Ladies Football O'Connor Cup Wrap-up

Ladies Football O’Connor Cup Wrap-up

 

Please find below a wrap-up of the Ladies Football O’Connor Cup final and the other HEC Ladies Football Finals which took place this weekend in NUI Galway. Pictures from the finals have been sent to your picturedesk (Vinnie O’Brien)

 

UUJ Win O’Connor Cup

 

UUJ made it third time lucky at Nui Galway on Saturday when theydefeated IT Sligo in the final of the O’Connor Cup, the premier third level ladies football competition.

 

The Ulster side emerged victorious with a scoreline of 0-14 to 1-3, having finished runners up in this competition of the last two years, the Jordanstown women put in a determined performance and IT Sligo had no answer to the skill and pace they displayed.

 

IT Sligo’s Emma Mullin capitalised on a mix up at the back to score the only goal of the game on the stroke of half-time. This left just the minimum between the sides at the break, despite UUJ’s dominance of the opening half. However, seven unanswered scores in the last ten minutes of the game sealed the tie for Jordanstown as they ran out comprehensive
victors.

 

In a tense opening, UUJ found it hard to break down a stubborn Sligo defence. The sin-binning of IT Sligo midfielder Jackie Moran in the fifteenth minute UUJ the opportunity to built a lead and they raced into a four point lead with scores from Cathy Donnelly, Maighdilin McAlinden and Claire Timoney. A fine score from Sonya McGaw helped to send UUJ on their way and McGaw proved to be a thorn in the side of the Sligo women all day as she played an industrious roving wing-forward role to great effect.

 

Despite the setback of conceding a soft goal just before half-time, UUJ kicked three points in quick succession after the restart to re-establish their four point lead. To the Sligo side’s credit, they rallied and two pointed frees from Karen Maloney and a point from the ever-threatening Mullin brought the gap down to just a point again.

 

That was to be as good as it got for the Sligo women, however, as UUJ proceeded to blow them away in the final ten minutes. McAlinden opted to take her point in the fifty-first minute when she had the goal at her mercy and Donnelly and McGaw also pointed to give them a 0-10 to 1-3 lead. McAlinden then forced a fine reaction save from Noelle Gormley, the Sligo keeper, before two further pointed frees from McGaw and a point each from Neamh Woods and Claire Timoney sealed the result for the Ulster side.

 

Three other third level ladies football finals were held in NUI Galway Dangan sports grounds. In the Lynch Cup Final, two goals from Cork star Laura McMahon and a goal each from Grainne Keneally and Amanda Brosnan saw UCC run out comprehensive victors over Liverpool Hope with a scoreline of 4-16 to 1-2.

 

DIT were narrowly defeated in last years final, but made amends this year with a deserved victory over LIT in the Donaghy Cup final. A first half goal from wing-back Jane Dolan and a late goal from Sharon Clancy helped the Dublin side to victory.

 

A late penalty save by NUI Galway’s Una Carroll, was the decisive moment in the O’Connor Shield final. The home side ran out five point winners over UCD with a scoreline of 2-9 to 2-4, with player of the match Niamh Fahey scoring an outstanding individual goal for the Galway side to cap off an excellent display.

 

HEC Ladies Football Finals Results

 

O’Connor Cup Final:

UUJ 0-14 IT Sligo 1-3

 

Lynch Cup Final:

UCC 4-16 Liverpool Hope 1-2

 

Donaghy Cup Final:

DIT 2-11 LIT 2-4

 

O’Connor Shield Final:

NUI Galway 2-9 UCD 2-4

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