2020 AIB All-Ireland senior club camogie semi-final: Slaughtneil (Derry) 1-11 Oulart-the-Ballagh (Wexford) 2-15
THE concession of a goal and five points in the first 10 minutes in Ashbourne yesterday left Slaughtneil far too steep a hill to climb in this 2020 AIB All-Ireland club camogie semi-final.
There were a lot of uncharacteristic handling errors from the five-time Ulster champion from the first minute when Shauna Sinnott capitalised for an easy opening point until Oulart’s10th point of the first half a couple of minutes before half-time.
All the breaks went to Oulart-the-Ballagh, but they earned them too; their reaction times just seemed to be that fraction quicker than Slaughtneil’s and they regularly had the player on the overlap taking possession and running into space for the point.
With the early scores for Oulart, the game had to open up more and that was not to Slaughtneil’s liking as the Wexford side’s experienced forwards seemed to pick the right option all the time.
“We had to get up to Slaughtneil’s level of play for this game,” claimed Oulart coach and former Wexford hurler Rory Jacob.
“They have set an unbelievable standard over the past few years and we needed the start that we got.
“We wouldn’t have been happy with our performance last week (against Thomastown in Leinster final). We fought hard, but we didn’t hurl well. We felt that would not be good enough against the quality of player that Slaughtneil have and against the team they have.
“While the game opened up a bit, it was still very tight and we had to watch for their girls there, Tina Bradley, Aoife Ni Chaiside, the girl Mellon (Sinéad). They are all very dangerous and we had to really watch them.”
His Slaughtneil counterpart Micky Glover acknowledged that they were up against a serious team.
“They did what we wanted to do to them. They were quick to break, we had looked at their system of play, the quick off the shoulder runs. But we just seemed to be caught out a lot," he said.
“Their striking was good, their use of the ball was good. But we made some mistakes early in the game and then there were more mistakes and that seemed to drain our confidence, while the referee didn’t really help us either.
“Having said that they had experienced players who used the ball, especially when we had to open up and go at them.
“We had a bit of a purple patch at the start of the second half. An early goal and all, but they they kept hitting back with a point or two in reply and we were not making the headway we needed to.”
The start to the game meant that Slaughtneil, the All-Ireland finalists for the past four seasons, were always on the back foot. They have fallen behind in games before, but the gap was never as wide at any time, never mind after just 10 minutes.
Sinnott’s early point was followed by two from Stacey Kehoe and then two from Ursula Jacob, the first from a free. That took seven minutes on the clock.
A couple of minutes later Shelly Kehoe ran down the centre, drew Louise Dougan and off-loaded for Úna Lacey to find the net.
Slaughtneil knew they had to raise their game and by the water-break it was 1-5 to 0-4 with three of the four Slaughtneil points coming from frees and Ciara Storey lucky to get off with a yellow card for a very high tackle on Tina Bradley.
Although Clíodhna Ní Mhianáin pointed on the re-start, Shelly Kehoe posted a point before a long free from Ursula Jacob came off a defender’s stick and ended in the Slaughtneil net.
By the interval Oulart had stretched their lead to 2-10 to 0-6 and were in complete control it seemed, although they had to face the stiff breeze for the next 30 minutes.
The Ulster champions got the perfect start to the second half with Céat McEldowney blocking a clearance and chasing after the sliotar to set up Therese Mellon who cut inside and found the net off the goalie’s stick.
Orla McNeill added a point and then Sinéad Mellon also seemed to hit a point, but the linesman over-ruled the umpires. That seemed to break the momentum.
The next score took another nine minutes and it came from Shelly Kehoe. Oulart were up and running again and they went into the water break with a 2-14 to 1-8 advantage.
From then to the end, it was about holding to what Oulart had. There were last gasp blocks at both ends while Úna Lacey coming out to wing forward gave the Leinster champions an outlet from defence.
In the first semi-final played on Saturday in Edenderry, title holders Sarsfield’s from Galway were contained to a 0-3 to 0-2 half-time score, but opened up in the second half to beat Drum and Inch from Tipperary by 0-11 to 0-4.
Siobhán McGrath hit seven points and her sister Orlaith two. The final is this Saturday in Nolan Park in Kilkenny.
Slaughtneil: J Bradley; O McNeill (0-2), L Dougan (0-3 frees), E McGrath; B McAllister, C Ní Mhianáin (0-2), C McGrath; S Graham, Céat McEldowney; C Mulholland, T Bradley (0-4, 0-3 frees), A Ní Chaiside; O Rafferty, S Mellon, T Mellon (1-0).
Oulart: Lauren Sinnott; M O’Dowd, A Brennan, K Roche; A Dunne, C Storey, M Leacy capt; Stacey Kehoe (0-3), A Curran; K Gallagher, Shelley Kehoe (0-5), Shauna Sinnott (0-2); Louise Sinnott (0-1), U Leacy (1-1), U Jacob (1-3, 1-2 frees).
Subs: Siobhan Sinnott for Louise Sinnott (51), Laura Sinnott for Ú Lacey (59)
Referee: J O’Donoghue (Galway)
