Ballygarrett hold out to win the title

This Uder 14 Dvision 2 County final between Ballygarrett and Kilmore had everyone on the edge of their seats right up to the final whistle. Ballygarrett grabbed a goal in the last minute of a tight game to defeat Kilmore, 5-9 to 4-6 in Wexford Park last Wednesday evening.

Ballygarrett got off the mark with a fine point from Laura Warren after 6 minutes and this was closely followed by a pointed free from Majella Byrne, who was superbly accurate with her frees. In the 14th minute Majella Byrne lobbed the keeper from a 30 metre free to put Kilmore ahead by a goal. However, Ballygarrett clawed this deficit back with a fisted point from Ballygarrett’s captain Latoya Byrne and a goal from Eimear Prendergast to put them in the lead. This score swapping continued throughout the first half with a point from Niamh Moore of Kilmore quickly followed by a point from Ballygarrett’s Tara Brady. In the 24th minute Ballygarrett were awarded a penalty and Louise Hammell stepped up to knock it over the bar but on the counter attack Kilmore’s Majella Byrne scored another great goal to leave them leading by a solitary point. With only 2 minutes left to half time Kilmore were dealt a severe blow when Ballygarrett scored two quick goals, from Louise Hammell and Laura Warren.

On the restart it was Kilmore who started out strong, with Majella converting another free, a point from play and Niamh Moore adding two more inspirational goals to her personal tally. So after 10 minutes of the second half it was Kilmore who were leading by a goal. Ballygarrett then upped their game and clawed back two points from Tara Brady and Eimear Prendergast. Kilmore’s Nicole Conway and Majella Byrne cancelled out those two points to leave Kilmore leading by a goal with only ten minutes to go. However, this is when Ballygarrett began to play their best football, with Eimear Prendergast scoring a point, which was followed one minute later by a goal from Grace Kavanagh, which left Ballygarrett leading by a point. Louise Hammel extended this lead to two points in the 25th minute and Kelly O’ Brien extended it further to three points. With only 2 minutes left of normal time to play Kilmore did everything possible to try draw level but luck was not on their side as one shot hit the crossbar and Aideen Egan pulling off a great save to deny them their much needed goal. With Kilmore focusing on attacking, in the fourth minute of injury time Ballygarrett caught them on the counter attack and Grace Kavanagh finished off the game with a well-placed shot to beat the Kilmore keeper.

It was difficult to pick a winner between these two teams, with a great flowing game of end-to-end football but Ballygarrett finished the stronger and ran out winners on a scoreline of 5-9 to 4-6. Nicky White presented the cup to Ballygarrett’s overjoyed captain, Latoya Byrne.