Ulster Junior club final
Eoghan Rua (Derry) 0-12 Loughgiel (Antrim) 0-7
“I WAS worried that the game was going to go to extra-time,” claimed Eoghan Rua captain Éilís McNamee after the Coleraine side became the first club to win the top three club titles in the province on Sunday with a late flurry against Loughgiel.
“Conditions were tough enough through the first half and into the second and Loughgiel really put it up to us. They didn’t let up at all.
“Early in the last quarter we missed a few chances and there was always a worry they could put in a goal and then we would then be on the back foot. But I think we felt, as long as we didn’t go behind, that the midfield and forwards could get it right eventually.
“The backs were sticking tight and making it difficult for Loughgiel and it was a matter of getting a score or two on the board at that stage.”
Those wides came during the last quarter when the match was finely poised at 0-7 each. Then with 57 minutes gone, Gráinne Holmes scored a 45, her first point of the game, and suddenly the team from the Triangle took off to score four more points, two each from Holmes and Irish hockey captain Katie Mullan.
It was a tough game for both teams in challenging conditions and the only score over the first 12 minutes was a pointed free from Orlagh Laverty. Katie McKillop added a second Loughgiel point before Roseanna McAleese opened Coleraine’s account.
Loughgiel went 0-3 to 0-1 up and there was more fluency in their play and less mistakes when scoring opportunities came around.
McKillop tagged on a quite brilliant point from a narrow angle in the 21st minute, but Eoghan Rua finished the half strongly with two scores from Shauna Doherty and a third point from Roseanna McAleese to tie the teams at 0-5 each.
Katie Mullan took a fine point off her left to open the second half and put Coleraine ahead for the first time. Orlagh Laverty and Shauna Doherty swopped scores before Úna McNaughton put Louise McKillop through for an equaliser.
That was how it remained until those late scores from Mullan and Holmes added Eoghan Rua’s name on the list of Ulster Junior winners, as they had done to the Intermediate (2010 and 2011) and the senior (2013) championships earlier in their careers.
Eoghan Rua: G McMullan, K Doherty, M Mooney, A Morrison, S Duggan, M Duffy, E McNamee capt, C McColgan, M Kerr, R McAleese 0-3, K Mullan 0-3, L O’Kane, G Holmes 0-3 (2f), C Holly, S Doherty 0-3
Loughgiel: E Boyle, M Henry, C Higgins, F McVeigh, C Boyle capt, M McGarry, E McGarry, C Dobbin 0-1, Ú McNaughton, L McKillop 0-1, M McKillen, K McKillop 0-2, C Connolly, O Laverty 0-3 (fs), T McKinley.
Subs: C McMullan for T McKinley (28), A McKillop for C McMullan (HT), C McCarry for C Connolly (45).
Referee : Philip McDonnell (Cavan)
