St. Teresa’s 4-13 Oisin Glenariffe 1-6
Superior firepower proved to be the difference in this
Kennedy Centre Football Shield final between St. Teresa’s and Glenariffe played
under the lights at Cliftonville on Sunday night. The girls from North Antrim
battled hard throughout and enjoyed as much possession as their opponents but
St. Teresa’s were much more accurate in front of the posts and goals win games.
Interestingly both sides fielded with a Niamh O’Neill
wearing number 11 and both the Niamh’s played a significant part in their sides
overall performance with the Glen Road Niamh prominent in everything positive
her side did and the North Antrim Niamh posing her side’s main scoring threat.
The girls from the Glens battled hard throughout with Laura
McMullan driving forward time after time but too often Glenariffe were unable
to turn good approach play into scores. At the other end goals from Jennifer
Adams and Leanne May in response to one from Niamh O’Neill saw the Glen Road
girls lead by 2-6 to 1-4 at the break but it still looked all to play for at
this stage.
On the restart St. Teresa’s moved further ahead as Niamh
O’Neill fired to the net in the opening minute and Lara McGoldrick and Leanne
May followed with points as the City girls started to turn the screw. As they
continued to press Niamh O’Neill rattled the crossbar before Kira McDonnell
fired over to put them 3-8 to 1-5 ahead.
Glenariffe never gave up and were still matching their
opponents for effort and possession but poor shooting and some good defensive
play from Courtney Rice, Orlagh McMenamin and Alex Campbell kept them at bay.
Leanne May replied with a St. Teresa’s point before
Glenariffe were finally rewarded for their efforts as Chloe Mitchell fired over
their second point of the half. Lara McGoldrick and Niamh O’Neill exchanged
further scores before the St. Teresa’s Niamh O’Neill added another.
As both sides emptied their benches it was the Belfast girls
who finished as they had started the second half and Niamh O’Neill put the
icing on a good personal performance with 1-1 and Lara McGoldrick 0-1 concluded
the scoring .
The Glen Road girls were deserving winners. They were strong
at the back and in the middle of the field and in a very potent attack Niamh
O’Neill, Leanne May, Kira McDonnell and Lara McGoldrick were excellent.
Glenariffe, in only their second year deserve massive credit
for reaching the Shield final and their scoring total certainly didn’t reflect
the amount of possession they had over the hour. Noleen Cosgrove, Kerrie
McAloon, Seana Cosgrove, Laura McMullan, Chloe Mitchell, Niamh O’Neill and Clare
Emerson were their best on the night.