Littlewoods National Camogie League – Division 2 final
Wexford 3-12 Antrim 0-14
Antrim’s bid for a place in Camogie’s top division came unstuck at Croke Park on Saturday night when they were hit with three early goals by Wexford, in the Division 2 final, the first of those goals coming after just 16 seconds.
Aoife Guiney fired in the Wexford’s goal and while the girls in Saffron were trying to regroup Wexford hit two more through Ciara O’Connor and Leah Walsh to put the Model County girls 3-1 to 0-1 clear. At this stage it looked like Antrim were going to suffer an embarrassing defeat, but to their credit they never gave up the fight and between then and the end they outscored their opponents by two points to finish seven adrift at the end.
After the bad start on the scoreboard the Saffrons were hit with another body blow when corner back Chloe Drain was sent off following a very harsh second yellow card, one of four Antrim players to receive yellows in the opening half. For those of us who watched the Division 1 final between Galway and Cork, which followed the Division 2 decider, we were left wondering if the rules were different for each division, such was the contrast in the handling of both games.
After the early goal Caoimhe Wright got Antrim on the scoreboard with a neat finish, but Wexford came back with two more majors through Ciara O’Connor and Anais Curran. An excellent point from Roisin McCormick settled Antrim and when McCormick broke through on goal minutes later it looked like the Loughgiel star would raise a green flag, but unfortunately the ball flew over the crossbar.
The remainder of the half was evenly matched as Caitrin Dobbin Roisin McCormick and brilliant teenager Aine Magill sent over points in reply to two by Curran and one from O’Connor, which left the Saffrons trailing by 3-6 to 0-6 at half time.
When Wexford started the second half with a point from full forward Guiney you feared that it might be Dejavu, but a brilliant point from Siobhan McKillop lifted Antrim spirits. Player of the match Anias Curran came back with two for Wexford, but Antrim were gaining in confidence and points from Nicole O’Neill and Aine Magill closed the gap. Aoife Guiney and substitute O’Connor responded for Wexford. Caoimhe Wright grabbed her second point of the game on 52 minutes and though Sarah O’Connor replied for the winners, Antrim finished with three unanswered points, two from Roisin McCormick and one from Siobhan McKillop left them seven adrift and rueing that bad start.
SCORERS – Wexford: A Curran 0-5 (0-2f), C O’Connor 1-2 (0-1 45), A Guiney 1-2, L Walsh 1-1, A O’Connor 0-1, S O’Connor 0-1. Antrim: R McCormick 0-6 (0-3f), Á Magill 0-2, C Wright 0-2, S McKillop 0-2, C Dobbin 0-1, N O’Neill 0-1f.
WEXFORD: A Mahon; M Martin, L O’Leary, S Harding Kenny; A Cardiff, S O’Connor, E Walsh; O Sinnott, C O’Connor; A O’Connor, J Quigley, A Curran; M Sinnott, A Guiney, L Walsh.
Subs: J Dillon for Quigley (43), M Byrne for Guiney (45), K Kirwan for L Walsh (49), C Cashe for A O’Connor (56), L Dempsey for Sinnott (59), A Hennessy for Harding Kenny (60), Á Lacey for Martin (60).
ANTRIM: C Graham; C Drain, N Donnelly, M Lynn; C Patterson, C Donlon, L McKenna; L McNaughton, N O’Neill; A Boyle, R McCormick, Á Magill; C Wright, S McKillop, C Dobbin.
Subs: K McKillop for Donnelly (42)
REFEREE: Aaron Hogg (Clare)
