All-Ireland Junior camogie quarter-final

St Killian’s Garron Tower 3-12 Coláiste Mhuire Ennis 6-9

THREE goals from Coláiste Mhuire Ennis in the seven minutes before half-time made the difference as St Killian’s Garron Tower came up just short in their All-Ireland quarter-final in Clontarf yesterday (FRIDAY).

The north Antrim girls, who had not played a competitive game since October, kept pace for the opening 23 minutes, but those goals from Kate Jones, Aimee Colleran and Lauren Cusack gave Ennis a lead of 4-6 to 1-6 at the break and eventually proved the difference in a very competitive championship tie.

Niamh McNeill opened the scoring with a goal for St Killian’s after two minutes and Amy McAlister added a point. However by the time they scored again through player of the match Eva McNeill, Ennis were three points up.

Three points in a row from McNeill levelled the game and they were still tied at 1-5 each before Ennis scored those three goals.

St Killian’s worked hard to close that gap in the third quarter and hit 1-4 without reply to bring it down to a two points’ game at 2-10 to 4-6. Eva McNeill scored the goal while Kady McNeill hit two of the points to bring her total to four.

Ennis hit back however with a second goal from Colleran. Amy McAlister’s goal though made it 3-10 to 5-7 as the game went into the final ten minutes.

A sixth Ennis goal scored by Lauren Cusack seven minutes from time killed off the Ulster side’s challenge, despite excellent performances from the three McNeills, Laura Black and Naoise McDonnell.

St Killian’s: E McNeill (1-5, 0-3 frees), N McNeill (1-2), A McAlister (1-1), K McNeill (0-4)

Coláiste Mhuire: K Hayes (1-7), L Cusack (2-2), A Colleran (2-0), K Jones (1-0)