Battling Kildare miss out late on in All-Ireland Premier Junior semi-final with Cavan
Kildare led at half-time before suffering a 2-12 to 1-9 defeat at the hands of Cavan in their All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Championship semi-final
Kildare came up short in a thrilling semi-final battle with Cavan in the All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Championship in Tullamore. After producing a stellar first-half comeback to lead at the interval, The Lilies failed to replicate their resurgent efforts in the second and were beaten 2-12 to 1-9 in O’Connor Park.
The eventual winners were heavy favourites and put their stamp on this game from the first whistle.
Cavan’s first attack won them a ‘45 at the tightest possible angle for Eimear Brady, but the Lacken centre-forward dispatched the set-piece with little fuss.
Brady picked up Cavan’s second from a free with another confident strike.
The Lilies were five down with five minutes on the clock when the side in the ascendency found the net. Hannah Fitzsimons struck a lovely sideline cut that was set to drop just short of its mark but instead found its way into the net off Niamh Krahn’s hand after she failed to gather possession. The error left The Lilies seemingly well adrift at an early stage.
Kildare had their first shot of the game moments later when Sara Carroll hit an effort underneath the crossbar but straight at Emma Mulvaney between the Cavan sticks.
Kildare threatened the Cavan goal again when Caoimhe Ní Bhuircéal lobbed a long-range free into the danger area. The searching ball forward was gathered by late change to the starting XV Louise Murphy who was dragged back inside the box but stayed honest before eventually Kildare were shut out when the ball squirted wide.
The Lilies’ best spell in the game to that point proved fruitless and Cavan compounded that feeling of a missed chance with a point from Róisín O’Keefe at the other end.
Rebecca McDermott did open Kildare’s account inside the same minute however and the game crossed the 10-minute mark with Cavan leading 1-3 to 0-1.
Back-to-back frees put Cavan seven clear at the midway point of the first half with ‘keeper Emma Mulvaney scoring from midfield while Brady dispatched coolly yet again.
Rebecca McDermott picked up The Lilies’ just second point, which then kicked off a run of six Kildare scores without reply to fire them into an unlikely lead.
An excellent long ball forward from Niamh Krahn set-up Aoife McDermott to score before consecutive frees dispatched by Caoimhe Ní Bhuircéal and Rebecca McDermott had The Lilies within three. It was all Kildare in this stretch of proceedings as they completely took over this game while making Cavan look a completely different side to the one that had driven themselves into a seven-point lead.
In the 25th minute, the game was level. Ní Bhuircéal stood over yet another long-range free, this time from the middle of the field, and launched it forward. Her lofted effort dropped short of the goal but was not interfered with on its way and bounced off the hard surface in O’Connor Park and into the roof of the net. It was a game of two bizarre first half goals, the second of which brought the sides level.
The Lilies then took the lead when Aoife Stynes gathered a loose ball and, while under pressure and off-balance, put Kildare ahead for the first time.
Cavan got their first point in 13 minutes to level proceedings again through midfielder Niamh Keenaghan.
It didn’t take long for Kildare to edge back in front as they charged up the other end. Strong initial defending from the girls in blue proved not enough when Ní Bhuricéal recycled possession to Aoife McDermott who fired over her second point.
After being five down after five, Kildare carried a two-point lead (1-8 to 1-6) in at the break when Caoimhe Ní Bhuricéal nailed a free from just inside the Cavan half seconds before the interval.
There was huge tension after the restart with Kildare looking to build on a mighty resurgence while Cavan tried to claw their way back into control of this game.
The opening minutes were helter-skelter with contests all over the field for possession. Two Cavan players saw their hurls go the way of kindling in the dogged pursuit of the game’s next score.
Nine minutes after the recommencement of play, that score did arrive and it was Cavan that got it when Shanise Fitzsimons closed the gap to a single point with a fine effort from out wide.
Fitzsimons then levelled this game at 1-8 apiece with another well-struck score from just outside the arc, there is no extra reward for that with a stick in your hand of course.
Kildare got their noses back in front through Aoife Stynes which meant The Lilies were the team ahead going into the final 15 minutes of this All-Ireland PJCC semi-final.
The ever-reliable Cavan free-taker Eimear Brady had her side level again before they shot three clear with 10 minutes remaining with the game’s third goal.
A long ball into Niamh Keenaghan, who marauded forward, was stunningly fetched by the Cavan midfielder. The Laragh player landed, spun and smashed the ball into the back of the net to give Cavan a 2-9 to 1-9 lead with an exceptional intervention of quality.
Kildare were frazzled by the shock concession and gave away a free within scoring range soon after, which was unsurprisingly knocked over by the seemingly unshakable Eimear Brady.
Brady then turned provider for second-half substitute Orla Flynn to give Cavan a five-point lead with five minutes to go, just as they had led five minutes into this game.
A Kildare substitute almost sent them roaring back into this contest late on but Niamh Farrell saw her lofted effort which had beaten the Cavan ‘keeper all ends up come back out off the post.
The Lilies last stand came from a Lea Sutton free which came back off the crossbar as they threw all they had at Cavan in search of a second goal to give them some hope late on.
The chief disappointment for Kildare will be, after a superb first-half comeback and performance, that they only managed a single second-half point in pursuit of what would have been a brilliant upset victory.
It was instead Cavan who scored in the closing minutes with captain Rósín O’Keefe finding the target to complete their 2-12 to 1-9 victory as they moved into the All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Championship final.
Cavan: Eimear Brady 0-5 (0-4 frees, 1 x '65), Niamh Keenaghan 1-1, Hannah Fitzsimons 1-0, Shanise Fitzsimons 0-2, Róisín O'Keefe 0-2, Emma Mulvaney 0-1 (0-1 frees), Orla Flynn 0-1.
Kildare: Caoimhe Ní Bhuirceal 1-2 (1-2 frees), Rebecca McDermott 0-3 (0-1 frees), Aoife McDermott 0-2, Aoife Stynes 0-2.
CAVAN: Emma Mulvaney; Eavan O'Sullivan, Rosie Crowe McKeeve, Ciara Shalvey; Aideen Coyle, Alannah Tierney, Rebecca Fitzsimons; Hannah Fitzsimons, Niamh Keenaghan; Róisín O'Keefe, Eimear Brady, Shanise Fitzsimons; Daria Kaledek, Aela O'Sullivan, Aoibhe Conaty. Subs: Orla Flynn for Aoibhe Conaty (40 minutes), Emma Plunkett for Aela O'Sullivan (47 minutes), Katie Tierney for Eavan O'Sullivan (58 minutes).
KILDARE: Róisín Roche; Kate Murphy, Laoise Mimnagh, Sadbh Horgan; Caoimhe O'Sullivan, Shauna Dunne, Niamh Krahn; Sara Carroll, Hannah Davis; Aoife Stynes, Caoimhe Ní Bhuircéal, Louise Murphy; Rebecca McDermott, Lea Sutton, Aoife McDermott. Subs: Niamh Farrell for Louise Murphy (Half-time), Sadhbh Buckley for Sara Carroll (44 minutes), Róisín Naughton for Sadhbh Horgan (60 minutes), Gráinne Dowling for Caoimhe O'Sullivan (60 minutes).
Referee: John Dooley