Powerful Clooney-Quin end champions’ reign

Clooney-Quin 1-7   Newmarket 0-8

Less than 24 hours after hurling champions Crusheen had their three-in-a row hopes crushed, senior camogie champions Newmarket suffered the same fate when they were knocked out of the title race at the semi-final stage at Clarecastle.

 

Clooney-Quin caused the shock of the competition to date when they scored a two-point win over the favourites and, as a result, they will now play Kilmaley in the decider.

This semi-final created plenty of excitement on the sideline as well as on the pitch and when the final whistle sounded, Clooney-Quin were deserved winners.

Two committed teams produced some great play and the tension boiled over to the sideline in the opening half, with rival mentors exchanging words on a couple of occasions.

Clooney-Quin played with the aid of the breeze in the opening half and they took an early lead with points from Marie Halpin and Deirdre Murphy (free).

Nikki Kaiser responded with a brace for the holders to level the game after eight minutes but then Clooney-Quin took a grip and hit four unanswered points by the end of the opening quarter.

The holders pulled two back before Clooney-Quin struck a decisive blow when scoring the game’s only goal.
The experienced Deirdre Murphy, one of the winner’s star players, saw her effort for a point from a tight angle deceive the Newmarket defence and go into the corner of the net.

Newmarket finished the half with points from Kaiser and Deirdre Cassidy to trail by a goal at the break, 0-6 to 1-6.

With the advantage of the breeze to come, things didn’t look too bad for Newmarket at this stage but Clooney-Quin had other ideas. Despite the fact that it took 26 minutes for either side to score in the second half, there was no shortage of entertaining play.

Newmarket piled on the pressure but the winners’ defence was excellent with Orlaith Duggan, Aisling Hannon and Sheelagh Daffy leading the way. In addition, midfielder Claire Ryan and centre-forward Deirdre Murphy also won a lot of vital possession.

Four minutes from the end of normal time Nikki Kaiser had the opening score of the half when she pointed a free and within a minute she repeated the feat to leave the minimum between the sides.

There were a couple of hold-ups due to injury and eight minutes of injury time followed but Clooney-Quin held firm and, in the final minute, Deirdre Murphy sealed a great performance when she converted a 20m free from a tight angle to seal a great win for her side. 

In what was a great team performance, Sheelagh Daffy, Aisling Hannon, Orlaith Duggan, Claire Ryan and Deirdre Murphy stood out. Newmarket’s best were Jane and Carol O’Leary, Róisín McMahon and Nikki Kaiser.

Clooney-Quin: Sheelagh Daffy; Imelda Colleran, Aisling Hannon, Nicole O’Riordan; Jessica O’Neill, Orlaith Duggan, Jenny Costelloe; Claire Ryan (0-1) Christina Colleran; Siobhán Lee, Deirdre Murphy (1-5), Marie Halpin (0-1); Kelly McLean, Louise Henchy, Aisling Corbett.
Subs: Mary Clune for Halpin (50 minutes), Lorraine Ryan for McLean (inj, 60 mins).
Newmarket: Caroline Feehily; Aoife Griffin, Jane O’Leary, Clodagh Lawlor; Aimee McInerney, Róisín McMahon, Carol O’Leary; Ruth Kaiser, Joanne Walsh; Deirdre Cassidy (0-1), Jenny Kelly, Nikki Kaiser (0-6); Áine O’Brien, Laura McMahon (0-1), Carol Kaiser;
Referee: John Dolan, Clarecastle.

Kilmaley  1-14   Sixmilebridge 0-8

A young Sixmilebridge side made favourites Kilmaley work hard for this victory in the first of the senior camogie semi-finals at Clarecastle on Sunday. The ’Bridge put down a marker in the opening minutes when Chloe Morey pointed from a 60m free and they matched their more fancied opponents throughout this half.

However, despite playing against the breeze in the first half, Kilmaley led by the minimum margin at half-time when the score was 1-5 to 0-7. Claire McMahon responded to Morey’s opening score with an equaliser in the fifth minute before two Naoimi Carroll efforts had the ’Bridge ahead by the 10th minute. Shonagh Enright and Aiveen O’Shea exchanged points before the end of the opening quarter.

Kilmaley struck for the game’s opening goal in the 19th minute and they quickly added points from Claire McMahon and Ailish Considine to go three clear. The ’Bridge battled back strongly in the remaining time and when the half-time whistle sounded, there was just a point between the sides.

A minute into the second half, the teams were level after Naomi Carroll hit her fifth point of the game but this was to be their only score of the half.

By the end of the third quarter, the winners had opened a three-point margin with points from Niamh O’Dea and Claire McMahon (3). To their credit, Sixmilebridge continued to make things difficult for the favourites but the experience of Kilmaley proved too much and they added five points in the last quarter to seal a merited win.  In addition, they were able to introduce the experienced Helen McMahon, who has recently returned from Australia.

Denise Lynch, Katie and Niamh Cahill, Niamh O’Dea, Shonagh Enright and Claire McMahon stood out for the winners. Chloe Morey, Maire McGrath, Naoimi Carroll and Aiveen O’Shea did well for Sixmilebridge.

Kilmaley: Edel Griffey; Lisa Kennedy, Denise Lynch, Sinéad O’Halloran; Niamh Cahill, Katie Cahill, Eimear Considine; Aida Griffey, Aisling Darcy; Siobhan White (1-0), Emma O’Driscoll, Shonagh Enright (0-2); Claire McMahon (0-10), Niamh O’Dea (0-1), Ailish Considine (0-1).
Subs: Helen McMahon for White (45 minutes), Sarah Reidy for Kennedy (53 minutes) and Lorna Higgins for N Cahill (54 minutes).
Sixmilebridge: Eimear Murray; Orla Chaplin, Chloe Morey (0-2), Ann Sweeney; Ciara Whelan, Maire McGrath, Ellen Roche; Bridget O’Halloran, Sinéad Tuohy; Rachel O’Halloran, Aiveen O’Shea (0-1) Katie Connor; Fiona Murphy, Naomi Carroll (0-4), Alison Quinlan.
Subs: Antoinette Keane for Whelan (50 minutes).
Referee: Kevin Walsh, Wolfe Tones.