FBD Insurance Senior Camogie Championship

Annacarty’s 3-goal first half blitz stuns Clonoulty!

Annacarty 3-13  Clonoulty Rossmore 1-14   Senior Round 3

Saturday afternoon at 4pm we saw neighbours Annacarty and Clonoulty fight it out in the west for a win in the third round of group 2. Both teams had wins in round two and both teams had lost in round one so a win in Annacarty village was crucial for both. Annacarty had a comprehensive win over a young Toomevara team while Clonoulty had overcome newcomers Sarsfields narrowly after a hard fought battle.

Annacarty set the tone from the throw in as they brought intensity and workrate in abundance. Annacartys stalwart Siobhan O'Neill settled the home team with a point after one minute. Gemma Fox playing in midfield echoed that with a long range free from midfield. Clonoulty won a free after four minutes but Cait DeVan uncharacteristically struck it wide, which Annacarthy relished and pounced on the puckout which led Jean Kelly to put an attack in play and win a free. Siobhan O'Neill again made no mistake and struck the ball over the black spot.

Annacarty’s full forward line were full of pace in the opening five minutes and exposed the Clonoulty full backline as Jean Kelly broke through for a point from play which seemed to really lift the Eire Og women. It took 7 minutes for Clonoulty to get a score on the board which came from a placed ball for Cait Devane. Cora Hennessy is back this year for Clonoulty and it was clear why her presence on the field was welcomed by her club as she fed the perfect pass to Cait from midfield which Cait then converted.

Annacarty looked threatening in the forwards and it was inter county player Eibhlis McDonald that broke through and rattled the back of the Clonoulty net. Annacarty won the following puck out from Therese White and looked dangerous in attack but the shot was deflected for a 45 which Siobhan O'Neill once again converted. Devane pointed a free before the first waterbreak to keep Clonoulty within reach at 1:6 to 0:3.

Clonoulty needed to come into the second quarter with a lift in intensity but a wide from Devane followed swiftly by a super goal from mid-fielder Gemma Fox for the home team made their efforts more laboured. The Clonoulty backs felt the pressure of the quick moving Annacarty forwards and they were forced to foul inside the box which led to an Annacarty penalty which Siobhan O'Neill chose to slot over the bar.

Annacarty’s full backline of Sarah Burke, Rosanna O'Donnell and Ellen Gantley didn't give the Clonoulty full forward line an inch of space and Clonoulty relied heavily on Cait Devane to convert frees and take any chance she got through play

Credit to Annacarty in the first half from their full back line to their full forward they played as a unit which resulted in a third goal from corner forward Eva O'Dwyer. Half time saw Annacarty with a lead of 3:7 to 0;8.

Clonoulty came out in the second half with a mission and looked to leaders Courtney Ryan, Cora Hennessy and Cait Devane as they outscored Eire Og 6 points to 2 in the third quarter but Annacarthy had built a comfortable lead in the first half which made the job difficult for the visitors.

The talking point of the final quarter was a Clonoulty penalty which Cait then converted and gave Clonoulty their much needed goal. Annacarty held out for a well deserved win on a scoreline of 3:13 to 1:14.

The result leaves group 2 in an interesting position for the final two rounds. Annacarty have two wins and a loss following their first round defeat to Sarsfields and Clonoulty have now suffered two losses and a win. Sarsfields had a bye this weekend and have a loss and a win but face Toome next weekend who have yet to win a match. 2020 County Champions Drom have yet to be defeated and are currently at the top of the group with two comprehensive wins over both Toome and Clonoulty. Not much is certain, but what is, is this years FBD Senior Camogie Championship is going to be a cracker!!

Drom-Inch 3-28  Toomevara 0-3

In a one sided affair in the Ragg on Saturday Drom-Inch were much too strong for a disappointing Toomevara side. Drom-Inch forwards were on fire in the opening quarter amassing 11 points, 9 from play and 2 from Eimear McGrath frees. In the same period Toomevara could only manage a pointed free on the 10^th minute from Gemma McCarthy. Unfortunately for a young and inexperienced Toomevara team things didn’t get any better with 2 more pointed frees from McCarthy leaving their half time and full time tally to 3 points and no score from play. It was a much different game compared to when these sides met in the quarter final last year. That day Drom-Inch had to realy earn every score while Toomevara should great heart and determination. Whether it was memories of this from last year or the fact that many of the Drom-Inch forwards didn’t get on the scoresheet in their opening game against Clonoulty the 6 forwards were in lethal form from the throw in causing all sorts of havoc in the Toome defence. Their movement, sharpness and ruthlessness in front of the goals meant 5 of the starting forwards had scored by the waterbreak and all 6 had scored a total of 2-14 by half time (2-11 from play). Michelle Woodlock and Joanne Ryan showed no signs of a lack of hunger in the opening half scoring 1-2 apiece despite winning their first senior county title 18 years ago back in 2003.  Dee Dunne also had her scoring boots on with 4 well taken points by the half time interval. At the break the scoreline read  2-14 to 0-3.

