Antrim Camogie League Division 2
Brídíní Óga Glenravel 0-5 Tír Na nÓg 3-9
THREE second half goals from dual star Áine Devlin landed Brídíní Óga with an All-Ireland hang-over in Fr Maginn Park in the opening round of the Antrim Division 1 camogie league.
Tír na nÓg sportingly gave the new All-Ireland champions a guard of honour as they left the changing rooms and then set about taking them back down to earth again.
Points late in the first half from a Devlin free and Niamh Martin had given Tír na nÓg a lead of 0-6 to 0-3. But in truth they deserved to be further ahead as their forward movement and general teamwork on a heavy pitch were more fluent than the home team who couldn’t get going the teamwork that had taken them to the big prize over the winter.
There wasn’t a lot of scoring during the opening half. Áine Devlin and Emily Faloon had two points up before Megan Law scored with Brídíní Óga’s first shot at the target in the 14th minute. Faloon and Devlin (45) moved the score-board to 0-4 to 0-1 only for Caoimhe Duffin and Law to hit a double around the 23rd minute.
Devlin’s first goal came in the opening minute of the second half and she added a second a few minutes later getting a touch on the sliotar to deflect it to the net. Niamh Martin and Cameron McGahey tagged on points before her third goal 15 minutes in. This time she brilliantly caught a high ball and gave Orla Donnelly no chance.
It took 18 minutes before Emily Sharpe found Torie Edgar in the clear for the home side’s first score in a long time and sub Kirsty Laverty added another after Niamh Martin had Randalstown’s last score.
It many ways it was a typical first outing of the season, plenty of handling errors and the heavy pitch making the ball quite dead. But the team that looked the sharper deserved their wide winning margin.
Brídíní Óga : O Donnelly, A Mulholland, Jaime Woulahan, A Donnelly, B Laverty, M Mulholland, C Duffin (0-1), E McAleese, S McDonnell, E McAleenan, M Law (0-2), E Gould, H McCann, V Edgar (0-1), A Millar.
Subs: K Laverty (0-1) for H McCann, S Fyfe for A Millar, C Law for B Laverty, N Donnelly for C Duffin, E Sharpe for E McAleenan, K McDonnell for E Gould.
Tír na nÓg: C Devlin, S Shannon, Caitlin McGahey, K Bonnes, S O’Dolan, S O’Neill, Cameron McGahey (0-1), E McAreavey, B Devlin, E Falloon (0-2), H Crilly, N Martin (0-3), C McStravick, Á Devlin (3-3, 0-2 frees), R Bonnes.
Subs: N McKinley for C McStravick, C Martin for H Crilly, M O’Dolan for E McAreavey, H Crilly for E Falloon.Referee: P McSparran (Cushendun)
