Skryne 2-14 St. Ultans 1-11

Roisin McManus bagged two goals in the second half to power Skryne to their Kepak Intermediate title in the Final in Bective on Saturday. The rain stopped in time for a brilliant game of football worthy of a final in a brilliantly appointed venue.

Things started brightly for St Ultan’s when Emma Kate Ball pointed from play within two minutes of the start. From the kickout, Skryne broke quickly and Ciara Smyth pointed from play also. St Ultan’s struck back with a pointed free from the boot of Rachel Casserly. Casserly followed up with a point from play and St Ultans looked the more comfortable in the game. After a passage of play directed by the St Ultan’s captain Shauna Monaghan, who seems to always have space and time, a quick free was pinged to Katie O’Brien who calmly finished to the net. Amy O’Dowd swung over a superb point for Skryne from play to make it 1-03 to 0-02 after 5 minutes. The fabulous new scoreboard in Bective was kept busy!

Ellie Murphy then landed another point from play for Skryne to keep in touch. St Ultan’s won a penalty when Katie O’Brien was bundled over when clean through on goal and the resultant attempt was well struck by Rachel Casserly but it shot over the crossbar, 1-05 to 0-04.  Skryne were moving the ball well but seemed to overplay at times. St Ultans defended the attacks brilliantly in the first half with notable efforts from their defensive line and in particular captain Shauna Monaghan who seems to be at the end of every ball playing a sweeper role very effectively.

Ciara Smyth started to cause problems for St Ultan’s when she came out looking for ball and got on the end of a fine move to point again on 16 minutes to keep Skryne within striking distance.  Casserly responded with a well taken free and Katie O’Brien was accurate from a free to extend the lead to 5 points, 1-07 to 0-05 on 20 minutes. After a period of attack after attack breaking down, Ellie Murphy stepped up again to keep her teams total ticking over, pointing a free with 5 left in the half. St Ultan’s then had Cara Martin sin binned for an off the ball incident which seemed to put them on the back foot. Amy O’Dowd scored a superb point form play before Katie O’Brien cancelled it out with a similar effort for St Ultan’s. O’Dowd struck again with a point a minute later to end the half.

At the break St Ultans were ahead on the scoreboard but knew they were in for an onslaught in the second period. 

Half time score.  Skryne 0-08, St Ultans 1-08

Within a minute of the restart good play from Elizabeth Morland set Ciara Smyth away and she pointed for Skryne superbly to narrow the deficit. She followed up with another point to put one between the sides. Sustained pressure on the St Ultan’s rearguard yielded results for Skryne when a speculative shot for Roisin McManus dipped under the crossbar and nestled into the back of the net on the 6th minute of the half, putting them in front for the first time in the game. 1-10 to 1-08.

Katie O’Brien responded with a free for St Ultan’s on the 39th minute and they were boosted by the return of the sinbinned Cara Martin. The game ebbed and flowed between both defences until Ellie Murphy pointed another free for Skryne on 15 minutes. Ciara Smyth, who by now was in full flow and virtually unplayable, pointed from play on 19 minutes and Murphy landed another free on 21 minutes putting 4 points between the sides, 1-13 to 1-09. She again pointed a free on 53 minutes and then disaster from St Ultan’s when a point effort for Skryne came off the upright and landed in the arms of Roisin McManus who duly despatched to the net. 2-14 to 1-09 with 3 minutes normal time left.

Both teams made late substitutions but it was clear that St Ultan’s had left too much to do. A superb Rachel Casserly effort dropped over the crossbar and Shauna Monaghan landed another point in open play to finish out their team’s efforts.

When the final whistle blew there was a burst of emotion form the Skryne supporters and team as they finally got over the line.

There was further delight for captain of Skryne, Elizabeth Morland when she was awarded Player of the Match accepting both trophies from Chairperson of Meath Ladies Colm McManus

Skryne Team: Colleen Jordan, Ciara Cowley, Niamh Cowley, Ailish Lenehan, Aisling O’Connor, Elizabeth Morland, Kate Gibbons, Catriona Keogan, Aine Keogh, Fiona O’Rourke, Niamh O’Brien, Ciara Smyth (0-5), Roisin McManus (2-0), Ellie Murphy (0-5, 4f), Amy O’Dowd (0-4)

Subs:  Rachel O’Dowd for Keogh, Ciara Maguire for Murphy, Laura Mangan for O’Rourke, Sara Pentony for Martin

St Ultan’s Team: Nuala O’Brien, Yvonne Barden, Lauren Rennicks, Aisling Kavanagh, Cara Martin, Mary Coyne, Linda Smyth, Trisha Marley, Aisling Marley, Emma Kate Ball (0-1), Shauna Monaghan (0-1), Orlaith Reilly, Rachel Casserly (0-6, 3f, 1p), Katie O’Brien (1-3, 2f), Megan Buchanan

Subs: Zara Farnan for Buchanan, Nikki Ennis for Ball, Leah Codd for Reilly.

Referee: Joe Curran

Linespersons: John Kavanagh, Ian Dowdall

4th Official: Stephen Cregan

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