Narrow win for Killanena-Tulla

Killanena/Tulla 1-9   Knockshegowna 1-8

KILLANENA/Tulla opened their North Munster League campaign with a win by the minimum margin against Knockshegowna, just outside Ballingarry, last Thursday evening.

On a day when there was very little between the teams at any stage, the home team opened the scoring with a pointed free after four minutes, having already wasted a couple of scoring chances. The Killanena/Tulla defence never gave the opposition much time on the ball and constantly forced them to rush their shots.

Róisín McNamara opened the scoring for the visiting team with a well-taken point on the run. Knockshegowna then had a period of dominance where they scored 1-2 without reply to go 1-3 to 0-1 up after 20 minutes.

Killanena/Tulla settled slowly into the game and it wasn’t until the 23rd minute when Siobhán Torpey put over a long-range free that they started to look more comfortable. They scored two more points from play, by Amy McArthur and Áine Dinan, and another from a free from Torpey to leave them just two points adrift at the break, 1-4 to 0-5.

At the start of the second half, Knockshegowna added three points in the first five minutes but the Clare outfit were beginning to really trouble the defence, especially Amy McArthur, who caused panic every time she got the ball. She kick-started the revival for the visitors with a point from play in the seventh minute. Just 90 seconds later, Siobhán Torpey had the sliothar in the net after catching a pin-point pass from Áine Dinan to leave just a point between the teams. From then to the finish, each ball was contested as if the game was an All-Ireland final.

Amy McArthur and Róisín McNamara were again on target for the amalgamation to give them the lead for the first time in the game halfway through the second half. From there to the finish, it was nail-biting stuff but each side could only manage to tag on a point with the honour of the winning point going to Gráinne Conlon in the 22nd minute.

Killanena/Tulla will be happy to have got off to a winning start, especially in such a well-contested encounter. It is one of the selling points of the North Munster League that teams get to play clubs from other counties.

Killanena/Tulla: Áine McNamara; Lorna Power, Aoife Conlon; Lorraine Canny, Gráinne McNamara, Claire Taaffe; Róisín McNamara (0-2), Áine Dinan (0-1); Sherena McGrath, Siobhán Torpey (1-2), Catherine McMahon; Gráinne Conlon (0-1), Amy McArthur (0-3).
Subs: Amy McNamara for Aoife Conlon, Aoife McNamara for Lorraine Canny (half-time).