Gailltir won a first County Senior
Camogie League Title on Saturday evening last when they beat De La Salle at the
Ferrybank G.A.A. Club Grounds.
Both of these sides have made great
strides in the last few years, producing some of the best underage Camogie
Players in the county at this present moment, and it was no real surprise to
see both of these clubs with some of those players already alluded to included
in their match day squad reach this year’s final.
While this proved to be Gailltir’s day, on
another day De La Salle could just as easily came out on top, and possibly
would have in this game but for the form of Ciara Jackman in goal for the
Barony Ladies.
Right now Waterford is blessed to
have a number of top quality goalkeepers when it comes to Camogie across all
grades within the game.
In the senior grade alone, Déise
Manager Donal O’Rourke will have a tough call to make ahead of the championship
to decide who his number one is.
In the eyes of many De La Salle shot
stopper Brianna O’Regan is one of the best goalkeepers not just in Waterford,
but across the who country. But she is being pushed hard for the number one
shirt within the county by Ciara Jackman.
The De La Salle and Gailltir Club
players in the National League and in the Munster Championship shared the
goalkeeping duties and it’s fair to say that neither put a foot wrong in the
games which they played.
It remains to be seen if they will
share the duties in the championship which starts next month or whether one
will become the number one throughout the competition and the other provide
back up.
One thing is for sure that the
Gailltir player in this game did her chances of staking a more regular starting
place in the county team no end of good with a string of top quality saves that
any goalkeeper would be proud off.
This final proved to be an
entertaining one from first whistle to last. Over the course of the hour the
two sides proved to be equally matched in all sections of the field, and in the
end the old adage that goals win games proved to be once more through, as two
first half goals from Annie Fitzgerald one of the rising stars of the game
within the county proved to be the difference between the sides.
It was Gailltir that got off to the
best start in this game. Aoife Fitzgerald opened the scoring for her side when
she converted a free. Róisín Flood followed up with a similar score from play
and when Annie Fitzgerald bellowed the De La Salle net it looked as if this was
going to be a one sided game.
Áine Lyng helped extend her side’s
lead before De La Salle got their first score of the game, a point from play
off the stick of Abby Flynn, another young player to keep an eye on in the
years to come within the game of Camogie.
Beth Carton followed up with a point
from a free for the Gracedieu based outfit and when the same two players in the
same order pointed again there was just two points between the sides and the
game was there for the side which showed the most hunger to win.
Aoife Fitzgerald landed a brace of
points for the eventual winners before Annie Fitzgerald got her second score of
the game to give her side a 1-6 to 0-4 cushion.
Two successful Beth Carton frees
brought the game back to a one score game, but Gailltir would end the half the
stronger of the two sides as Ciara O’Sullivan, Clodagh Carroll and Annie
Fitzgerald all picked off points to put their side six points in front, but
they were not finished yet as the latter player mentioned above finished to the
net for her second goal of the game to give her side a comfortable 2-9 to 0-6
lead at the break.
Gailltir began the second half where
they left off in the first half as Annie Fitzgerald once more found the range
to help extend her sides lead to ten.
But you write off this De La Salle
side at your pearl and they came storming back thanks to three successful frees
off the stick of Beth Carton and Niamh Murphy another inter county player that
has come from the De La Salle stable, got on the score sheet leaving Fitzgerald’s
goals the difference between the sides.
Another Beth Carton free helped to
reduce Gailltir’s lead by one, out points from Annie Fitzgerald, Aoife
Fitzgerald and Kate Lynch quickly followed for Gailltir to once more open up a
handsome lead.
Beth Carton would strike two more
points, one from a free and the other from open play, but time was ticking down
and they were finding it hard to get the goals that they really needed in this
game.
Aoife Fitzgerald had the distension
of hitting both the last as well as the first score in this game, earning her
side a comfortable win.
This as pointed out already was
Gailltir’s day. There can be no disputing that their greater experience at this
level on the day counted as they were able to call on the experience winning
the County Senior Championship and the Munster Intermediate Club Championship in
2016 to get them over the line.
But have no doubt about it. De La
Salle are a coming team and their day will come when they win honours at senior
level within the county and beyond.
This is only their fourth year
playing in the adult grades and in that time they have achieved so much and the
experience in doing so will stand to them going into the future.
One thing is for sure. If we are to
go on the County Senior League this year, in a couple of week’s time when the Club
Championship begins supporters of the game in Camogie are in for something
special.
All
clubs are actively promoting the game and their club on social media, and
hopefully they will be making even more use of this terrific tool to promote
the game and their clubs even more in the future. It would be great to think
that we will get constant feed as to what is happening within the game and the
clubs going forward and that when the club championship comes up, the players
of all clubs are well supported.
Gailltir: Ciara Jackman; Hannah Flynn, Emma Flynn,
Margo Heffernan; Emily Mahony, Kate Lynch, Leah Sheridan; Aine Lyng, Shauna
Fitzgerald; Clodagh Carroll, Eilish Cullinane, Roisin Flood; Annie Fitzgerald,
Aoife Fitzgerald, Ciara O’Sullivan.
Subs: Emma Flynn for Aine O’Keeffe, Emer Walshe for Eilish
Cullinane, Bella Daniels for Leah Sheridan.
Scorers: Annie Fitzgerald 2-04, Aoife Fitzgerald 0-05
(0-3 Frees), Kate Lynch, Aine Lyng (F), Clodagh Carroll, Ciara O Sullivan,
Roisin Flood 0-1 each
De La Salle: Brianna O Regan; Lucy Hogan, Taylor Healy,
Jean Dooley; Niamh Murphy, Colette Hogan, Ciara Twomey; Courtney Healy, Chloe
Dempsey; Megan O’Connor, Beth Carton, Hayley Cox; Majella Tebay, Abby Flynn,
Holly Ryan.
Scorers: Beth Carton 0-10 (9 Frees), Abby Flynn 0-2,
Niamh Murphy 0-1
Referee: Liz Dempsey
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