There was
heartbreak for Gailltir at Ashbourne on Sunday as they went down to Ulster
Champions Eglish from Tyrone in the All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie Club Semi
Final, with just one point separating the sides at the end of the hour.
For the Barony
club it has being a twelve month period to remember.
At the start of
the year (2016), its possibly fair to say that the Barony Club would be down
the pecking order when it came to who would win the Senior Camogie
Championship, behind the likes of Lismore and Saint Anne’s who dominated the
game within the county over the past number of years and even against
Cappoquin, one of the rising clubs within the county, a side that reached the
2016 County Senior League Final against neighbours Lismore.
But it would have
been a foolish person that would have written off the chances of Gailltir.
They have some
experienced players within their set up and also have invested a lot of time
and energy into their underage set up in recent years and it was only a matter
of time before every piece of the jig-saw began to fit into place.
Work for the 2016
season began at the end of 2015 and the Barony Club received a massive boost
when Paul Lyng, a former manager of the Waterford side agreed to come on board
the management team of his home club.
With Paul on board
then the next obvious thing to do was to get his daughter Áine who had played
in two Junior All-Ireland Final’s with Waterford in 2009 and 2010 back into a
sky blue and navy shirt after she returned to live in Ireland after a spell in
the United Kingdom.
At the same time
Jenny O’Grady and Aileen Cummins arrived back in Ireland after spells in
Australia and New Zealand and their return to the game was also a massive boost
for Gailltir as was the fact that many of the players that helped the Barony
Club to win three Féile Titles in a row in recent years were a year older and
were winning a place for themselves in the starting team and not just claiming
a place on the panel.
As the
championship progressed it was no real surprise that Gailltir ended the
dominance of Lismore and Saint Anne’s and won a first Senior County Final for
the first time since 2008, and then for them to go on to capture the Munster
Intermediate Championship in the weeks that followed, beating Cork champions
Blackrock and Tipperary champions Nenagh Éire Óg.
But they knew
going into last Sunday’s game that they face stiff opposition.
Eglish are the
only Senior Club in Tyrone and were therefore champions, and they went on to
beat opposition from Down and Armagh to capture the Ulster Intermediate title.
This was familiar territory
for Eglish as they reached this stage of the competition twelve months ago,
losing out to opposition from Galway on that occasion and they travelled south
on Sunday morning intent on proving that to win a semi-final you first had to
lose one. They showed great hunger on Sunday last to make up for the disappointment
of twelve months ago.
In poor weather
conditions, it was the Northern side that opened the scoring with a point from
Niamh McNulty but her effort was soon cancelled out with an effort from Kate
Lynch.
Maria Haughey
edged the Tyrone side back in front on fourteen minutes after which Gailltir
won two frees which went narrowly wide.
Eglish put
pressure on the Gailltir defence and looked as if they were going to hit the
first goal of the game but Ciara Jackman did brilliant to keep an effort from
Aisling Jordan from reaching the net.
Leanne and Aisling
Donnelly added further scores for the Ulster side and Áine Lyng hit one for
Gailltir as they tuned around at the break trailing 0-4 to 0-2.
Scores in the
second half in the weather conditions were as had won as they were in the first
half.
Gailltir drew
level with points from Kate Lynch and Áine Lyng by the midway point in the
second half, before the Sky Blue’s had a great goal scoring opportunity but
they were pulled for moving into the small square before the sliotar had arrive
inside it.
Co Antrim referee
Owen Elliott award the Ulster side a free out and it was from this free that
the Tyrone side worked the sliotar to the Gailltir net for the games first
green flag, as Leanne Donnelly finished to the net on the third attempt
following two outstanding saves from Ciara Jackman with ten minutes to go.
Had the sliotar
gone into the Eglish net moments earlier, the Barony Girls would have been on a
high and surely would have gone on to win this game. But that is an ‘if’ and
ifs and buts never win games.
The goal failed to
ignite the Eglish forwards. Gailltir refused to throw in the towel and they
were rewarded for their efforts when Kate Lynch picked out Áine Lyng with a
long ball and Áine in turn found Trish Jackman who blasted to the Eglish net to
level matters for the second time in the second half.
But there was to
be no fairy-tale finish for Gailltir as Eglish won a free on the Gailltir ’45 metre
line and when presented with a chance Aisling Jordan made no mistake in
securing the game for her side on a 1-5 to 1-4 score line.
It was a case of
so near for Gailltir. There can be no disputing that after the game they will
have felt down, but they can keep their heads very high. 2016 was a very
successful year for the club, one that they will remember for a long time.
They will learn
from this game and come back a better team when they play in the County League
and Championship, but they will know that they will have to be at their very
best to win honours in 2017, but they will be very confident that this will
happen, and more over now that the team will be hungry to make up for the defeat
to Eglish.
Gailltir: Ciara Jackman;
Áine O’Keeffe, Clara Hogan, Claire Dunne; Aileen Cummins, Sally O’Grady, Jenny
O’Grady; Emma Roche, Áine Lyng; Annie Glavey, Shauna Fitzgerald, Trish Jackman;
Roisin Flood, Eilis Cullinane, Kate Lynch. Subs Used: Emer Walsh for Eilis Cullinane, Aisling Flood for Roisin
Flood, Emily O’Mahony for Jenny O’Grady. Rest
of the Panel: Sinead Cunningham, Fiona Conroy, Hannah Hutchinson, Sarah
Smith, Emma Frampton, Emma Tallon, Shannon Delahunty, Margo Heffernan, Chloe
Murphy, Claire O’Riordan.
Scorers: Trish Jackman
1-0, Áine Lyng, Kate Lynch 0-2 each.
Eglish: Leona Gallagher;
Laura Mason, Kelley Cuddy, Cathy Jordan; Aisling Donnelly, Brenda Horsfield,
Claire Jordan; Shauna Jordan, Ciara McGready; Ciara Donnelly, Maria Haughey,
Niamh McNulty; Aisling Jordan, Meabh McHugh, Leanne Donnelly. Subs: Julie Lagan, Lisa Marie Skeffington,
Amy Barrett, Denise Galvin, Annette Jordan, Áine Donnelly, Siobhan Hughes,
Meabh McGlennan.
Scorers: Leanne Donnelly
1-1, Aisling Jordan 0-2 (2f), Maria Haughey, Niamh McNulty 0-1 each.
Referee: Owen Elliott
(Antrim).