All Ireland Junior A Camogie semi-final
Brídíní Óga (Antrim) 3-9 Patrickswell (Limerick) 2-3
Brídíní Óga Glenravel qualified for their second All Ireland final in three years when they beat Munster champions Patrickswell of Limerick in Saturday’s semi-final at Abbotstown to set up a meeting with Roscommon’s St Dominic’s in two weeks’ time.
A feature of the Antrim champions run has been their strong starts in most of the games and Saturday was no exception as they dominated from the start and went at half time 2-08 to 0-01 ahead, with the game as good as won. Like in most of the other games the opposition outscored the Glenravel girls in the second period, but on this occasion the Antrim champions fans had no real periods of anxiety to endure as the lead was always safe.
When Patrickswell opened the scoring in the first minute with a Rachael O’Grady point it looked like the Glenravel girls had a mighty task on their hands but incredibly it was to be their only score of the first half as the Antrim champions hit back and were soon on terms and before the clock had reached the ten minute mark Player of the Match Tori Edgar gave them a lead they would not lose when she blasted home a penalty after Molly Woulahan had been hauled down in Patrickswell square.
Edgar’s free taking was again of the top drawer and she found the target with four in a row, three of them from 45s while Kirsty Laverty grabbed one from play to stretch the lead to five on twenty minutes. Things got even better when an attempted short poc-out by the ‘Well goalkeeper Gillane was fumbled and the ever abrasive Molly Woulahan took advantage of the slip to fire home goal number two to stretch her team’s lead to eleven. It was out to thirteen by the time referee Goff sounded the half time whistle as Edgar slotted over another free and Shauna McDonnell popped one over from play on the right wing to help put her team in a really strong position at the interval.
Playing against the breeze in the second half was always going to be more difficult for Brídíní Oga and so it proved and there was some concerns when they failed to add another score during the third quarter. When left-half forward Leah O’Carroll got in for a Patrickswell goal with ten minutes left for play Glenravel reacted well and Edgar put the icing on a great overall display when she added another point from a free before delivering the Munster girl a killer blow by grabbing her second goal of the game as she finished off a great move between Molly Woulahan and the elusive Aimee Traynor with her second goal of the game.
Patrickswell kept battling to the end but it wasn’t to be their day and Brídíní Oga netminder Orlagh Donnelly denied them with a couple of smart saves. To their credit the Limerick side did manage a late goal as the game went into added time but by this stage the plans for a meeting with the Connacht champions in two weeks’ time as the primary concern of the Glenravel fans.
Scorers
Brídíní Óga: T Edgar 2-6 (1-0 pen, 0-5 fs), M Woulahan 1-0, A Traynor, S McDonnell and K Laverty 0-1 each.
Patrickswell: L O’Carroll and S Fitzgerald 1-0 each, R O’Grady 0-3 each
Brídíní Óga: O Donnelly, M Mulholland, J Woulahan, D Scally, E McCann, B Laverty, E Coulter, L Gillan, O Gould, S Fyfe, K Laverty, S McDonnell, A Traynor, T Edgar capt, M Woulahan.
Sub: E McAleenan for M Woulahan (55)
Patrickswell: S Gillane, K O’Donnell, T Kirby, K Dore, M Fitzgerald, Sarah Carey capt., K Fitzgerald, K Feasey, T Dore, R O’Brien, S Fitzgerald, L O’Carroll, R O’Grady, Sophie carey, C Barry
Subs: S O’Grady for Sophie Carey (46), C McCarthy for L O’Carroll and N Ryan for K Dore (both 57)
Referee: C Goff (Dublin)
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