All Ireland Camogie qualifier
St Louis Ballymena v CPC
St Louis Ballymena booked a place in the All Ireland B quarter final when they beat CPC in Tuesday’s qualifying round at Ulster University Coleraine.
In a game which neither side appeared to be too interested in winning in the early stages this built into a highly competitive contest with St Louis good start standing them in good stead in the end as they went through with five points to spare.
The Ballymena school started the stronger and were 0-5 to 0-0 ahead by the sixth minutes with the points coming from Ciara O’Boyle, Anna McKillop (2), Eimear Johnston and Katie Molloy.
CPC’s Elen McIntosh runs at the St Louis defence
It was ten minutes before CPC raised their first flag, a great score from a narrow angle on the left by Eimear McKinley. Two points from Shannagh Heggarty frees cut the gap to two and when Edbha McAlister got the first goal of the game the Ballycastle girls were in front. Heggarty added a third soon after to put her team two clear, but St Louis came back to level with points from Katie Molly and Ciara O’Boyle and a goal from O’Boyle and a point by Molloy had them 1-11 to 1-7 in front at half time.
St Louis got the first two points of the second half but CPC hit back with a point from Shannagh Heggarty and goal from substitute Mary McArthur. Play swung from one end to the other but when Erin Coulter got St Louis second goal they appeared to be safe, but Cross & Passion hit back again and with just five minutes left to play the gap was back to just three. Another Heggarty free left two between the sides but St Louis produced a strong finish to seal the win and now face the winners of this weekend’s Munster B final in the middle of next week.
