Barryroe Girls are Munster Champs!
12 March, 2022
Congrats to the Barryroe girls who today secured a Munster Football title with Sacred Heart Secondary School.
Match report via Sacred Heart Secondary School website.
At the end of this pulsating Munster Senior Football Final, the score-line would suggest an easy win for the Sacred Heart girls, however this game was very much in the melting pot with less than 10 minutes to go. At that point of the game, the students from Coláiste Muire Ennis kicked themselves back into contention reducing a 5-point margin to three. A very well organised Clare outfit, played a running game, interlinking from the back and using the overlap to great effect with Aisling Costello and Lyndsey Clarke the players standing out.
It was the Clonakilty students who used the opening and closing 10 minutes of the game to great effect. At these two ends of this final, played on the All-Weather surface at Rahkeale Co.Limerick, Clonakilty registered 4 goals. Katie O’ Driscoll’s opening goal followed shortly by a neat Aisling Moloney’s finish to the net, seemed to catch the Ennis students cold. But it was at the business end of the game when this final really caught fire, when 2 goals worthy of any final were scored by Orla Deasy and Siofra Patwell. Both goals were scored following great one touch football with astute and quick passing ensuring the player in the better position could affect that advantage.
At Half time only one point separated the sides as Coláiste Muire scored 1 goal and 2 points without reply, following Clonakilty’s early brace. Scores certainly were at a premium in the first half, as zonal defenses ensured that attacks from both sets of forwards were often thwarted. The full back line of Mary Murphy, Alannah O’ Brien and Ruth Shanley were in total dominance. Niamh Kennedy, when introduced in the second half was outstanding. Teak tough, this young player loves a contest and is a player who has a never say die attitude that is reflected in every play. Katie Hearne in goal was very assured and her monster kickouts were very welcome after protracted pressure from the Clare outfit. Luckily for the West Cork students many of these kick outs resulted from wide balls, as a result of wayward shooting.
It is said that all successful football teams have a standout center back and Kate O’ Donovan certainly lived up to that thinking. Her positional sense, tenacious tackling and ball carrying ability stood out. Millie Condon and Maeve Kingston drove up from defense with Condon later shifting to the half-forward line. Here she had a major influence on the game. Her ball carrying with speed punished the Ennis defense every time. The Midfield duo of Katie O’Driscoll and Ciaradh McCarthy worked intelligently and tirelessly to the end. McCarthy’s goal in the second half, just when Colaiste Muire had started to look like eventual winners, was the old-fashioned sucker blow, right out of the textbook. It took the wind out of Ennis while at the same time energised the Sacred Heart students. Aisling Moloney’s ability to get onto multiple plays saw her finish one chance to the net while Eimear O’Brien and captain Lydia Sutton never stopped working, often dropping deep to help out their defensive line.
The full forward line of Roisín Ni Bhuachalla, Orlaith Deasy and Siofra Patwell required very close marshaling form multiple defenders and it was not until the latter part of the second half that the full forward line finally influenced the score board. A major influence on this development in the game was the astute introduction of Aoife Meade. Her introduction into the game at its most delicate moment, was most timely as she won every ball that came her way and with her ability to play the killer pass, she fed Deasy on multiple occasions, who was now running rampant scoring 1 goal and 2 points in the space of 3 minutes. Patwell too was on fire scoring the goal of the game with a brace of points to add. At the end, Clonakilty were comfortable winners as Lydia Sutton raised the Munster Cup to the delight of the Clonakilty faithful who made the 260Km round trip.
Well done to Mr. Mulcahy and Mr. Daly who have successfully coached yet another winning Sacred Heart team. It is on now to the All-Ireland semifinal and who knows, with a repeat of this performance and together with their hard-working winning attitude anything is possible.
Ciaradh McCarthy, Tara Fleming, Ellen O'Riordan, Roisín Ni Bhuachalla
