Cork clear Limerick Hurdle with ease

Cork clear Limerick hurdle with ease By Fr Liam Kelleher

Cork 5-17 Limerick 2-1

On Wednesday evening Cork and Limerick met at a beautifully prepared
pitch at Feenagh to contest the first round of the Munster under
16 Championship. At the end of a highly entertaining game Cork
had a big margin to spare which did not fully reflect the Limerick
girls efforts. Cork attacked form the outset and found the close
defending Limerick defence who did some tremendous block downs,
difficult to get by, they did hit the crossbar and saw the Limerick
keeper Khristina Hennessy make some excellent saves, but when
they found the range they had the game virtually sown up leading
3-10 to a goal. The Cork keeper got little to do but she was fronted
by an outstanding fullback line of the O’Connor twins playing
in each corner of the defence for the first time, with Niamh O’Keefe
a very solid fullback. The half line struggled at times and will
have to show considerable improvement. Julie McCarthy and Aine
O’Leary despite the odd mistake worked very hard. The forwards
on the night apart form the first 10 minutes when they got blocked
down too easily were a revelation.

They scored freely when they learned to get the ball forward
by the more direct route and the scoreboard in the end told the
tale. All 6 got on the scoreboard with Orlaith Farmer and Yvonne
Cahill proving to be the best finishers. Cork introduced their
full compliment of subs and all of them impressed. The jury is
still out on how good this Cork team is but one thing is certain
their work rate is of the highest calibre and this game will have
done their confidence a power of good.

Cork Aidin Hegarty, Catherine O’Connor, Niamh O’Keefe, Claire
O’Connor, Maureen O’Sullivan, Beulah McManus, Sinead O’Reilly,
Julie McCarthy, 0-1 Aine O’Leary, Orlaith Farmer, 2-2 Aoife Scally,
0-6 Leanne Kearney, 0-1 Ciara Sherlock, 1-1 Yvonne Cahill. 2-3
Marie O’Donovan.0-2. Subs Caoimhe O’Callaghan, Joanne O’Brien
Kate Harrington, Sarah Harrington, Ciara Harrington, Deirdre O’Driscoll,
Patricia Dunne Niamh Crowley, Sinead O’Neill, 0-1 Denise Cronin
Niamh O’Regan Donna Smyth, Claire Keohane.

The game was well handled by referee Keith Delahunty of Tipperary.
Cork play Clare in the next round.