Under 13C Championship
Report: Paul Nihill
Éire Óg v Broadford @ Éire Óg 17/09/18 @ 6.15pm
Ref : Aine Ni Cormaic
Half time score : Éire Óg 2-04 Broadford 0-02
Full Time score : Éire Óg 4-04 Broadford 0-03
Éire Óg’s Under 13 Camogie side concluded their unbeaten championship campaign with arguably their best team performance of the season with a merited victory over Broadford on Wednesday evening. They now move on to a home semi-final on Saturday September 29th.
Such an outcome didn’t look likely as, under a leaden sky, Broadford raced out of the blocks to take a 0-02 to 0-00 with two excellently taken scores from their midfield pairing, the second of which was from a particularly acute angle. Wind-assisted, Éire Óg needed a response and, after Annie Lynch forced a 45 in the fifth minute, Ella Cahill struck a blistering shot to the net, in spite of a great effort from the Broadford goalie at turning the shot wide. Cahill gained confidence from this, and just a few minutes later she gathered possession about fifty metres from goal and showed great skill to out-fox her opponent before despatching a bullet shot to the visitor’s net.
Éire Óg started to really play well at this point, with all lines of the field performing with great credit. Excellent work from Shauna Faughey and Elise Ryan created a chance for Annie Lynch which drifted wide, before two points from Ella Cahill put the home side six ahead on a score of 2-02 to 0-02 after 15 minutes of play.
The Townies had started to control the midfield area where Cahill and Sarah Murphy were dominant, and another Ella point was quickly followed up with a deserved white flag from Annie Lynch. Broadford responded though, and it took some really good defending in the full back line from Katelyn Ferns, Irene Boateng, and Emma Lyons to keep the visitors at bay as the half time whistle sounded with the home side leading 2-04 to 0-02.
On the re-start Éire Óg put to bed any thoughts of a Broadford rally as another Ella Cahill goal stretched the home side’s lead to eleven points. It was the signal for Éire Óg to give some of their younger troops a run and it was heartening to see so many of them perform well when introduced. Broadford attacked a lot more in the second half, but with Rachel Russell imperious at centre back, and Irene Boateng solid as a rock at full back, there was no way through for the visitors whose efforts yielded a single point in the second period. Indeed, as the clock ticked towards the end, Éire Óg broke forward, the ball made it’s way to Ella Cahill again and she struck an un-stoppable shot to the Broadford net to close out proceedings on a scoreline of 4-04 to 0-03.
Throughout a super display from the girls, the Éire Óg spine was on top form and would not yield despite Broadford’s best efforts. The work rate and teamwork was a joy to behold and to see some of the younger girls contributing also was fantastic. Aoife Moylan, Kate Talty, Sarah Broderick, Ruth Nihill, Rachael Murphy, and Aideen O’Donoghue all saw plenty of ball, and along with Jennifer O’Donnell and the Fitzgerald twins, Aimee and Caoimhe, all contributed to another deserved win.
God help the selectors picking the team for the semi-final J
