Carrickmore power to five in a row

This was billed as a battle of the heavyweights within the
Red Hand county, and the match lived up to all of its pre-match
hype as both sides gave their all over the hour in a truly
sporting and entertaining tussle. Carrickmore set the early
pace, racing into a two point lead inside a minute with
scores from Elaine Coyle (free) and Claire Gallagher opened
their sides account. Surprisingly, the Carmen girls made
no further impression on the scoreboard until the twentieth
minute, by which time Errigal had opened up a five point
lead. Indeed, Errigal could have been further in front only
for their tally of nine first-half wides, as their inability
to convert possession into scores came back to haunt them
late on.

Aoife Donnelly opened the scoring for Errigal, while further
scores followed from Louise Loughran and captain Claire
Mc Garvey. The Errigal captain was leading by example at
full forward, tormenting the opposition defence. With fourteen
minutes on the clock a long ball out of defence from Siobhan
Mc Garvey found cousin Claire who had drifted behind the
Carrickmore rearguard, and she made no mistake as she fired
past the advancing goalkeeper to put her side in the driving
seat as Sarah Connolly finally found her range from a free
to make it 1-4 to 0-3 with twenty minutes played.

Carrickmore took control though, with points from Coyle
(2) and Eilish Gormley narrowing the deficit. Gemma Begley
then got in on the act, finishing off a good run with a
well-taken point to level the game, before the same player
found the back of the Errigal Ciaran net to put her side
back in front. Errigal seemed shell shocked, and Carrickmore
could have gone even further in front as two goal chances
went wide. Eatoinne O’Kane was shouldered inside the small
square, and referee Eileen Jones pointed to the spot. From
the resultant kick, Lynnette Hughes put the ball just too
high as her shot went over the bar to give her side a two
point half time lead, 1-6 to 1-4. The half time introduction
of Selena Oguz gave an added impetus to the Errigal attack,
and it was Oguz who fired over soon after the resumption
to cut the deficit back to a solitary point.

Carrickmore though responded with a point by Begley, before
Sarah Connolly was denied what looked like a certain Errigal
goal by a wonderful save from Carrickmore goalkeeper Claire
Donnelly. The sin binning of Claire Mc Garvey dealt a major
blow to Errigals chances of success, but on her return she
fired over an inspirational point, followed by an Aoife
Donnelly score to leave just Points from Claire Gallagher,
Coyle and Begley effectively killed off the tie as they
extended Carrickmore’s advantage back to four points. With
five minutes to play, Begley embarked on another trademark
mazy run before setting up substitute Dearbhla Mc Callan
for her sides second goal of the day, before Begley rounded
off the days scoring with a late point to make it 2-13 to
1-07.

At the final whistle, Carrickmore captain Connie Fox accepted
the Masterskreen Cup from county Chairperson Mary Connolly,
and with another County title safely secured Carrickmore
now turn their attentions to what they hope will be another
extended Ulster Club campaign, where they will open against
the winners of the Glen (Derry) and St Eunans Letterkenny
(Donegal) first round meeting.

Teams & Scorers
Carrickmore: Claire Donnelly, Rosie McCartan, Catherine
McCallan, Aideen Loughran, Roisin Rafferty, Lynnette Hughes
(0-01), Patricia McGurk, Maire Grogan, Connie Fox, Sinead
McAleer, Elaine Coyle (0-04), Gemma Begley (1-04), Claire
Gallagher (0-03), Eilish Gormley (0-01), Eatoinne O`Kane

Subs: Kathy McAleer for S. McAleer, Dearbhla McCallan
(1-01) for E. O`Kane
Errigal Ciaran: Carmel Mc Conville, Amy Montague,
Kelly Marie Mc Crory, Niamh Kelly, Claire Mc Cann, Siobhan
Mc Garvey, Shannon Quinn, Louise Loughran (0-1), Rosaleen
Mc Garvey, Ann Mallon, Sarah Connolly (0-1), Petrina Tierney,
Laura Mc Cann, Claire Mc Garvey (1-2), Aoife Donnelly (0-2)

Subs: Nuala Mc Garvey for A. Mallon, Selena Oguz
(0-1) for Petrina Tierney, Julia Mallon for Niamh Kelly,
Donna Quinn for Laura Mc Cann