All Ireland Minor A Shield Antrim v Laois 27th April 2025
Match report and photos from Antrim County PRO Michael Corcoran at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny
Antrim 1-27 Laois 2-09
For the most part of Sunday’s Shield final, the sun shone down on Nowlan Park and particularly on Antrim’s minors. A faultless breeze-assisted second half wore their opponents, Laois, down and pegged Laois’ second half scoring to just five points compared to Antrim’s significant tally of eighteen points. But the game started out with promise for Laois, with two terrific goals, stemming from mistakes in the back line, and four points to walk in only two points behind Antrim at the short whistle. No one could have predicted that Antrim would pull away in the second half with such a display of strength, hunger, tenacity and skill.
The official for the match, Cathal McAllister from Cork, had his ‘steps’ clocked up in what was a lively game, at times end to end. No sooner had McAllister blew at the throw in, than an audacious set play from Antrim’s Eobha McAllister (no relation as the great RTE GAA commentator Míchéal Ó Muircheartaigh would have said) to a running Eva McNeill finding the catch net over Laois’ bar in under ten seconds.
Antrim pressed hard into the southerly breeze as Laois won the toss and elected to play with the elements and points favoured Antrim from Eva McNeill, Kady Mcneill and Eimear McCaughan before Laois replied with a classy point on a shortened stick from an unmarked Lara Culleton, just after teammate Eimear Murphy’s point from a free.
It took only eight minutes before Antrim’s midfielder Eobha McAllister would prove her authority on the sliotar, with a smart hand pass to a running Aimee Ferris. Ferris sailed a high sliotar into the breeze, but it dipped dangerously and caught out Laois’ goalkeeper, Grace Foxe for the game’s first goal. Laois weren’t phased by Antrim’s green flag and demonstrated their abundant skills when Emma Jane Cuddy fought hard for a well won ball and on the turn sailed that over Antrim’s bar to bring scores to Antrim 1-04 Laois 0-03.
Antrim were equally capable of demonstrating pace and scoring as Eobha McAllister crossed a ball into Eimear McCaughan, lifting, turning and losing her marker with some ease for a classy score. Although Laois would raise their first green flag of two inside ten minutes from a super pick pocket by Laois’ Eimear Murphy as Antrim’s Laura Black waited on the sliotar to come back onto her stick, McCaughan would perform a damage limitation exercise with two straight points in rapid succession and a nifty pass from Eva McNeill onto Amy McAlister would find the catch net over the bar and Antrim had neutralised the first green flag.
That situation wouldn’t last, as a Laois long puck out down the stand side would find the competent stick of Eimear Murphy, quickly offering the sliotar to Emma Jane Cuddy and a drifting Lara Culleton from her marker found her shot at Antrim’s net for their second goal of the game.
A loose swing from Antrim’s Eobha McAlister would attract scrutiny from the match official for a yellow card and Laois’ Eimear Murphy wasted no time in dispatching that free over Antrim’s bar. The game would lapse into the scoring doldrums for upwards of ten minutes as both sides blocked, hooked and chased every ball until Aimee Ferris set up Mary McArthur for a simple point on the turn. As the short whistle blew for half time, the sides walked in with the large scoreboard announcing Antrim 1-09 Laois 2-04, just two points the difference.
Antrim’s fortunes were about to take a significant turn for the good in the second half as they worked the sliotar long and deep to take their scores. Laois would float five points over Antrim’s bar during the entire second half and had a goal opportunity, around the forty-five-minute mark that had to be pushed over for a point to salvage something from Laois’ presence in Antrim’s box, compared to Antrim’s haul of eighteen points.
Antrim showed determination, tenacity and accuracy that coalesced into points running up on the Nowlan Park scoreboard, leaving Laois a long way back and as Antrim showed no letup in their pace and energy, Laois would be locked out of a comeback.
With approximately fifteen minutes of normal time left on the clock, both sides brought fresh legs onto the field, Laois rotating three times compared to Antrim’s five.
As the final whistle blew around the hallowed turf of Kilkenny, Antrim finished on what they had come to do, win another minor All Ireland. The Nowlan Park scoreboard registered Antrim 1-27 Laois 2-09.
The Electric Ireland streaming team selected Antrim’s Eva McNeill as player of the match with a magnificent clutch of eight points, five of those from play and an impactful player covering a lot of the field, setting up scores for other players.
Another Antrim player that caught the lens’ around the park worthy of note was Amy McAlister, with a tidy haul of seven points from play, six of those in the second half that turbo charged Antrim’s drive for the line along with Eva McNeill’s second half six points.
This was an impressive show of camogie from both teams, but success came to Antrim on this occasion and deservedly so, given their performance on the day.
Antrim panel and scorers
Orlaith Johnston, Rhianna Black, Eva Lee, Leona Gillan, Maeve Devlin, Casey Crawford, Laura Black 0-01, Eobha McAllister 0-01, Eva McNeill 0-08 (1×45, 2f), Cara Delaney, Aimee Ferris 1-02, Mary McArthur 0-02, Amy McAlister 0-07, Kady McNeill 0-02, Eimear McCaughan 0-04, Laoise Stone, Cara Lynch, Niamh Mullan, Sarah Louise Kearns, Aoife Fitzsimmons, Sarah Flavin, Erinmae Mitchell, Amelie Annett, Órlaith Gould, Mary-Angela Nic Carthaigh, Louise McBride
Substitutions
Aoife Fitzsimmons for Cara Delaney, Amelie Annett for Mary McArthur, Órlaith Gould for Eimear McCaughan, Laoise Stone for Rhianna Black, Sarah Louise Kearns for Leona Gillan
Laois panel and scorers
Grace Foxe, Emer Conroy, Julie Ann Bennett, Chloe Troy, Sive Ó Reilly, Ella Phelan, Katie Lyons, Erin Walsh, Kaylah O Mara, Eimear Murphy 1-05 (4f), Aoife Kirby, Aoibheann Stynes, Lara Culleton 1-01, Emma Jane Cuddy 0-01, Katie Kavanagh 0-02, Amy Daly, Lucy Donoghue, Alison Curran, Niamh O’Shea, Muireann Bennett, Kayleigh Dunne, Ruby Doyle, Aoife Morris, Annie Dunne
Substitutions
Aoibheann Stynes for Kaylah O Mara, Ruby Doyle for Amy Daly, Lucy Donoghue for Lara Culleton, Aoife Morris for Chloe Troy
You can enjoy all the photos from Sunday’s final by following the link here…
https://myalbum.com/album/vG5nSw4K8RtgeK/?invite=6d706349-2f02-4db7-bbb3-df5f0e8e538c