Under 14 B championship final

Brídíní Óga 4-6 Gort na Móna 2-6

The Under 14 B championship certainly did not run to league form with both Saturday’s finalists coming from mid-table.

Brídíní Óga and Gort na Móna however reached the decider on merit. The Glenravel girls had taken out Creggan and St Gall’s on successive Saturdays while Gort beat league champions Sarsfield’s in the quarter-final and then followed it up with victory over St Paul’s on the Shaws Road last weekend.

The Belfast side then got the perfect start in the final as well with Niamh Keenan hitting the north Antrim side’s net in the second minute. Gort na Móna remained on the offensive for the first five minutes before Brídíní Óga settled, helped no doubt by a goal from a Georgie Twigg free after seven minutes.

Twigg tapped over two further frees before Grace O’Boyle burst through after 12 minutes. Her shot was saved by Chloe Devlin but Sadhbh McMullan followed through to find the net.

The Glenravel girls were beginning to take control of the game now despite the best efforts of Alexia Largey, Seana Fryers and goal-scorer Keenan who had to come deeper to forage for possession.

Keenan and Twigg swopped points before Sadhbh McMullan forced home her second goal in first half injury time to leave a gap of 3-3 to 1-1 between the teams at the short whistle.

Within 35 seconds of the re-start Niamh Keenan raced through and hit the net for her second strike. She then added a point from play. As with the first half, Brídíní Óga were taking time to settle but with Caela McCann, player of the match Laoise Carey and Cara McFadden working hard at the back, they began to get a foothold in the game once more and a goal from Molly McKernan put them back in charge.

Niamh Keenan was always a threat however and Niamh Higgins needed to be on her toes on two separate occasions to deny the Gort full-forward who eventually closed the gap between the teams with her fifth score – another point.

At the other end Georgie Twigg popped over a 45. Keenan hit back with a point and Carly Muckian had Higgins stretching to deny her a goal as play quickly switched from end to end.

Sadhbh McMullan and Georgie Twigg (free) extended the Glenravel lead before Gort na Móna through Kaila Walsh and Carly Muckian pulled a couple of scores back in added time.

It was an entertaining and hard-fought final with the winners having to really battle to get over the line. Both teams had some fine players, but Glenravel did the damage in the first half hour and their interval lead was just too wide for Gort na Móna to haul in.

Brídíní Óga: Niamh Higgins, Shauna McCann, Caela McCann, Sophia Cotter, Cara McFadden, Laoise Carey, Brónagh McQuillan, Georgie Twigg 1-5 (1-4 fs), Chloe McKay, Katie McCann, Kodi Kerr capt, Grace O’Boyle, Laoise McMullan, Sadhbh McMullan 2-1, Molly McKernan 1-0.

Subs used: Isla Burkett and Lauren Davies.

Gort na Móna: Chloe Devlin, Casey McKeown, Siana Ward, Ruby Kane, Ruby Manning, Alexia Largey, Méabh Maguire, Abby Seana Fryers, Ella Hughes, Kaila Walsh 0-1, Carly Muckian 0-1, Ciara McKenna, Niamh Keenan 2-4, Ciara McConnell.

Subs used: Sophia Tolan, Grace Kearney, Lucy French.

Referee: Shane McDonnell