Inch blown away by the power of Carnacon.

Carnacon Mayo 2-14 Inch Rovers Cork 1-5.

Physicality, Intensity. Composure, Overall balance, Tactical awareness
and Cora Staunton, these words could sum up the battle for supremacy
in Sunday Senior final of the VHI club championship, where Carnacon
displayed awesome power to deny Inch the title.

Physicality; The Mayo team were much stronger physically than
the Inch girls and they used it to the utmost.

Intensity: They chased and harried with intensity that left Inch
reeling for most of the game.

Composure: They always seemed assured and composed especially
13 minutes into the 2nd half when an Amy O’Shea goal brought Inch
back to 2 points adrift.

Overall Balance: They were a much more balanced team strong in
every line throughout the field.

Tactical awareness:. They showed far greater tactical awareness,
than there more inexperienced opponents.

Cora Stanton.: She was awesome, practically unmarkable and her
1-11 says it all.

Yet for all that the Inch girls can hold their heads high they
never threw in the towel and they fought to the bitter end. Dealt
a cruel blow when their tall and influential midfielder Orla Cotter
was ruled out and that with the continued injury of former All-Star
Mary O’Connor was a huge factor. While the pitch was in prime
condition and the arrangements by the local club were superb the
size limitations of the pitch did inhibit the fluency of the game.
There were far too many stoppages in the game and perpetrators
of a lot of very hard tackles escaped the censure of the referee.

Make no mistake about it, the honours rested truly where they
belong. The first ten minutes were tentative with both sides trading
points. Fiona McHale opened the scoring and she was a thorn in
the Inch defence all through. Inch took the lead with points from
Claire Keohane and a free from Amy O’Shea. That was as good as
it got for them on the scoreboard. Cora Staunton quickly equalised
and then in the 15th minute she simply waltzed through the Inch
defence to hammer home a goal and that was surely a statement
of intent. They dominated for the remainder of the half, with
Martha carter Claire Egan and the McGing trio impressive. They
were full value for their 1-6 to 0-3 lead at the interval.

For the opening 10 minutes of the 2nd half Inch made a bold bid
to close the gap. Amy O’Shea despite close marking was always
a threat and after her fierce shot was pushed on to the post by
keeper Caroline Brennan, her follow up effort cannoned off the
same post and the chance was gone. Claire Keohane slotted over
for Inch’s first score in 20 minutes and when Miss O’Shea finally
got through for a deserved goal the big crowd awaited in anticipation
as the gap was reduced to 2 points. Carnacon stung by this, roared
back into action with a series of Staunton points. The final nail
in Inch’s coffin was hammered, when Fiona Mc Hale scored a peach
of a goal with 10 minutes to go. After that the game fizzled out
and ground to its inevitable conclusion.

On the day Carnacon had more quality players and the inexperience
of Inch could not be balanced by their by their commitment and
work ethic. They are a young team who traded at Junior C level
a few years ago, they have come a long way since under the guidance
of Noel O’Connor, no doubt they will be back. This year the glory
belongs to Carnacon and nobody can dispute that.

Scorers

Carnacon Cora Staunton 1-11 (0-6 frees) Fiona McHale 1-2. Claire
Egan O-1

Inch Rovers Amy O’Shea 1-2(0-2 frees) Claire Keohane 0-2 (0-1
Free) Jill Horan 0-1 Jenny Duffy 0-1.

Inch Rovers . Emma Fogarty Mairead Kennedy, Angela Walsh, Sandra
Smiddy, Ciara Walsh, Jenny Duffy, Fiona Walsh, Annie Walsh, Elaine
Walsh, Anne Marie Walsh, Ella Ryan, Amy O’Shea, Jill Horan, Claire
Keohane. Jessica O’Shea, Siobhan Downing Orla Cotter, Mary O’Connor,
Jessica Power, Aisling Fitzgerald, Una Fitgerald, Susan Nolan,
Sinead Fitzgerald Noelle O’Donovan Laura O’Connor, Karen Walsh.