Northern Property LGFA SFC

St. Joseph’s 2-13 Glenravel 0-5

Pics by Bert Trowlen

St. Joseph’s Glenavy got their Northern Property SFC campaign back on track with a good win over Con Magee’s, Glenravel at St. Paul’s on Sunday to move into second place in the Group.

The Chapel Hill side put Last week’s heavy defeat to Group leaders and reigning champions, St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass behind them with a strong performance against the girls from the 10^th Glen to climb into second place.

They certainly didn’t get it all their own way during a competitive opening half where the Con Magee’s gave as good as they got and it still looked all to play for when they turned around with only three points separating the sides.

After the break it was a different story as Glenavy stepped it up a gear to take control and Glenravel would add only one further point as St. Joseph’s took control.

Glenravel offered stubborn resistance with Caitlin McKeown pulling off a couple of excellent saves but she was finally beaten when Aoibheann Monaghan found the net in the 28^th minute and the same player added a second in injury time.

Ellen Morgan, Natasha O’Neill and Keela McAllister fired St. Joseph’s into a three point lead by the 6^th minute but Glenravel came back strongly with points from Leona Gillan and Niamh McKay to close the gap to the minimum at the end of the opening quarter.

Keela McAllister, Aoibheann Monaghan and Natasha O’Neill moved the Chapel Hill girls four in front by the 22^nd minute and Aimee Traynor for Glenravel and Lydia Grant for St. Joseph’s exchanged further points before (12) replied with the final point of the half for the Con Magee’s to leave it 0-7 to 0-4 at the break

HT 0-7 TO 0-4

After the break St. Joseph’s assumed control as they introduced Anna Mulholland and Anna Rice and the impressive Aoibheann Monaghan hit two early points to extend their lead to five before Aimee Traynor replied with a point for the Con Magee’s in the 11^th minute.

Mulholland announced her arrival with two well taken points before Monaghan put the game to bed when she finally found a way past the impressive Con Magees netminder Caitlin McKeown with two minutes of normal time remaining.

St. Joseph’s finished strongly and Keela McAllister had her goal bound shot superbly pushed over by McKewon at the expense of a point with Anna Rice adding another before Aoibheann Monaghan put the icing on a fine individual performance with her second goal in the 62^nd minute

Glenavy: 16 Orla Mullin, 2 Aideen McCambridge, 3 Meabh Bradley, 4 Geraldine McCann, 5 Bronagh Forester, 6 Cathy Scannell, 7 Aoibhin  Gormley, 8 Natasha O’Neill, 9 Anna McStravick, 10 Lydia Grant, 11 Ellen Morgan, 12 Megan McGarry, 13 Keela McAllister, 14 Aoibheann Monaghan, 15 Mary McStravick.

Subs: Anna Mulholland, Anna Rice

Con Magees, Glenravel

1 – Caitlin McKeown

2 – Anita McKeown

3 – Emer McCann

4 – Clodagh McCann

5 – Sarah Fyfe

6 – Maeve Mulholland

7 – Aisling Donnelly

8 – Caitlin Law

9 – Orlaith Gould

10 – Rosa McCrudden

11 – Leona Gillan

12 – Niamh McKay

13 – Aimee Traynor

14 – Jaime Woulahan

15 – Aisling Mulholland

SUBS

Katie McDonnell

Keira Young

Cliodhna McBride

Eimear Butler

Aoibhinn McKenna

Emily Sharpe

Clodagh McPeake

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LGFA SFC

St. Paul’s 2-7 Glenavy 3-8

St. Joseph’s Glenavy got their Antrim LGFA Senior Championship campaign up and running with an excellent away win over St. Paul’s at Shaw’s Road. A blistering start to both halves proved to be the catalyst for victory for the Chapel Hill side as they raced into a five point lead by the 17^th minute

Facing the breeze for the second half, the question was, would their four point half time lead be enough but again the visitors were quickest out of the start traps with Keela McAlister goaling from the throw in and Megan McGarry adding a second with three minutes gone.

St. Paul’s battled to the end and a goal from the penalty spot from Emile Rodgers put them into contention but the St. Joseph’s defence, superbly marshalled by Cathy Scannell held on for a deserved victory.

Ellen Morgan led the early Glenavy charge with two pointed frees and another from play and further points from Aiobheann Monaghan and Anna Rice had the visitors 0-5 to 0-0 ahead with 17 minutes gone.

St. Paul’s had struggled to find their rhythm but an excellent move from deep in their own half saw Aine Tubrity finish to the net in the 19^th minute and suddenly there was only two between the sides.

