BORD GÁIS ENERGY LADIES NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE FINALS

DIVISION 1

 

CORK 1-20 MAYO 0-11

 

CORK retained their Bord Gáis Energy Ladies National Football League Division 1 crown with a devastating performance against Mayo in last Saturday’s Kiltoom decider.

Jim McEvoy’s charges proved far too good for the outclassed Westerners as they ran out 1-20 to 0-11 winners at the superbly turned out Roscommon venue.

The reigning Munster and All-Ireland kingpins collected the league title for the fourth time in five seasons and had 12 points to spare at the finish.

The result of this tie was in no doubt from an early stage and Rhona Buckley’s first half goal helped to open up a comfortable 1-10 to 0-5 half-time advantage.

Buckley was a late change to the Cork line-up as she came in at full-forward for Amy O’Shea and more than justified her inclusion with a fine first half display.

A completely dominant Cork could even afford the luxury of ten first half wides while Mayo, chasing the game, registered eight wides in the second half.

Buckley forced Mayo goalkeeper Yvonne Byrne into a smart 12th minute save before the St Finbarr’s star netted in the 17th minute after taking a pass from Deirdre O’Reilly.

It mattered little to Cork that they were without the services of sin-binned Briege Corkery at that point and Buckley almost added a second goal when she drilled a shot off the top of the crossbar and over in the 18th minute.

Mayo had a chance to haul themselves back into contention in the 24th minute but top scorer Cora Staunton dragged her penalty wide of goal.

Mayo needed a good start to the second half to have any chance but after Staunton shot two points, Cork stepped on the gas and roared to victory.

Player of the match Nollaig Cleary was in scintillating form throughout and after collecting two first half points, the Gabriel Rangers star added four in the second half.

Cleary covered a huge amount of ground during the game while Cork also had sparkling performances from wing backs Geraldine O’Flynn and the remarkable Corkery, who both scored two points.

This was a scintillating overall performance and on this form, it’s hard to see who can stop the Rebelettes collecting a fifth successive All-Ireland title this year.

Five of the six starting forwards were on target from play while Mayo were restricted to just six points from play over the hour.

Emma Mullen kicked three wonderful points for Mayo and offered stout resistance while Staunton never stopped trying on a day when she was very tightly marked from start to finish.

 

*****

DIVISION 2

 

DOWN 2-12 TIPPERARY 0-11

 

A blistering start provided the platform for Down’s victory in last Saturday’s Bord Gáis Energy Ladies National Football League Division 2 final against Tipperary.

The Mourne County rocked Tipperary with two goals inside the first four minutes and despite a spirited effort, the Premier County could not get close enough.

The influential Michaela Downey netted after just 18 seconds and when Downey’s 4th minute shot was smothered by Tipperary goalkeeper Nora Noonan, Kyla Trainor was on hand to force the ball home from close range.

Last year’s All-Ireland intermediate champions Tipp fought their way back and at half-time, they trailed by 2-5 to 0-7.

Just like the Division 3 decider, the team playing against the wind seemed to fare better and so it was with Tipperary after half-time.

Mairéad Morrissey missed a glorious goal chance seven minutes after half-time in a very open game before player of the match Aileen Pyers grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck for Down.

Tipperary lost the services of sin-binned full back Maeve Corcoran 19 minutes after the restart and with Corcoran off the pitch, Pyers kicked four points in that spell.

The Annaclone player showed genuine class with scores off both feet but trailing by five points in stoppage time, Tipp had the chance to force a dramatic finish when sub Kelly Hackett was fouled.

Morrissey stepped forward but dragged her penalty wide ad when Downey pointed at the other end in the 63rd minute, the title was secure for Down.

 

****

DIVISION 3

 

ROSCOMMON 1-12 WICKLOW 1-8

 

CORNER forward Emer Casey was the star turn for Roscommon as they captured the Bord Gáis Energy Ladies National Football League Division 3 title on Saturday.

Casey finished with a 1-5 haul, including 1-2 before half-time, as the Rossies held out on home soil at Kiltoom.

Roscommon, playing against the breeze in the opening half, led by 1-6 to 0-4 at half-time but Wicklow fought back strongly in the second half and trailed by just a single point on three occasions.

Player of the match Caoilfhionn Deeney powered the Wicklow challenge while Niamh Carroll was influential at full-forward.

However, the introduction of a number of Roscommon Convent’s All-Ireland colleges medallists, including the promising Cliodhna McHugh, helped to steady the ship.

Deeney had hauled Wicklow right back into contention when her speculative 47th minute shot from distance sailed all the way into the net but six minutes later, McHugh was pulled down for a Roscommon penalty.

