Shinrone 2-10 St Sinchills 2-12
These two teams were meeting in the final having already clashed in the earlier rounds of this year’s Championship with St Sinchills coming out on top on that occasion by two points. Both teams had excellent campaigns with St Sinchills coming through their matches unbeaten and Shinrone had that one defeat as the only blemish on their record. So with that in mind a close encounter was expected and everyone in St Rynagh’s GAA Grounds were treated to an outstanding match on Saturday afternoon as the game unfolded.
When referee Sean Maher threw the ball in both teams displayed some understandable nerves as they tried to gain the upper hand and while it took a while for the first score to come, once it did come the scores flowed. It was Tara Cleary that hit the opening score when she fired the ball to the back of the Shinrone net. Shinrone responded well however with Aisling Ryan replying straight away when she pointed for her team. Nicola Cleary, who had an excellent campaign with the Offaly Under 16 team, followed this up when she converted a free. Not to be outdone, Jane Cleary mirrored this when she converted a St Sinchills free before the teams traded points with Louise O’Brien pointing for Shinrone and Bridin Walsh scoring for Sinchills to leave her team leading by two points at the first half water break.
After the break Sinchills extended their lead with a point from Tara Cleary before Bridin Walsh, who would continue to be a thorn in Shinrone’s side all through the match, hit two points in the space of a minute. The Shirone team fought back well and when Nicola Cleary stood over a free it seemed she had only one thing in her mind when she hit the ball low and hard into the St Sinchills net to the delight of the travelling Shinrone supporters. This helped swing the momentum in Shinrone’s favour and they took full advantage of this with two quick fire points from Louise O’Brien and Katie Maloney and all of a sudden Shinrone were leading by a point when Sean Maher blew for half time and both teams were able to draw breath.
The second half opened with a bang when St Sinchills were awarded a free and maybe the Nicola Cleary free may have been in Bridin Walsh’s thoughts as she stood over the ball. She hit it and the ball flew past Keileigh Brooks into the roof of the Shinrone net. Again the Shinrone girls were unfazed and replied immediately when Nicola Cleary hit over from a free to leave the minimum between the sides. Both teams continued to give their all and it was tit for tat on the scoreboard and this continued when Aoife Greene fired a shot at Keileigh Brooks in the Shinrone goal who did well to deflect the ball over the bar. Greene added to her goal with an outstanding point which she converted from an almost impossible angle. St Sinchills were now the team with the momentum and they extended their lead further with a brace of points from Tara Cleary and a free from Jane Murray and suddenly a 5 point gap had opened up. But the Shinrone girls were not about to give up without a fight and Aislinn Ryan did her bit to stem the Sinchills flow when she hit over and Nicola Cleary followed this with a point from a free before Sean Maher called for the water break.
Once play resumed Bridin Walsh gained possession from a Shinrone puck out and fired the ball back in the direction it came from and over the bar and Tara Cleary extended the Sinchills lead when she also hit over. Shinrone were needing a break and it came their way when a scramble in the Sinchills goalmouth resulted with the ball in the net. Following that Nicola Cleary converted a free and suddenly Sinchills lead was down to the minimum and the atmosphere in the ground was electric with both sets of supporters willing their teams on.
With time running out, Sean Maher was called into action when an incident resulted in Shinrone’s Aoife Liffey being dismissed. To add insult to injury moments later Sinchill’s Sarah Dillon fired over a free in what would be the final score of the game and leave her team the victors by two points.
Afterwards, both Sean O’Meara of O’Meara Sliotars and Robbie Bergin congratulated both teams on an outstanding game of camogie. Sean O’Meara had the difficult task of picking a Player of the Match and he mentioned candidates from both sides before awarding the trophy to St Sinchills Bridin Walsh. Following on, Robbie Bergin presented the new Under 16A cup to the joint St Sinchill’s captains Olivia Dempsey and Ava Brazil.
Teams:
Shinrone: Keileigh Brooks, Sarah Cahill, Aoife Liffey (Captain), Sinead Gleeson, Kate Liffey, Nicola Cleary, Saoirse Liffey, Grace Cleary, Orlaith O’Sullivan, Aleesha Brewer, Aislinn Ryan, Katie Maloney, Sarah Tierney, Louise O’Brien, Fiona Gleeson
Subs: Sophia Hayes, Mary-Kate Cleary, Roisin Brereton, Leah Landy, Ellie Grant
St Sinchills: Aisling Nunan, Danielle Fogarty, Hanna Troy, Huyen Glynn, Lauryn O’Reilly, Molly Kelly, Olivia (Joint Captain), Sarah Corcoran, Sarah Dillon, Aoife Greene, Jane Murray, Bridin Walsh, Jennifer Crilly, Tara Cleary, Ava Brazil (Joint Captain)
Subs: Alannah Kelly, Roisin O’Connor, Orla Hanlon, Anna Mae Clear, Caoimhe O’Toole, Sinead Nunan, Katie McDermot, Kayla Lawlor, Aoife Farrell
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