All-Ireland Premier Junior Championship: Cavan 1-11 Down 1-3
WITH two games switched to next week, the Cavan v Down eliminator in Kingspan BreffnI Park was the only game played in the All-Ireland Premier Junior championship at the weekend.
The home side was the more accomplished team, but it wasn’t until a rather fortunate goal from Elaine Brady in the 55th minute that they converted their supremacy into a comfortable margin on the score-board.
Brady’s lob into the Down goal area went all the way to the net to put Cavan 1-8 to 1-2 ahead. Although Katie McGilligan pointed for Down in the next attack, Cavan had broken the siege and Clodagh Keenaghan, Elaine Brady and Áine Corcoran added injury-time points to set Cavan up with a semi-final meeting against the winner from next weekend’s tie between Wexford and Armagh.
Cavan got off to the right start with Keenaghan pointing a 45 inside the first minute. However, Down were set up fairly defensively and, with playing conditions challenging enough, there were not many scores in the opening half.
The home side led by 0-3 to 0-1 at the water-break and over the next ten minutes Cavan added four more points through Clodagh Keenaghan (2), her sister Niamh and Áine Corcoran.
However, a Down goal scrambled over the line by Aoife Murphy was quickly followed by a point from Cora Cunningham and there was just two points, 0-7 to 1-2, between the sides at the turnover.
Amazingly there were no further scores until the 49th minute when Josephine Maguire added a point for Cavan. Then came the Brady goal and it was enough to see the Breffni Blues through to a second successive semi-final with Maguire, the Keenaghan sisters, Niamh and Aoisha Reilly and Erin Galligan all prominent.
Aoife Savage and Jessica Rush were excellent for a Down side that held Cavan scoreless for 30 minutes. However the visitors' challenge fell down in attack where they never looked like getting enough scores to see them home.
Cavan scorers: E Brady (1-1), C Keenaghan (0-4, 0-1 45), Á Corcoran (0-3), O Smith (0-1), N Keenaghan (0-1), J Maguire (0-1)
Down scorers: A Murphy (1-0), Katie McGilligan (0-2), Cora Cunningham (0-1)