Casey stepped forward and skied her effort over the crossbar but with a strong late finish, emerging Roscommon sealed the win.

Casey had been denied a goal in the very first minute when when Emer Miley diverted the Ballinameen star’s shot out for a 45 but Casey made no mistake in the 9th minute.

 

***

Bord Gáis Energy Ladies National Football League Division 1 final details:

 

Cork scorers: N Cleary 0-6, V Mulcahy 0-5 (3f), Rhona Buckley 1-1, G O’Flynn, C O’Sullivan & B Corkery 0-2 each, J Murphy & D O’Reilly 0-1 each.

 

Mayo scorers: C Staunton 0-7 (5f), E Mullen 0-3, K Sullivan 0-1.

 

CORK: E Harte; Rena Buckley, A Walsh, L Barrett; G O’Flynn, B Stack, B Corkery; J Murphy, N Kelly; N Cleary, M O’Connor (c), C O’Sullivan; V Mulcahy, Rhona Buckley, D O’Reilly.

 

SUBS: A O’Shea for Rhona Buckley (50), C McCarthy for Barrett (54), R O’Sullivan for C O’Sullivan (57), A Sheehan for Corkery (57), L Cohalan for O’Flynn (60).

 

MAYO: Y Byrne; N Tierney, C McGing, M Corbett; S Hughes, C O’Hara, K Sullivan; C Egan, M Carter (c); F McHale, E Mullen, T McNicholas; L Cafferky, C Staunton, N Beegan.

 

SUBS: N Hurst for Hughes (28), A Loftus for Corbett (h/t), A Herbert for McHale (36), S Cafferky for L Cafferky (48).

 

Referee: Joe Murray (Dublin).

 

Bord Gáis Energy National Ladies Football League Division 1 final player of the match: Nollaig Cleary (Cork).

 

***

Bord Gáis Energy Ladies National Football League Division 2 final details:

 

Down scorers: A Pyers 0-6 (2f), M Downey & K Trainor 1-2 each, F Carr & L Morgan 0-1 each.
Tipperary scorers: E Hanley 0-5 (4f), S Lambert 0-2, C Peters, G O’Brien, M Morrissey & S Crotty 0-1 each.

 

DOWN: B Russell; J Connell, E Downey (c), N Lennon; K O’Neill, A Downey, S Fegan; K Trainor, F Carr; G McClean, L Morgan, O Fegan; E Mulhern, M Downey, A Pyers.

 

SUBS: L Cunningham for Mulhern (38), A Gosling for K O’Neill (46), C O’Neill for O Fegan (60 +4).

 

TIPPERARY: N Noonan; C Lambert, M Corcoran, B Ryan; A O’Dwyer, J Grant (c), S Costello; C Peters, A McDermott; G O’Brien, M Morrissey, S Lambert; S Crotty, E Hanley, C Walsh.

 

SUBS: A.M. O’Gorman for Crotty (42), K Hackett for Hanley (60).

 

Referee: Des McEnery (Westmeath).

 

Bord Gáis Energy National Ladies Football League Division 2 final player of the match: Aileen Pyers (Down).

 

***

Bord Gáis Energy Ladies National Football League Division 3 final details:

 

Roscommon scorers: E Casey 1-5 (0-3f, 0-1 pen), C Grehan & M Freyne (1f) 0-2 each, C Conway, T Taylor & R Ryan 0-1 each.
Wicklow scorers: C Deeney 1-2 (0-2f), N Carroll 0-5 (3f), S Boland 0-1.

 

ROSCOMMON: C Manning; F Beirne, L Tully (c), M Keenehan; M Carey, S Cooney, C Kelly; M Candon, C Conway; C Grehan, T Taylor, A.M. Carley; E Casey, M Freyne, R Ryan.

SUBS: C McHugh for Carley (37), L McNulty for Carey (46), A McCormack for Ryan (49), S Kenny for Casey (58), S Ryan for Conway (60 +1).

 

WICKLOW: E Miley; L Fusciardi, A O’hAnnaidh, A Heffernan; L Brady, C McKeon (c), N Kelly; C Byrne, C Deeney; A Byrne, J Fitzmaurice, M Shelley; L Ahern, N Carroll, M Lynch.

SUBS: C Shortt for Fitzmaurice (20), E Lenihan for Brady (h/t), S Boland for Byrne (43).

Referee: Michael John O’Keeffe (Cork).

Bord Gáis Energy National Ladies Football League Division 3 final player of the match: Caoilfhionn Deeney (Wicklow).