Mercy SS, Ballymahon (Longford) 4-13
St Mary’s High School, Midleton (Cork) 1-9

By Deniese O’Flaherty at St Rynagh’s Bannagher

It was third time lucky for Mercy Ballymahon as Clodagh Lohan’s hat-trick helped them claim the Lidl All-Ireland PPS Senior C title with an emphatic win over St Mary’s, Midleton in Bannagher.

Several members of the team lost the All-Ireland U-16 final back in 2017, while they also missed out on the Leinster senior title last year. They were determined to make 2019 their year and crowned it with a brilliant display in the final.

Westmeath’s Sarah Dillon was immense for the Co. Longford school kicking 1-9 while Longford’s Lohan scored a hat-trick of goals in what was a convincing display.

Mercy took the game to St Mary’s right from the start. Sarah Dillon registered the game’s first point in the third minute. She scored her second minutes later before Zoe Guinane gave the Ballymahon school a three-point lead in the fifth minute.

It was Dillon who set up Clodagh Lohan in the sixth minute to score the game’s first goal. Three minutes later Dillon herself found the back of the net as the Co. Longford school raced into a nine-point lead.

A free from Sarah Leahy was St Mary’s first score on the board and in the 15th minute Mary Leahy raced through to score a goal for the Midleton school. Rachel Leahy then kicked over another point to cut the deficit to four points in the 17th minute as the Cork side settled well.

Clodagh Lohan scored her second and her side’s third goal in the 21st minute with a great finish to the net, while Ciara Healy and Dillon added points to restore Mercy’s nine-point advantage in the 26th minute.

Ali Smith scored a much needed point for St Mary’s in the 30th minute but that was cancelled out by a Dillon point right before half-time.

St Mary’s revived their hopes with early points in the second half, but once again Dillon showed her class with two in reply, while Ciara Healy added another one to maintain their nine-point advantage. At that juncture it was evident that St Mary’s needed goals but the Ballymahon defence stood firm and Midleton could only kick over two points.

In the 47th minute Dillon landed a wonderful score for her side, and Clodagh Dillon was sin binned for Mercy in the 50th minute but it mattered little. And in the 53rd minute Clodagh Lohan wrapped up the game with a neat goal.

St Mary’s misery was compounded in the 56th minute when captain Sarah Leahy was sin binned, and to round off their impressive performance Dillon kicked over two further points while Healy got in on the late action as the Ballymahon school sealed the win in style.

Mercy SS: S Dillon 1-9, C Lohan 3-0, C Healy 0-3 (1f), Z Guinane 0-1.

St Mary’s HS: M Leahy 1-1, S Leahy 0-2 (1f), K O’Farrell 0-1, R Leahy 0-1, R Keane 0-1, A Smith 0-1, A Quirke 0-1, L McAllister 0-1.

Mercy SS: B McDonagh; R O’Kane, S Horan, R Leen; C Mulligan, C Lohan, C Dillon; C McNamara, A McCormack; Z Guinane, C Healy, C Lohan; M O’Kane, S Dillon, R Higgins.

Subs: E Ballesty for Mulligan (27), L Maguire for Higgins (45), M Claffey for Guinane (52), J Moran for C Dillon (60+2), P Carrigy for S Dillon (60+5).

St Mary’s HS: S McCarthy Keane; E Murphy, D Kiniry, S McAllister; A McGrath, B Wall, K O’Farrell; R Leahy, S Leahy; C Walsh, A Healy, R Keane; A Smith, M Leahy, A Quirke.

Subs: L Wallace for McCarthy Keane (12), L McAllister for Smith (35), A O’Driscoll for O’Farrell (54).

Referee: Des McEnery (Westmeath).

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