried a threat up front until replaced while and Mary Barrett and Kacey Meehan wanted more ball in the full forward line before Meehan (sub goalkeeper on the Tipp minor team 2022) moved outfield in the second half.

Moneygall’s eighteen-point win over Kiladangan in the semi-final made them hot favourites but they received a fright in the opening minutes when Kacey Meehan blasted a penalty home. But as the next five minutes developed it became apparent that Moneygall were going to be the masters, but it took them until the fourteenth minute before sixteen-year-old Caitlin Treacy opened the scoring. Treacy had missed two placed balls prior to then but she recovered very well and finished with six points, all from placed balls, not bad in the day of horrendous weather conditions.

It was the 21st minute before Moneygall took a slender point lead following well-worked team score by Caitriona Doughan. Two Treacy frees followed and in the 29th minute a run by Edwina King opened up the Borus defence and drawing the cover she offloaded to Mairead Teehan who gave English no chance.

It was 1-7 to 1-0 at the break and the second half was a minute old when Caitlin Treacy added a 45. Caoimhe Ryan replied immediately but her day soon came to an end following her receiving a straight red. There could be no complaints.

With the extra pair of hands, Moneygall brazened the very heavy downpour and in the 45th minute Bronagh Kenneally raced in from the right corner to first time low for goal number two. Seconds later Catriona Doughan forced English to make a great save, but Mary Ryan followed up with a point.

Captain Niamh Larkin doubled her tally in the 46th minute and ten minutes later she left her opponent for dead taking flight for thirty metres before winning a penalty after English came off her line to foul the Moneygall captain. Mairead Teehan made no mistake.

Such was the miserable conditions of wind and heavy rain, one could not blame Brian Borus’ for calling it a day but to their credit they continued to fight the fight and held the Moneygall attack to 1-1 over the last ten minutes with their fourth goal coming from the Niamh Larkin following a well-placed pass by Orlaith Cleary.

Over three and a half minutes of additional time was added and when the final whistle sounded the disappointment of losing last year’s final to Boherlahan soon disappeared.

TEAMS - Moneygall: Monica Kirwan (7); Lorna Bergin (7), Stephanie Kenny (7), Shauna Kirwan (7); Mary Teehan (7), Julie Kelly (8), Edwina King (8); Mary Ryan (9), Lauren Maher (8); Mairead Teehan (8), Brid Ryan (8), Caitlin Treacy (8); Caitriona Doughan (7), Niamh Larkin (8), Bronagh Kenneally (8).

Subs: Alice Maher (7) for Bergin (46); Orlaith Treacy (NR) for S Kirwan (56); Orlaith Cleary (NR) for Doughan (56); Rachel Donavon (NR) for Kenneally (58); Orlaith Murray (NR) for Teehan (60+1).

Brian Borus: Alanna English (7); Leah Caplice (7), Ava Caplice (7), Rosaleen O’Gorman (6); Helen Burke (5), Shauna Maher (7), Alison O’Mahoney (7); Helena Walsh (7), Lorraine Burke (6); Caoimhe Ryan 0-1 (6), Eimear Moyles (7), Aisling Ryan (6); Mary Barrett (6), Kacey Meehan 1-0 (pen) (7), Rebecca Burke (6).

Subs: Ciara Hickey (6) for L Burke (40); Lauren O’Brien (6) for R Burke (46); Holly Fox (6) for Barrett (48); Eirinn Brennan (HR) for O’Mahoney (57); Roisin Maher (NR) for Myles (57).

Referee: Kieran Slattery (Knockavilla-Donaskeigh Kickhams)