WJ DOLAN TYRONE LADIES SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Championship titles have been claimed by An Charraigmhor ten times
in the Tyrone senior series, its doubtful though that any have felt
as special as Saturdays at Beragh.

The winners claimed the Jarleth Kerr memorial cup, a cup presented
by the club to the county board in memory of a great clubman who
helped guide the side to a first Ulster crown in the 1990s.

This senior final, a repeat of last year’s match-up, the champions
used all of their experience proving again just too strong for an
Errigal Ciaran outfit who were left with the bitter disappointment
of defeat in a county final for a third time.

In a focused and mastered display, Carrickmore led from start to
finish and in truth never looked in any great danger of relinquishing
their stranglehold on ladies football in the county.

The defending champions started as they meant to go on, and quickly
raced into a 0-6 to 0-0 lead in the early stages, as Elaine Coyle
and Sinead Mc Aleer (0-2 each), Maire Grogan and Lynnette Hughes
all found the target in the opening ten minutes.

Errigal finally did get on the scoreboard through Nuala Mc Garvey,
as the full-forward fired over when she gathered on the break from
a Sarah Connolly ‘45’. Connolly herself got of the mark
soon after from a 20m free to narrow the gap, but Gemma Begley responded
with two pointed frees to restore a six-point lead. Good work from
Lynnette Hughes set Coyle up for her third point of the day, and
she made it four before the break with another pointed free.

Sarah Connolly tried her best to take the game to Carrickmore throughout
but Connie Fox was certainly a capable match for the aspiring county
youngster.

Carrickmore led 0-10 to 0-3 at the short whistle as they kept pressing
forward.

 

It was evident then that Errigal Ciaran would have to bounce back
early in the second half, any hopes of that were dashed within the
opening minutes though. First, they lost Rosaleen Mc Garvey to the
sin bin for ten minutes for a yellow card offence, before full-back
Kelly Marie Mc Crory was stretchered off injured.

Begley, who was certainly leading by example, once again found the
target as Carrickmore retained control, sterling work by Catherine
Mc Callan and Connie Fox in the centre of defence keeping the Errigal
attack at bay whilst Maire Slane and Lynnette Hughes were assured
at midfield.

Connolly and Elaine Coyle again exchanged points with Errigal not
giving up as Siobhan Mc Garvey continued to lead them from her full-back
berth.

With 17 minutes of the second half played, Errigal finally found
the goal they had been desperately in search of. A cross-field ball
from Connolly found midfielder Donna Quinn in space, her powerful
shot found its way to the back of the net despite the best efforts
of Carmen goalkeeper Claire Donnelly who had been commanding in
the area.

That score put an injection of life back into the closing stages
of a game that was threatening to fizzle out, and when Connolly
pointed from a free kick soon after, Errigal may have been thinking
that maybe, just maybe, a comeback could be on the cards.

But it was Carrickmore who once again turned the screw.

Maire Slane made a great burst forward to fire over an inspirational
score, and Begley was once again on target to make it 0-15 to 1-05.

It was fitting that the last say would go to the Carrickmore captain,
and her great score from wide on the left wing sealed a comfortable
win for her side, and saw the captain finish the game with a personal
tally of five points, before climbing the steps to receive the Jarlath
Kerr cup and prepare for the Ulster title bid, no doubt with JARLETH
Kerr still having a guiding hand in motivating his beloved “Carmen”

 

Scorers…

Carrickmore: Gemma Begley 0-5 (3 frees), Elaine Coyle 0-5 (2 frees),
Sinead Mc Aleer 0-3, Lynnette Hughes 0-1, Maire Slane 0-1, Maire
Grogan 0-1

Errigal Ciaran: Sarah Connolly 0-4 (3 frees), Donna Quinn 1-0,
Nuala Mc Garvey 0-1

Teams…

Carrickmore: Claire Donnelly, Roisin Rafferty, Catherine Mc Callan,
Aideen Loughran, Claire O’Kane, Connie Fox, Eleanor Fox, Lynnette
Hughes, Maire Slane, Nicole Hurson, Gemma Begley, Sinead Mc Aleer,
Elaine Coyle, Kathy Mc Aleer, Maire Grogan

Subs used: Roisin Mc Cartan for Eleanor Fox, Stacey Mc Cann for
Elaine Coyle, Elaine Kelly for Maire Slane

Errigal Ciaran: Aoife Donnelly, Claire Mc Cann, Kelly Marie Mc
Crory, Amy Montague, Laura Mc Cann, Siobhan Mc Garvey, Shannon Quinn,
Donna Quinn, Louise Loughran, Selena Oguz, Nuala Mc Garvey, Rosaleen
Mc Garvey, Anne Mallon, Sarah Connolly, Claire Mc Garvey.

Subs used: Lycrecia Quinn for Laura Mc Cann, Briege Mc Garvey for
Kelly Marie Mc Crory

 

VENUES RAISES POSITIVE RESPONSES

There were Positive comments made about the weekends three venues
used by the county board for the four WJ Dolan adult finals.

On Thursday at short notice Fintona hosted the new senior B final,
while on Friday night Greencastle was the venue for the junior decider.
Beraghs new facilities provided the perfect backdrop for the Intermediate
and Senior finals on Saturday. Credit to all the clubs involved
in hosting the games, thanks to stewards, gate-people, club officials
and workers and all those who attended the weekends finals and supported
ladies football in Tyrone.