LGFA Minor A Final
St. Ergnat’s 2-11 St. Brigid’s 4-3
St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass completed their clean sweep of chamionships from U14 to Senior level in 2023 with this Minor A victory over St. Brigid’s in a tight final at Colaiste Feirste on Sunday night.
Elated by the success of their senior side in Donaghmoyne, many of the large travelling support made the long journey from Monaghan to Belfast and their Minors didn’t disappoint as they defeated St. Brigid’s in a great final.
The game itself was end to end with St Brigid’s taking the lead early on after a few quick goals gave them a convincing head start.
After those early setbacks, Olivia Marron settled herself between the sticks and her excellent kick out distribution allowed Alica Boyd and Leah Stewart to run riot through the middle.
Katie McCloskey, who was in fine form, finally broke the defence and scored a rocket of a goal to take the pressure off the Moneyglass girls. Jojo Darragh stepped up and kicked three frees to get her team in front after a shaky start.
A tackle from Orlaith McAteer was deemed illegal by the referee and resulted in a ten minute stint in the sin bin for the big full-forward.
But that didn’t deter the girls from Moneyglass as they stuck to their game plan and managed to keep their heads above the water, going in at half time, only one point down, thanks to another Katie McCloskey goal.
The second half kicked off as it got cooler and cooler in the city.
It was almost 9pm and with 30 minutes of football to play, it was anyone’s game.
St Brigid’s were certainly causing problems, as they tackled hard and attacked at speed but it was Moneyglass who stepped it up a gear and frequently added to the scoreboard, with Annie Griffin, Ruby and Alica Boyd all contributing.
Only a handful of hours prior to the minor final, Sarah O’Neill, Leah Stewart, Alica Boyd and Leah Cassidy played huge rules in helping the Moneyglass seniors dethrone the current Ulster Champions, in Donaghmoyne so they would have been forgiven for having tired legs, sore bodies and less than optimum performances.
However, it was quite the opposite. With another six girls on the Senior panel, who also had the long bus journey prior to the final to contend with, there was no evidence of any hardship as they all played their hearts out.
Cara McKeefrey in particular did a tremendous job marking one of St Brides key players.
With only seven minutes left on the clock, Sarah O’Neill found herself in the sin bin after a receiving a yellow card.
In that same period of play, at Brigid’s struck gold with a major as they punished a lapse in concentration in the Moneyglass camp. With just minutes left to play, it was a one point game and the tensions were high.
Moneyglass tagged on one more score to make it a two point game and on that note, the full time whistle blew.
A tremendous day for the Moneyglass minors and heartbreak for a very strong St Brigid’s side.
