McConnon Secures B Crown For Monaghan

Monaghan ‘B’ 3-07 Galway ‘B’ 2-09 

This may have been the ‘B’ league but like the other finals it
delivered some great passages of play and a wonderful finale at
Pairc Chiarain, Athlone. Both teams give it their all and after
a scrappy opening period the second was much improved.

Galway enjoyed a 1-06 to 1-03 interval lead with their goal coming
from Rachel King on nine minutes. By that stage Monaghan had their
major through player of the match Bonnie Fleming just a minutes
earlier. With Aisling Fahy firing in the Galway girls second goal
five minutes after the restart it looked the title was heading
to Galway. Within ten minutes of the resumption the lead was stretched
to seven. Then came the slice of luck Monaghan needed to get them
back into contention when a speculative shot from Lisa Sherry
dropped under the crossbar into the net. It offered the Ulster
girls a lifeline and as we entered the final six minutes they
had the deficit cut to two points.

Monaghan were looking the hungrier and got a deserved winner
from the boot of Lisa McConnon. The young Aghabog club girl collected
a long delivery before turning and coolly slotting the ball under
Galway keeper Louise Morris. Galway tried to get back on level
terms but the Monaghan defence held firm and took the ‘B’ crown
back to the Oriel county.

Monaghan ‘B’: J Moran, C Mulligan, P Treanor, A Newell, B McNally,
D Finnegan, C Brady, U McNally (0-01), L Sherry (1-00), L Connolly
(0-02), K McManus (0-01), E Hacket, L McConnon (1-00), B Fleming
(1-02), S McCooey Subs: R Hughes (0-01), R McNally, T Fleming

Galway ‘B’: L Morris, M Moloney, A Egan, A Connaghton, A Wynne,
M Burke, C Coleman, E Curley, B Hannon (0-02), E O’Sullivan, A
Fahy (1-03, 3f), B Connolly, M Wilson, N Lohan (0-02), R King
(1-02) Subs: Nora Ward, Sarah Noone, Deirdre Martin

Report by Alan Gunn