Unfortunately for Toomevara with all of Drom-Inch’s subs eligible to play junior championship next weekend the 2020 county champions didn’t make any changes to their line-up and continued to dominate proceedings. Mary Burke and Niamh Long were excellent together at midfield with Niamh Treacy and Maurean Ryan dominant at wing back and full-back. Despite conceding a third goal to Dee Dunne in the second half Sarah McCarthy did very well in the Toomevara goals in for the injured Paula Ryan. She couldn’t have done anything about the 3 well taken goals scored by Drom-Inch but did pull off a number of good saves and her ball handling was excellent. Mags Quigley worked hard in defence while Shauna Quirke made a number of runs from midfield they lacked the strength in depth to trouble Drom-Inch. A young side anyway in transistion, Toomevara were down a number of players through injury which made their task impossible on Saturday. While everyone present were praising the scoring of the Drom-Inch forwards in the opening half they were guilty of some very wayward shooting in the second half and clocked up a big wide count also. In the end it was job done for Pat Ryan’s side with two wins from two. Next up for them is Annacarty away this Saturday. Annacarty recorded a great win over Clonoulty on Saturday and are building up great momentum going into this crucial clash. While for Toomevara they travel to Thurles Sarsfields in search of their first win of the campaign.

Drom-Inch. Caoimhe Bourke, Maria Connolly, Maurean Ryan, Eimear Cahill, Aoife McGrath, Mairead Eviston, Niamh Treacy, Mary Burke, Niamh Long, Joanne Ryan(1-06), Eimear McGrath (0-6, 4 frees,  1 45m), Dee Dunne (1-06), Michelle Woodlock(1-05), Anne Eviston(0-2), Miriam Campion(0-3).

Toomevara: Sarah McCarthy, Laura o Meara, Lauren Ryan, Mary Meagher, Shauna Quirke, Mags Quigley, Niamh McCormack, Gemma McCarthy, Michayla Doran, Caoimhe Cantwell, Jillanne Quirke, Ciara Kineally, Laoise Cummins, Eileen Gleeson, Mary o Brien, Subs Used: Anna Grace.

Silvermines 0-08   Burgess-Duharra 2-17

An emphatic win by Burgess-Duharra over Silvermines on Saturday put any talk of their demise after their opening round defeat to Cashel firmly to bed. In an exciting opening quarter there was little separating the sides wirth Burgess-Duharra leading 1-3 to 4 points the goal coming from Amy Kennedy who was in super form right from the throw in. Silvermines only managed 2 futher points in the second quarter while Burgess-Duharra stormed ahead with a further goal and 8 points.  Silvermines had no answer for corner forward Amy Kennedy who showed why she is still one of the best forwards in the county with 2-4 from play in the opening half. Jenny Grace was also very good from play and frees while in defence Gemma Grace and Caoimhe Maher were to the fore. At half time the scoreboard showed Burgess-Duharra  2-11 Silvermines 0-6. Silvermines first half scores coming from Brid Quinn (3, 2 frees), Eimear Murphy (1) and Sarah Madden (2).

It was an improved performance by Silvermines in the 3^rd quarter and they enjoyed much more possession led by wing forward Sarah Madden. Howerver they continued to find scores hard to come by against an experienced Burgess-Duharra defence and had to settle for only two second half points form Sarah Madden and substitute Sarah Cunneen. Silvermines will be disappointment with the defeat after the opening round win against Nenagh. Next up for them is a trip to play Cashel this Saturday. For Burgess-Duharra it was a good improvement from their opening round loss to Cashel and they can now look forward to welcoming Nenagh on Saturday with growing confidence and momentum. Along with those already mentioned best for them was Ciardha Maher and Katie Grace.

Silvermines:  Anna Stapleton, Aisling Carey, Nessa Murray, Mirima Murphy,Aine Tuohy, Katie Murphy, Eimear Murphy(0-1), Ciara Ryan, Louise McLoughlin, Sarah Madden(0-3), Brid Quinn, (0-3, 2 frees), Nicola Butler, Niamh Cunnem;en, Elaine Murphy, Ellen Cunneen. Subs used Sarah Cunneen(0-1),

Burgess-Duharra: Ciara Houlihan, Fiona Kirwarn, Gemma Grace, Una Quigley, Kaitlin O’Halloran, Caoimhe Maher, Katie Grace, Emily Morrissey(0-1), Eimear Dwan(0-1), Ciardha Maher (0-1),Jenny Grace(0-9), Danielle Nealon, Amy Kennedy(2-04), Ciara McKeogh(0-1), Laura Reid.

Subs used, Caoilfhionn Maher for Danielle Nealon, Aisling Kennedy for Laura Reid