AIB All-Ireland Intermediate club semi-finals: Eglish (Tyrone) 0-9 Na Fianna (Meath) 1-9; Clanmaurice (Kerry) 1-12 Shamrocks (Galway) 2-5
THE opening three points in each half and a goal from Kerrie Cole in the 16th minute were the key scores as Tyrone champions Eglish came up short in a closely-fought AIB Intermediate All-Ireland semi-final in Darver on Saturday.
Cole grabbed one of those early first half points and Emma Regan the other two to kick-start a busy weekend for Meath club Na Fianna. Although Regan Fay responded with two points for the Tyrone side who hadn’t played a competitive fixture in 11 weeks, Cole’s goal made a big difference.
Points from Kaitlin Gallagher, Olivia Farley and Clíodhna Goodfellow closed the gap for Eglish, but Cole and free-taker Aoife Carey meant that the goal was still the gap at the break, 1-5 to 0-5.
The three points at the start of the second half for Na Fianna came from Cole and two more Carey frees. But Kaitlin Gallagher and two Fay points closed the gap to a goal with four minutes of added time signalled.
However Emma Regan grabbed an insurance point before Fay’s final free and Eglish were gone while most of the Meath side had a quick shower and change before heading to Mallow where they had a football semi-final against the Munster champions on Sunday.
In the other semi-final, played on Sunday afternoon, Clanmaurice from Kerry scored a goal in the third minute and that score remained the gap right through to a 1-12 to 2-5 victory that sees them take a step further forward than the extra time defeat they suffered last year to Clonduff.
Eglish: R Fay 0-5, 3 frees, K Gallagher 0-2, C Goodfellow and O Farley 0-1 each.
Na Fianna: K Cole 1-3, E Regan 0-3, A Carey 0-3 frees.
Eglish: J Lagan, C Jordan, F Farley, L Mason, E Conroy, A Jordan, A Donnelly, L Donnelly, K Daly, K Gallagher, R Fay, O Farley, C Gallagher, C Goodfellow, C McMullan.
Na Fianna: N Kirby, G Grehan, C Coffey, A Byrne, S Payne, E Fagan, L Devine, A Slattery, A Carey, B Kelly, S Ennis, K Cole, M Kirby, E Regan, B Flynn
AIB All-Ireland Junior A club semi-finals: Granemore (Armagh) 3-12 Knockananna (Wicklow) 3-6; Athleague (Roscommon) 2-6 St Joseph’s Doora Barefield (Clare) 0-9
THREE late points, two from Rachel Merry with one from sub Kate Smith, sealed an All-Ireland Junior final spot for Armagh champions Granemore in Abbottstown on Sunday afternoon.
Granemore held an interval lead of 2-6 to 1-2, but saw that whittled down to a margin of two points during the third quarter. However with Gráinne McWilliams superb at the centre of the defence the Armagh girls stalled Knockananna’s adrenalin rush and then struck for home in the final stages.
The first quarter was a good one for Granemore. Not only did they get settled into the game but goals from Corrina Doyle (11 minutes) and teenager Fiadhna Loughran (14) put them in charge on the score-board.
However a 20th minute goal directly from a Rachel Byrne free stirred the pot a little. But the Ulster side recovered to finish the half strongly with two points from Doyle and one each from Rachel Merry and Loughran.
Knockananna had lost last year’s All-Ireland final and it was a bit of a surprise that all their first half scores came from Byrne frees. But that changed in the early stages of the second half.
Although Ciara Byrne opened the second half with a point inside 30 seconds, Merry hit back with two frees before we had three goals inside five minutes.
The first came from Laura McGrath and then Rachel Byrne hit the net to reduce the Granemore lead to 2-8 to 3-3. Fiadhna Loughran however pulled a goal back in the 42nd minute and that score seemed to settle Granemore nerves. They re-took control around the middle of the field and the three scores in the final five minutes sealed victory for them.
Despite scoring just twice in the second half Roscommon champions Athleague made it through to face the Armagh champions in the final on Saturday week.
Athleague held a narrow 0-6 to 0-5 interval lead, but the two second half goals they scored were enough to bring them through to their second final, eight years after they lost to Johnstownbridge of Kildare.
Granemore: G Loughran 2-1, C Doyle 1-2, R Merry 0-8, 7 frees, K Smith 0-1.
Knockananna: Rachel Byrne 2-4, 1-4 frees, L McGrath 1-0, C Byrne 0-1, E Breslin 0-1.
Granemore: C Devlin capt, Á Keenan, C O’Hare, C McClelland, A McVeigh, G McWilliams, A McClelland, A Doyle, C Doyle, J Carr, E Lavery, L Carr, F Loughran, R Merry, C Hill.
Subs: K Smith for L Carr, E Hagney for J Carr
Knockananna: E Moules, E Mutton, Á Byrne, E Mulhall capt., E Hadden, S Goetelen, E O’Sullivan, Róisín Byrne, A Maher, S Byrne, Rachel Byrne, E Breslin, Á Darcy, C Byrne, L McGrath.
AIB All-Ireland Junior B club semi-finals: Crossmaglen (Armagh) 7-12 Roscommon Gaels 1-3; St Munna’s (Westmeath) 3-16 Croydon (Britain) 0-2
FOR the second successive game Crossmaglen started a game at a pace their opponents couldn’t handle and were relentless for the first 20 minutes. By half time they had an All-Ireland final spot booked with a lead of 3-7 to 0-2 over Roscommon Gaels.
Lauren McConville was the first to draw blood with a goal in the second minute and by the end of the hour the full-forward would amass four goals and three points.
Roscommon had hit their two first half points in the opening ten minutes and, at 1-2 to 0-2, looked capable of measuring up to the Armagh champions. That changed after Megan O’Callaghan’s goal in the 13th minute.
Cross quickly added a goal and five points over the next eight minutes, the goal fired to the net by McConville, and Roscommon were on the back foot, withdrawing players to crowd defence and steady the ship up to the break.
Cross opened the second half with their fourth goal, a second for Megan O’Callaghan, but added just one more score during the third quarter through Faye Fitzpatrick.
Then, rocked by a 45th minute Roscommon goal from Grace Geraghty, they took off once more. Lauren McConville completed her hat-trick after 52 minutes and added a fourth goal in added time after Grace Fitzpatrick had bagged goal number six.
There was similar one-sided fayre in Abbottstown where Westmeath champions St Munna’s brushed aside London winners Croydon on a 3-16 to 0-2 score-line to set up a final on Saturday 16th December.
Crossmaglen: L McConville 4-3, M O’Callaghan 2-2, G Fitzpatrick 1-0, A McMahon 0-4, 3 frees, F Fitzpatrick, R Leneghan and E Cassidy 0-1 each.
Roscommon: G Geraghty 1-1, A Sutton 0-2 frees
Crossmaglen: S Califf, S Hanratty, R McConville capt., E McMahon, A McEntee, A McMahon, G Fitzpatrick, A McConville, C Leneghan, F Fitzpatrick, O Donaldson, B O’Brien, M O’Callaghan, L McConville, E Cassidy.
Subs: M Hughes for O Donaldson (45), B O’Neill for S Hanratty (45), C Daly for M O’Callaghan (49), R Leneghan for E Cassidy (50), E Finnegan for C Leneghan (59).
Roscommon: E Crean, A Donlon, J Doran, M Fallon capt, Z Fallon, MR Finneran, G Geraghty, S Hession, B Hoare, E Horan, E Hough, A Kiernan, CKilleen, E Killion, N Madden.
