St Dominics claimed the Roscommon Camogie U14 Championship after another highly entertaining encounter played out in front of a good crowd in Athleague last Monday evening.
The Knockcroghery side made no mistake this time and ensured their domination of both the possession and territorial stakes was reflected on the scoreboard.
Four Roads were first to settle and despite playing against the wind they had the first score through the lively Hannah Corrigan. Tactically, Four Roads had their homework done from the first day and they were frustrating the St Dominics girls by crowding them out in defensive areas. The sides swapped points from frees before Dominics main threat Niamh Fitzgerald found some space and hit a cracker of goal which put them ahead for the first time. Anna Campbell added a free just before half time to leave the score at the interval St Dominics 1-02 to Four Roads 0-02.
St Dominics began the second half with renewed vigour and determination and dominated the central midfield area through Laoise Mahon and Ciara Martin. The Knockcroghery side extended their lead when a Fitzgerald free got a deflection off a Four Roads defender and ended up in the back of the net. Four Roads tried to counter this setback and launched attack after attack, however, the St Dominic’s backline led by Ellen Cafferkey and Katie Lohan would not yield. With ten minutes of the game left, Fitzgerald hit the back of the net again after being set up by Anna Campbell. That should have seen St Dominics home; however, credit to the Tisara based side that battled back into the game when Siafra Finneran scored a goal after good build-up work from Treacy and Corrigan.
This set up a very tense and exciting finale. Four Roads dominated possession during this period but just couldn’t get the scores as there was always a St Dominics player with a hook or block to thwart the attack and clear the danger. The final whistle brought much relief and joy to the Knockcroghery side. Although, they never made things easy for themselves, St Dominics were deserving winners and had the dominant players in each line of the field. Undoubtedly, they also had player of the match, Niamh Fitzgerald, whose goals were an invaluable currency in such a tight game. Others to stand out for St Dominics were Ellen Cafferkey, Katie Lohan, Ciara Martin, Ciara Kilcommons, Laoise Mahon and Anna Campbell. For Four Roads, Aisling Treacy, Katie Heneghan and Hannah Corrigan tried to stem the tide.
Both teams can now look forward to Feile Na Gael in Kilkenny, Carlow and Wexford on the 16th, 17th and 18th of June.
Four Roads: Ellen Hynes, Emily Gannon, Aoife Gately, Sinead Scott, Emma Munnion, Aisling Treacy (0-1F), Katie Heneghan, Sally Bolger, Siobhan Treacy, Ciara Fallon, Sinead Mannion, Hannah Corrigan(0-01), Ruth Gannon, Siafra Finneran(1-0), Alison Corrigan
St Dominics: Ellen Cafferkey, Roisin Kenny, Katie Lohan, Natasha Keenan, Ciara Martin, Ciara Kilcommons, Rose Appleby, Laoise Mahon, Ester Bridcut Barry, Ava Whitney, Anna Campbell (0-2), Jessica Keenan, Evelyn Kilcline, Niamh Fitzgerald (3-0), Hannah Murray.