All-Ireland Senior Colleges A Camogie final
The agony and the ecstacy as CPC’s Katie Lavery burries her head in her hands while Loreto players celebrate winning their sixth All Ireland title. Pic by Dylan McIlwaine
Loreto Kilkenny 2-18 Cross and Passion Ballycastle 4-8
(C) Seamus McAleenan reports from Darvar Co. Louth (C)
“That was one of the greatest second half turnarounds that I have ever witnessed. To take a team that was bound to be deflated at half-time and get them to produce that performance, it was superb. Thank God we had enough of a cushion to ride the storm.”
Loreto Kilkenny coach Brendan O’Sullivan couldn’t have summed up better what was a real roller-coaster of a game in Darver GAA Centre in Louth on Saturday.
His team were defending champions in search of a sixth senior title and they opened the Ulster champions with ease in the early stages of this game.
Ballycastle were caught napping with a quick free and Jane Cass nipped in to place Katie Brennan for a 5th minute goal. Three minutes later Brennan set Ruth Kent up for a second goal and a 2-3 to 0-0 lead.
Things got worse for the Ulster team with Loreto seeming to find their team-mates effortlessly and the points flowing; by the 15thminute, the deficit had risen to 2-8 and still Ballycastle had not even made any impact at the other end.
Loreto then hit their first wide, and more wides followed as a combination of poor finishing and a tighter effort from Ballycastle slowed things a little before the break.
Eventually Cross and Passion won a penalty that Róisín McCormick tapped over to get them going. Anna Connolly added another point soon after, those late points resulting in a half-time score of 2-10 to 0-2.
Two of CPC’s four second half goals as Charley McCarry grabes her team’s second (left) while Player of the Match Roisin McCormick hits the fourth. Pics by Dylan McIlwaine
But what a transformation for the second half! A long ball straight from the throw-in wasn’t dealt with properly by the Loreto goal-keeper and Ciara Laverty nipped in to put the sliotar in the net.
And before 85 seconds had been played, Róisín McCormick sped in from the right corner to crash home a second goal.
However Kilkenny managed to get a point or two to relieve the pressure over the next 15 minutes – three frees from Rachel Kelly and one each from Tara Clifford and Ciara O’Keefe kept them going when the momentum was with Ballycastle and the score-line stood at 2-15 to 2-7 with 50 minutes gone.
Then Charley McCarry took a pass from McCormick for a third Ballycastle goal. Loreto came back with points from Caoimhe Dowling and Ruth Kent, before McCormick soloed in for another goal for Ballycastle- and that was followed by a Kirsty McKendry point to cut the gap to three as the game slipped into five minutes of injury-time.
Only a score separated the teams at that point, but Steffi Fitzgerald decided to take matters into her own hands and she had three solo runs in the time remaining. Two resulted in wides, but the third produced the insurance point.
O’Sullivan noted after the game. “We may have fallen apart during that second half, but we didn’t fall asunder – and there is a difference. We were really under the cosh, but still able to get a few scores to relieve the pressure.”
Meanwhile a disappointed Barry Kelly (Ballycastle coach) praised his charges, while ruing what happened in the first 15 minutes.
“They drove through us during that period, seemed to be a stick ahead in everything they were doing. They have serious runners and they really hurt us.
“But we did the same to them in the second half – and that is why the girls can hold their heads high.”
Maeve Kelly sets off on a solo run. Pic by Dylan McIlwaine
The brilliance of Ballycastle during the second half certainly eclipsed the inadequacies of the opening 30 minutes, but it is scant consolation for a team that proved they were as good as their opponents.
Roisin McCormick picked up Player of the Match award. Indeed no-one was off the pace during that second half, but for the full hour Katie Lynn was probably her team’s most consistent performer.
Loreto looked so brilliant during the opening 15-20 minutes in almost every position, but it was the experience and ability of the likes of Steffi Fitzgerald, Tara Clifford and the Kellys that eventually saw them over the line in a game that delivered 32 scores from 14 players, only seven scores from frees, some superb long-range Loreto points, two absolutely brilliant Roisin McCormick goals and one of the greatest comebacks in a final at this level.
Loreto : Hannah Brennan, Issy Caroll, Ciara O’Shea, Nicole Carter, Eimear Leahy, Tara Clifford 0-1, Sinead Keoghasn, Caoimhe Dowling 0-1, Ciara O’Keefe 0-1, Hannah Kelly 0-3, Steffi Fitzgerald 0-4, Rachel Kelly 0-4, 0-3 frees, Jane Cass, Katie Brennan 1-1, Ruth Kent 1-3.
Sub : Eibhlin Phelan for I Caroll (35).
Cross and Passion : Aoife McGowan, Catie McCaughan, Katie Lynn, Aoife O’Mullan, Méabh O’Neill, Catherine McShane, Finvola McVeigh, Bronagh McKeague, Maeve Kelly, Anna Connolly 0-1, Kirsty McKendry 0-1, Dearbhail Magill 0-1, Ciara Laverty 1-0, Roisin McCormick 2-5, (0-4 frees), Charley McCarry 1-0.
Subs: Katie Laverty for C McCaughan (50), Carla McGarry for C Laverty (54)
Referee : Gavin Donegan (Dublin)
Tears for souveniers. Devestated CPC players are consoled by family and friends after their brilliant comeback comes up just short. Pics by Dylan and John McIlwaine
CPC’s Ciara Laverty had to takes some heavy knocks as she got her team’s second half off to a brilliant start with a goal. Pic by Dylan McIlwaine
Pics by Dylan and John McIlwaine