Aisling Hyndman followed with a point to close the gap to the minimum with 8 minutes remaining to the break but Ellen Morgan replied from a pointed free before the Chapel Hill side struck with a somewhat fortunate goal When Keela McAlister’s shot took a bad bounce to deceive Shauna Murphy in the home goals.

Ormorla Dahunsi replied with the final point of the half for St. Paul’s to leave her side trailing by four at the break but with the wind on their backs for the second half.

Playing into the breeze in the second half, Glenavy got off to the best possible start with goals from McAlister and Megan McGarry within three minutes to stretch their lead to nine with St. Paul’s response coming from a Niamh Ritchie free.

Aiobheann Monagh stretched that lead to ten and it looked a long way back for the home side but they showed tremendous fighting spirit to slowly close the gap on their visitors.

Emile Rodgers led the way with a point from play, a converted free and when she fired home from the penalty spot in the 13^th minute there was only five between the sides.

Aiobheann Monaghan for St. Joseph’s and Aoife Mervyn for the ‘Hoops’ exchanged further point but despite a concerted effort from the home side, the Glenavy defence closed shop and a late pointed free from Niamh Ritchie was all the home side could manage.

St. Paul’s: 1 Shauna Murphy, 2 Hannah Murray, 3 Gemma McGroarty, 4 Caoimhe Stewart, 5 Saoirse Tennyson, 6 Enya Daye, 7 Aoife Mervyn, 8 Maeve Devlin, 9 Aine Tubridy, 10 Niamh Ritchie, 11 Ormorla Dahunsi, 12 Emile Rogers Duffy, 13 Aisling Hyndman, 14 Emma Kelly, 15 Cara Mervyn.

Subs: Mairead Murray for Saoirse Tennyson

Glenavy: 1 Orlagh Mullin, 2 Aideen McCambridge, 3 Meabh Bradley, 4 Geraldine McCann, 5 Bronagh Forester, 6 Natasha O’Neill, 7 Cathy Scannell, 8 Ana Mulholland, 9 Anna Rice, 10 Anna McStravick, 11 Ellen Morgan, 12 Megan McGarry, 13 Keela McAlister, 14 Aiobheann Monaghan, Mary McStravick

Referee: Ray Matthews (Rossa)

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Ulster LGFA SFC Semi-final

Clann Eireann v Moneyglass

Clann Eirerann Park 2-00pm

Having finally slayed Goliath, St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass hit the road again this Sunday to face what could potentially be another tuff opponent in their own back yard.

Ulster champions, Donnaghmoyne were finally put to the sword by an Orlaith Prenter inspired St. Ergnats last day out and the Antrim champions will take great confidence from that win but they would do well to treat Sunday’s opponents, Clann Eireann with the upmost respect.

Clann Eireann are appearing in their first Ulster semi-final since 2017 and with home advantage they will fancy their chances of causing an upset against a Moneyglass side who reached last year’s decider but lost to the Monaghan champions.

Moneyglass produced what must rate as the greatest result in the club’s history when they travelled to Monaghan and Ulster champions Donaghmoyne and beat the greatest team in Ulster club history in their own back yard to set up a semi-final meeting with Armagh champions Clann Eireann.

Clann Eireann captain, Niamh Henderson believes that the Armagh champions can cause an upset of their own when the Marian Hill girls visits what is likely to be a hostile venue.

“We are focused and ready and have been training really hard. Everyone is fit and ready and we can’t wait for Sunday”

Clann Eireann defeated Cavan champions Drumlane 5-8 to 0-6 in their quarter-final meeting and in Meabh McCambridge they have a formidable forward who hit a first half hat-trick against the Cavan side.

Moneyglass represent a step up in class for the Armagh champions and Charlie O’Kane will have warned his side of any complacency and Orlaith Prenter, Cathy Carey, Maria O’Neill, Niamh McIntosh and Co. should have enough in store to advance to a second successive Ulster final.

As St. Ergnat’s Moneyglass travel to Donaghmoyne this weekend to take on the LGFA Ladies club championship in the first round of Ulster, in what is a repeat of last year’s final, the Saffron Gael speak to one of the rising stars of Moneyglass and Antrim, Maria O’Neill.

Saffron Gael: 

You were awarded the POTM at the senior championship final this year. Congratulations for that and well deserved Maria. You had a fantastic game and what a great season you have had for Moneyglass this year. Tell us about it and what has been the highlight to date?

Maria O’Neill:

It’s been a great season. Coming off of such a successful year last year we knew we had another big year ahead and had goals we needed to achieve to get back into Ulster again this year. Our performance in the league set us up really well coming into championship and gave us a chance to look at some of the younger girls coming through and really start piecing together our starting team. 

