Johnstownbridge (Kildare) 3-16
Tara (London) 0-8
Johnstownbridge made the return flight to London an unhappy one for Tara as they cantered to victory in the AIB All-Ireland junior club camogie quarter-final on home turf.
Dick Flanagan’s crew, who have lost to subsequent champions Kilmessan and Myshall in recent seasons, are single-minded in their intent this year and were impressive in brushing aside an Exiles unit that has proven very difficult to beat this decade.
The Kildare and Leinster representatives did all the damage in the first half, with the composed Clodagh Flanagan and pacey Louise Codd pulling the strings around the middle, while Siobhán Hurley kept the scoreboard ticking over with seven points from play and placed balls, despite picking up an injury in the warm-up that led to her substitution early in the second half.
Tara are a proud bunch though and with both teams making substitutions, came out on top in the second half to the tune of seven points to one.
Johnstownbridge had the damage done by then however, as goals from Jane O’Donoghue, Codd and substitute Shona Beatty, just a matter of minutes after replacing the injured Ciara Mooney, put them 3-15 to 0-1 in front at the interval, while Codd and Róisín O’Connell fired over some spectacular points.
The hosts weren’t in the mood to given anything away and goalkeeper Tanya Johnson made a smart save to deny Cornelia Hawkes a goal just before the interval.
Denise Gilligan, a two-goal hero when Galway won their first All-Ireland senior title in 1996 was responsible for Tara’s only first-half point but trebled her tally with two scores from play after the resumption, while substitutes Joanne Hamilton and Maria Ryan made a significant impact with three points between them.
They couldn’t breach a rearguard in which Eimear Hurley and Aisling Holton excelled though and it was Johnstownbridge who progressed to the semi-final in comfortable fashion.
SCORERS – JOHNSTOWNBRIDGE: S Hurley 0-8(4fs, 1 45); L Codd 1-4; J O’Donoghue, S Beatty 1-0 each; R O’Connell 0-2; C Flanagan, C Mooney 0-1 each
TARA: D Gilligan 0-3(1f); M Ryan 0-2; J Hamilton, C Ryan, C Kelly (f) 0-1 each
JOHNSTOWNBRIDGE: T Johnson, E McEvoy, E Hurley, F Blake, C Farrell, J Murphy, A Holton, L Codd, C Flanagan, A Trant, S Hurley, C Hurley, R O’Connell, J O’Donoghue, C Mooney. Subs: S Beatty for Mooney, S Morrin for S Hurley, E Farrell for Codd, M Doyle for Flanagan, N McNally for Holton
TARA: F O’Grady, E Kelly, A Gleeson, N Murphy, L Hawkes, H Murphy, J Traynor, C Kelly, R O’Grady, C Hawkes, C Ryan, A Nyhan, M Fenton, D Gilligan, O Jennings. Subs: M Ryan for Jennings, J Hamilton for Hawkes
REFEREE: J McDonagh (Galway)
