Glory For Cork U-16's

Glory for  Cork  as under 16’s capture All-Ireland   title  By Fr Liam Kelleher

Cork 2-13  Donegal 1-7
Playing an open brand  of attacking  football, Cork captured their 3rd under 16 All-Ireland title in 4 years, when they outclassed Donegal  in  Tuam on Saturday. The strong wind blowing down the centre made it difficult for the  teams playing against It and while Donegal playing  against it were first to score,    Cork dictated play for most of   the   opening half  Two points from frees from Aoife Scally settled the nerves and the  defining score of the half came after 16 minutes when Ciara Sherlock who was causing   endless problems for the Donegal defence found the net. Points from  Ciara, Claire O’Connor, Orla Finn and   Yvonne Cahill   propelled Cork to a 1-9 to 0-2 lead at the short whistle, leaving Donegal with a mountain to climb. They did get an early point back, but thereafter the Cork defence were magnificent in holding them at bay. Cork depended on  breakaway scores to maintain their lead and got these scores at vital times. The decisive score came with 13 minutes to go, when Yvonne Cahill spotted a gap in the Donegal defence and slotted a 14 yards free from the ground into the top corner. Donegal gave themselves a glimmer of hope when  they replied almost immediately when an uncharacteristic slip up in the Cork defence saw Geraldine McLaughlin scramble the ball home. Cork recovered their composure  and held sway for the remainder of the game to run out convincing winners

This  was as  a 5 star display   by Cork  not given much of a chance by the pundits at the beginning of the year but they worked extremely hard for eventual honours. Caoimhe O’Callaghan capt was solid all through in goal, her clubmate from Erins own Niamh O’Keefge was outstanding     The O’Connor twins Claire and Caroline combined well and ran themselves to a standstill. Maureen O’Sullivan and Claire Keohane  used as sweeper,  used their strength and height to good advantage especially when  the need was greatest in the 2nd half,  Cilmin club mates Aine O:Leary  and Marie O”Donovan, were power houses all through  at midfield and got great assistance from Leanne Kearney and  Ciara Sherlock later named player of the match Orla Finn, Aoife Scally and Yvonne Cahill did the rest. A delighted Caoimhe O’Callaghan  collected the cup on behalf of her delighted teamates

It was a p[particularly pleasing day for the 6 person management team who  did the double after guiding the Minors to National. glory earlier in the year  against  Dublin, Coach Charlie McLaughlin was overseeing his 15th All-Ireland underage success was joined by Kathleen Kearney, Con 0’Sullivan, Ted O’Donovan, Nelius Carroll and Fr Liam Kelleher who has been the fitness guru for 14 of those triumphs. What a year it has been for the rebelletes, with the under 14 team the only one tasting defeat losing out to eventual champions Dublin eventhough they scored 7-11 in their All-Ireland quarter final defeat. Both the Senior team and the Senior B team contest the All-Ireland finals. The Seniors on Sunday next against Mayo when  they are going for 3 in a row,

Cork scorers Yvonne Cahill 1-3 Ciara Sherlock 1-3  Orla Finn 0-3, Aoife Scally 0-2 Aine O’Leary 0-1 Donegal  Geraldine McLaughlin 1-0, Tanya Barrett 0-2 Eilis Ward 0-2 Tanya Kennedy 0-1 Rachel Crawford 0-1 Niamh McLaughlin  0-1.

Turning point in Game.

Ciara Sherlocks goal in the first half.

Value for money. The game despite the final scoreline was always competitive and provided the big crowd mostly from Donegal with excellent value.

Ref Watch. The referee  Declan Corcoran Mayo applied the advantage rule to good effect. He seemed to penalise the Cork girls a lot for over carrying but on the balance of play things evened out.

Coach’s quote.  Charlie McLaughlin. This was one of the most pleasing All-Ireland wins ever, because at the beginning of the year gave us a chance of winning.

FR Liam Kelleher 087-8516984