Woods hat-trick inspires Loreto to glory

Trailing by two points and down to 14 players with five minutes remaining Loreto Navan produced a stunning finish to claim the All-Ireland Schools SFC title with a remarkable 3-9 to 0-15 victory over Sacred Heart Westport at Pearse Park Longford on Tuesday.

Lauren Woods was the goalscoring hero for Loreto with a stunning hat-trick of goals, but it was the outstanding Ciara Smyth who pulled the strings for the Navan school, who are also indebted to goalkeeper Alex Connor who made two stunning saves to keep her side in the game.

When Loreto lost substitute Orlaith Reilly to a yellow card sin-bin they were 2-6 to 0-14 adrift with only five minutes remaining, but they never gave up and with the wind behind them they pinned Sacred Heart back.

Rebecca Reilly closed the gap to the minimum three minutes after the sin-binning and two minutes later Smyth levelled it up with a brilliant point from play.

Then came Woods' hat-trick goal from the resultant kick-out. Tara Traynor won the ball and quickly released Woods who finished brilliantly to the bottom corner and when Smyth converted another free a minute into injury-time it proved to be the insurance score.

Westport did have one late chance of a goal but Isabel O'Connor produced a brilliant block to deny Ava Palasz and even though they worked a point from Chloe Chambers from the '45' it was to no avail as Loreto held on.

It had started promisingly for Loreto as they responded immediately after conceding the opening point to a Aoife Staunton free by rattling the net within 30 seconds.

It was an excellent incisive move against the wind with Zoe Harte providing the final pass for Lauren Woods to finish brilliantly.

However, Westport's superior team play and inventiveness caused the Navan girls problems and by the ninth minute the Mayo side were level after a free from Laura Moran and a superb score from play from Christina McEvilly.

Staunton restored Westport's lead with another fine score and when Hannah Sheehy won the resultant kickout she pointed well to stretch Westport's lead to 0-5 to 1-0 and it looked ominous for Loreto.

Lucy Reynolds ended a 12 minute barren spell for the Navan school and 30 seconds later Ciara Smyth levelled it up, 1-2 to 0-5.

However, as Loreto attacks broke down with poor final passes Sacred Heart took full advantage and used the wind to good effect with Sorcha McCarney and Moran (free) restoring a 0-7 to 1-2 lead.

Lauren Woods stopped the rot with a good score, but Westport continued to be much more economical with their chances as Ava Palasz and Staunton hit the Navan girls on the counter-attack to stretch their side's lead to 0-9 to 1-3.

That lead could have been greater, but McEvilly was denied by a stunning save from Alex Connor. However, Westport finished the half on the front foot and opened up a 0-11 to 1-3 interval lead with scores from Moran and Staunton (free).

Smyth (free) ad Woods close the gap further with points after the resumption, but Westport refused to relinquish their lead with Moran and Staunton pointing either side of a Smyth point to preserve the Mayo side's lead 0-13 to 2-5, at the end of the third quarter.

When Smyth arrowed a goal chance agonisingly wide and Sarah Jane Lyons also kicked wide it looked like Loreto's chance was gone, but Lyons did find her range to close to gap to the minimum. Moran restored Westport's two-point cushion before Orlaith Reilly picked up the yellow card. However Loreto refused to give up and produced a stunning finish to claim the title.

SCORERS

Loreto Navan - Lauren Woods 3-1; Ciara Smyth 0-5 two frees; Lucy Reynolds 0-1; Sarah Jane Lyons 0-1; Rebecca Reilly 0-1;

Sacred Heart Westport - Aoife Staunton 0-5 two frees; Laura Moran 0-5 four frees; Christina McEvilly 0-1; Hannah Sheehy 0-1; Sorcha McCarney 0-1; Ava Palasz 0-1; Chloe Chambers 0-1;

TEAMS

Loreto Navan - Alex Connor; Megan Clarke, Megan Coyne, Steffi Finegan; Isabel O'Connor, Zoe Harte, Lilly Dwyer; Rebecca Reilly, Mia Brady; Sarah Jane Lyons, Ciara Smyth, Lucy Reynolds; Lauren Woods, Tara Traynor, Emma Brogan. Subs - Orlaith Reilly for Reynolds half-time, Rosanna O'Neill for Finegan 45 mins.

Sacred Heart Westport - Aoife Calvey; Eimear Geraghty, Alana McDonnell, Ria Cafferkey; Ava Kelly, Beth Hoban, Ellie Hyland; Sarah Mulroy, Sorcgha McCarney; Lisa Hasting, Laura Moran, Hannah Sheehy; Ava Palasz, Aoife Staunton, Christina McEvilly. Subs - Eabha Carney for Hyland 34 mins, Chloe Chambers for McEvilly 45m, Larissa Kelly for Hoban 58m.

Referee - Shane Curley (Galway).