My highlight of this year would be winning the championship final against St Paul’s. They gave us a good fight and overall I thought it was the most exciting game we’ve had to date.

S.G.: You have been playing alongside Orlaith Prenter for a number of years now and she has been one of the stars of the Antrim club championship and of course, her performances for Antrim has brought her rave revues. What has it been like playing alongside Orlaith and how has it benefited your own game?

Maria O’Neill: 

It’s been unreal playing alongside Orlaith, she is a great footballer and there is so much you could learn from her. 

We also played school football together in St Mary’s so we are very familiar playing with each other, and can read each-other’s runs and plays.

She really encouraged me to be more confident on the ball and take on scores and it’s just been great playing with her in the forward line.

S.G.: Tell me about the Antrim championship and who you played on the way to the final and the final itself against St. Paul’s?

Maria O’Neill:

Antrim championship was tougher this year than last. With there being 4 teams in the senior championship this year it has got very competitive and all of the games were tough but on the other hand they were great opportunities for us to improve our play.

S.G.: Donaghmoyne have dominated Monaghan and Ulster club football for a number of years. You came close to beating them in last year’s final. You travel to them this weekend. How do you think last year’s game will prepare you for this weekend’s encounter?

Maria O’Neill:

Watching back last year’s game I feel like we didn’t play to our full ability. We made a lot of silly mistakes and since then we’ve straightened them out. Its hard meeting last year’s Ulster winners in the first round of this year’s competition but we are more than up for the challenge and we are definitely more prepared going into this year’s game than last years.

S.G.: How has preparation for Sunday’s meeting with the Ulster champions gone. Tell us about your management and how the knowledge gained from last year’s defeat is likely to have benefited you for this year’s first round meeting?

Maria O’Neill: 

We’ve done a lot of preparation over the last few weeks leading up to this game. With a lot of us re-watching last year’s game and reflecting on what went right and wrong and how to fix those issues. 

Our management has also been working very hard behind the scenes to get us video analysis of different games so we can identify where and what we can improve on and also in order to incorporate strategies into our play to resolve these issues. 

Overall I just feel like we are a lot more prepared going into this game than last year.

The Saffron Gael will be in Donaghmoyne on Sunday to cover the Moneyglass v Donaghmoyne game and we wish the Antrim champions every success and will hopefully be bringing you a great success story on Sunday night.

Antrim LGFA Senior Final at Davitt Park

Moneyglass 3-8 St Paul’s 0-7

Moneyglass won their third Senior Football Championship title in a row at Davitt Park on Sunday when they beat St Paul’s in the final by 3-8 to 0-7. In a hard fought first half the champions did not have things all their way, and it took a Laura Marron goal to help the Marrian Hill girls to a 1-4 to 0-3 half time lead. However a second goal early in the second half put then in control and a third major seven minutes from time wrapped it all up.

Orla Prenter gave Moneyglass an early lead with a point from a free, but St Paul’s came back to level on seven minutes with a point from play by Lara Dahunsi. Cliona Griffin put the champions back ahead when she sent over a point on eight minutes and they struck a significant blow a minute later when Laura Marron found the St Paul’s net.

When Cathy Carey increased the Moneyglass lead with a point in the tenth minute they were five clear but St. Paul’s responded with points from Niamh Ritchie and Emily Rodgers, in reply to one from Orlaith Prenter to leave Moneyglass four clear at the half time whistle.

Bronagh Devlin’s goal soon after the start of the second half pushed the gap out to seven but St Paul’s fought back with points from Emily Rodgers, Niamh Ritchie and substitute Clodagh Mervyn to close to within four by the 39^th minute.

That was as close as they would get however as two points from Orlaith Prenter and a goal from Maria O’Neill all but sealed the win. Emily Rogers pulled one back for St Paul’s but the last score went to the holders when Alicia Boyd sent one over to finish ten points to the good.

MONEYGLASS

Anna McCann, Danielle Duffin, Emma McArreavey, Cara McKeefrey, Niamh McIntosh, Rebecca Bradley, Clionna Griffin, Sarah O’Neill, Cathy Carey, Eleanor Mallon, Bronagh Devlin, Alicia Boyd, Aine Devlin, Orlaith Prenter, Maria O’Neill.

ST PAUL’S

Shauna Murphy, Caoimhe Stewart, Gemma McGroarty, Aoife O’Sullivan, Cliodhna Phillips, Aine Doyle, Ciara Brown, Aine Turbidy, Seana Harley Moyes, Niamh Ritchie, Lara Dahunsi, Aisling Hyndman, Aoife Mervyn, Eimile Rogers Duffy, Stacey McCann

Referee – Ray Matthews (Rossa)