Loughgiel 5-13 Ballycastle 2-08
By Brona McIntyre
A brilliant final quarter saw Loughgiel clinch the Minor A Camogie title in style at Armoy on Sunday as they saw the off the challenge of Ballycastle in a highly skillful game. Ballycastle led at half time after playing with the aid of a strong diagonal breeze, and for a while in the second half they stayed in touch. However as they half progressed they got on top and raced away in the final quarter to add another piece of silverware to the trophy cabinet.
Loughgiel started well with a point through Amy Boyle straight from the throw in, although Enya McShane responded immediately for the Town. But the Shamrocks scored three unanswered through Charley McCarry, Annie Lynn and Carla McCarry all getting one each.
Within the first ten minutes Loughgiel lost one of their strong defenders Aoife O’Mullan who fouled Ballycastle’s Nuala Devlin as she was gunning down on goal, although O’Mullan ended up hurting herself and had to go off and Riana McBride pointed the resultant free. Both sides hit numerous wides in the next period with neither team able to judge the strong diagonal wind when shooting towards the goals. McBride pointed again from the dead ball for Ballycastle to leave the minimum between the teams.
Maeve Kelly won the ball in her own defence and made a great run down the field for Ballycastle right through towards goal before Loughgiel keeper Fionnuala Laverty pulled off a great save to deny Kelly and Amy Boyle was on hand for Loughgiel to clear the ball out of danger.
The good defensive play was short lived though as Ballycastle put on a lot of pressure in the next ten minutes and they were rewarded by scoing 1-2, Fionnuala Kelly with a point, Riana McBride the goal and a fabulous long range point from inside her own half from midfielder Maeve Kelly.
Kelly’s point gave Ballycastle a four point lead with just two minutes of the first half remaining, but Loughgiel hit back with a goal of their own before the break with great team play up the left wing. Ella Sullivan found Annie Lynn who in turn found Charley McCarry who slotted the ball to the back of the net to leave just a point between the sides at half time. Ballycastle 1-6 Loughgiel 1-5
Ballycastle’s Catie McCaughan in action against Loughgiel’s Anna Connolly. Pic by John McIlwaine
Ballycastle came out all guns blazing at the start of the second half and as the created pressure they forced Loughgiel to give away a penalty. Maeve Kelly stepped up to the plate and she gave the Loughgiel defenders no chance as she riffled the ball to the back of the net. We then seen Roisin McCormick come into form for Loughgiel. Trailing by four points she knew they had to do something before the game slipped away. She won the ball in the middle of the park and solo ran towards goal avoiding tackles before she lifted the net to cut the deficit to one once more. Maeve Kelly responded for her team with another fabulous point from out near the sideline, before McCormick ticked another over the Shamrocks.
From this point Loughgiel seemed to take it up a gear and Ballycastle found it hard to deal with the runners. Anna Connolly won the ball at midfield she pushed it deep into the corner for team Kathryn Kelly to battle with Niamh Devlin. Kathryn Kelly won the ball and found Charley McCarry at the edge of the square who made no mistake when raising the green flag.
Loughgiel had a chance for another goal almost immediately had it not been for great defending by Becky Ellis and Fionnuala Toner to deny the Laverty sisters Ciara and Orlagh. Maeve Kelly scored another magnificent point from near the sideline for Ballycastle to keep their scoreboard ticking over but Roisin McCormick hit her third point of the hour in the 39th minute to give Loughgiel a two point lead.
The game was still in the balance with just two points separating the sides, but Roisin McCormick struck a major blow for her team with a brilliant individual goal. McCormick grabbed a Ballycastle puc-out about seventy metres out from goal and soloed through to drive the ball home. Midfielder and captain for the Shamrocks Anna Connolly was going towards the target she got her shot away before being fouled and ended up raising the white flag. Substitute Kathryn Kelly proved her worth as she chased every ball and never let them go easy in doing so she caused Ballycastle keeper Becky Ellis to fumble a ball over the end line giving Loughgiel a 45.
It was the Shamrocks who finished very strong scoring another 1-4 in the final minutes of the game proving to strong for Ballycastle on the day. Stand out performances came from Maeve Kelly, Fionnuala Toner and Meabh O’Neill had a good game on Roisin McCormick particularly in the first half. For the Shamrocks, Amy Boyle, Ciara Laverty, Orlagh Laverty had great games, along with Roisin McCormick, Anna Connolly and Charley McCarry were the stand out performers.