Glanmire sparkle to land All-Ireland Ladies Junior Club Football title

ALL-IRELAND LADIES JUNIOR CLUB FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Glanmire (Cork) 1-22
Tourlestrane (Sligo) 3-11

By DARAGH SMALL

Kate Hannon scored 0-11 and scooped the Player of the Match award as Cork’s Glanmire won their first ever All-Ireland junior club title with victory over Tourlestrane at Duggan Park in Ballinasloe.

It was all Hannon versus Katie Walsh in the first half and although the Sligo county star hit 1-5, no other Tourlestrane player managed a score before the break and they trailed by 0-13 to 1-5 at half-time.

Hannon and Glanmire won the second half battle and with just two wides, and Niamh McAllen’s 1-7, they ensured the junior crown remains in Cork, following victory for Aghada in 2017.

There was a minute’s silence for the late Kathleen Walsh before the start, she was a grandmother to five of the Tourlestrane panel, including Katie Walsh.

Glanmire captain Amy Turpin won the toss and decided to play against the breeze in the first half but the Munster champions raced into 0-4 to 0-0 lead after seven minutes.

Hannon opened the scoring in the first minute and her second point was sandwiched by efforts from Ally McCarthy and Shauna Murphy. Glanmire, who had Cork’s 10-time All-Ireland Senior medallist Geraldine O’Flynn working as coach, were in control and Katie Walsh missed an earlier goal opportunity when she was blocked down by Ellen Baker.

Geraldine O’Flynn was on the line for Glanmire. 

But the Tourlestrane full-forward came alive in the eight minute when she landed a long range free. She followed that up with a brilliant strike off her right and the goal arrived in the 14th minute.

It didn’t look like a dangerous situation for the Glanmire defence when Katie Walsh was surrounded by defenders about 30 metres out from goal, but she manoeuvred her way through the cover before unleashing a ferocious shot into the top right corner of Ava Carey’s net.

Glanmire retained their composure and Sarah O’Brien scored their first point in eight minutes. They scored three more points before Katie Walsh reduced the arrears – 1-3 to 0-8 – in the 20th minute.

Dave Carey managed Glanmire to All-Ireland glory – and his daughter Ava was brilliant in goals. 

Niamh McAllen cancelled that out with her second point while Tourlestrane missed three goal chances as Sarah Cunney, Tara Walsh and Katie Walsh all mis-fired when through on goal.

Hannon kept Glanmire in charge and she scored her fourth, fifth and sixth points to ease her side into a 0-12 to 1-4 lead with two minutes remaining.

Glanmire took a 0-13 to 1-5 lead into half-time but Gráinne Carty became the second Tourlestrane player to score just 20 seconds after the resumption.

Tourlestrane midfielder Nikki Brennan was sin-binned one minute later after her second foul. Nevertheless Tourlestrane drove on and Katie Walsh added to her tally.

Glanmire needed to score next but Hannon showed all of her experience. She got three points in-a-row to drag Glanmire clear again.

Carey, daughter of team manager Dave, made her third brilliant save to deny Tara Walsh but she couldn’t stop Cunney’s low shot in the 54th minute.

Rachel Kelleher saw yellow late on but McAllen found the net for Glanmire and Molly Kennedy’s goal was just a Tourlestrane consolation, as Cork clubs made it two out of three All-Ireland club titles over the weekend.

 

Scorers – Glanmire: K Hannon 0-11 (0-5f), N McAllen 1-7, A McCarthy 0-1, S Murphy 0-1, S O’Brien 0-1, A O’Mahony 0-1.

 

Tourlestrane: K Walsh 1-8 (0-3f), S Cunney 1-2, M Kennedy 1-0, G Carty 0-1.

 

Glanmire: A Carey; R Kelleher, A McNamara, A Turpin; A McCarthy, E Baker, L Cashman; R Crowley, A O’Mahony; N McAllen, S O’Brien, E Twomey; E Murphy, K Hannon, S Murphy.

 

Subs: C Murphy for Turpin (38), K O’Connor for S Murphy (44).

 

Tourlestrane: C Walsh; S Brennan, L Walsh, S Mooney; E Meers, S Henry, C Marren; A Egan, N Brennan; A Corcoran, G Carty, T Walsh; L Surlis, K Walsh, S Cunney.

 

Subs: M Kennedy for Meers (36), L Gaughan for Surlis (44), C Brennan for Mooney (63).

 

Referee: Barry Redmond (Wexford).