Cumann na mBunscol Finals: Goals decisive for St Mary's
DIV 1 CAMOGIE - St Mary's Trim 6-3 Kilmessan NS 1-5
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St Mary’s Saoirse Barry defends her line despite pressure from Kilmessan’s Aoife Reilly and Kayla Aherne. Photo: David Mullen/www.cyberimages.net David MullenImage 2 of 5
St Mary’s NS Captain Katelyn McLoughlin received the Div 1 Camogie Cup from Cumann na mBunscol’s Barbara Munnelly.Photo: David Mullen/www.cyberimages.net David MullenImage 3 of 5
St Mary's NS's Aisling Canty received the Spirit of the Final award from Meath Chronicle's Tom Gannon. David MullenImage 4 of 5
The St Mary's NS players (from left) were: back - Éilis Canty, Saoirse Ryan, Ruby Hughes, Olivia Forde, Eleanor Fox, Mollie Leonard, Molly Flattery, Katelyn McLoughlin, Zoe May Cashell, Saoirse Barry, Aisling Canty, Ava Flattery, Grace Keegan, Amy Watters, Kate McSherry, Maeve Collier, Lara O`Brien; front - Bo Flannery, Sarah Cooney, Laura McGowan, Maia Goulding, Amber Cashell, Lauren Kavanagh, Amelia O`Connor, Lexi Corkish, Millie Morgan, Isabel Ryan, Saibh McMorrow, Sherika O`Moore, Cara Munnelly. David MullenImage 5 of 5
The Kilmessan NS players (from left) were: back - Aoibheann Fletcher, Aoife Reilly, Caragh Byrne, Aoife Fox, Vivienne Sykorova, Lucy Fletcher, Finley Clarke, Abbie Roche, Sophie Treacy, Emily Mozuch, Sadie O`Dowd, Erin Reilly; front - Rachel Horan, Hannah Treacy, Emilia Cullen, Isabel Mitchell, Hannah McDonnell, Aoife Geraghty, Kayla Aherne, Darcy Williams, LJ Murray, Hannah Cullen. David MullenAs the old saying goes, goals win games and St Mary's NS, Trim put six of them past Kilmessan on their way to claiming their first Cumann na mBunscoil Div 1 Camogie title since 2006.
The match was relatively tight for a long period up until the final quarter where St Mary's pulled away from Kilmessan.
Both sides took some time to settle into the contest and it was not until the 12th minute that St Mary's opened the scoring through an Aisling Canty point. Less than a minute later, St Mary's were given a great boost when Lexi Corkish kicked the ball into the Kilmessan net.
Kilmessan responded with an Aoibheann Fletcher free but were dealt another blow when Canty, who was under a lot of pressure from the opposition defenders, produced a fantastic finish to the bottom left corner to put St Mary's 2-1 to 0-1 up.
A long ball from Vivienne Sykorova found Kilmessan captain Caragh Bynre and she scored a great goal to reduce the gap back to three before a second Corkish net-finder put St Mary's ahead by 3-1 to 1-1 at the break.
Aoibheann Fletcher hit three points on the spin early on in the second-half as the game remained on a knife edge and only three points separated the teams with 15 minutes left to play.
From there St Mary's took complete control of the contest. Goals from Katelyn McLoughlin, Amy Watters and Canty put distance between the sides, and despite a valiant effort from Kilmessan, St Mary's were deservedly crowned Div 1 camogie champions.
St Mary’s NS, Trim - Ruby Hughes; Saoirse Barry, Isabel Ryan; Olivia Forde, Zoe May Cashell (0-1), Amelia O’Connor; Katelyn McLoughlin (1-0), Amy Watters (1-0); Molly Flattery, Aisling Canty (2-1), Ava Flattery (0-1); Lexi Corkish (2-0), Sherika O’Moore. Subs - Eleanor Fox, Saibh McMorrow, Grace Coogan, Millie Morgan, Saoirse Ryan, Kate McSherry, Laura McGowan, Molly Leonard, Lauren Kavanagh, Éilis Canty, Maeve Collier, Lara O'Brien, Amber Cashell, Bo Flannery, Cara Munnelly, Emily McGuiness, Maia Goulding, Sarah Cooney. Mentors - Séamus Savage, Barbara Munnelly.
Kilmessan NS - Lucy Fletcher; Aoife Fox, Hannah McDonnell; Sophie Donnelly, Vivienne Sykorova, Sophie Treacy; Aoibheann Fletcher (0-5 three frees), Caragh Byrne (1-0); Sadie O’Dowd, Finley Clarke, Abbie Roche; Aoife Reilly, Aoife Geraghty. Subs - Erin Reilly, Natalia Devine Brogan, Hannah Cullen, Hannah Treacy, Rachel Horan, Kayla Aherne, Elle-J Murray, Emilia Cullen, Isabel Mitchell, Emily Mozuch, Darcy Williams. Mentors - Róisín Carolan, Nessa Farrelly.
Referee - John Byrne (St Columbanus’ NS, Ballivor).