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In the Derry Senior championship Lavey secured three titles in a row with Captain Siobhan Convery picking up her seventh Championship medal yesterday (Sunday) with a fine win over Castledawson.
The opening minutes were a tense and nervous affair with both sides missing the opportunity to seal the first score with Attracta McPeake’s free hitting the upright and Shauna Mullholand’s strike going narrowly wide.
Castledawson ækeeper Claire O’Kane was called into action in the opening exchanges but she was more than equal to the task as she cleared her lines well. Lavey did gain the upper hand with Mary O’Kane slotting over some fine points. Katie McAuley did get two on the board for Castledawson but Paula McCloy slotted home from close range to stretch Lavey’s lead to seven points at the break.
Some fine work from Katie McAuley at the start of the second-half saw Roisin Hawe slot home from close range saw the gap reduced to five. Lavey however stepped up their game with Mary O’Kane finding the net with Helen O’Neill and Denise McCann both raising the white flag with two superbly taken points.
A goal from Eimhear McCartney gave Castledawson a glimmer of hope but O’Kane raised the green flag on two more occasions to seal an emphatic win for Lavey as they ran out victors 4-13 to 2-04.
“”We’re just delighted to win three in a row. I don’t think the score line reflects how tough the game was, Castledawson really made us work hard for every ball and we knew that we couldn’t afford to take our foot off the peddle at any stage. Personally I’m delighted because I’ve been here for all three titles now and it’s great for Siobhan (Convery) to be win seven medals is some achievement.
It’s always tough to get out of your own county and I think that the Derry championship is one of the most competitive in Ulster with a number of teams raising the bar so we’re delighted that we were able to come out of it, we’ll just get our heads down and work for Ulster.”” said Lavey coach Orla Downey.
Dungiven and Slaughtneil II will have to battle it out once more for the Derry Intermediate title with yesterday’s (Sunday) game ending 1-08 apiece. Meanwhile Lavey II were unable to make it a double as they were categorically beaten by Ballinascreen II in the Junior championship.
Clonduff snatched back the Down Senior title seeing off Ballycran 5-10 to 2-05. Lorraine MaGinn, Ciara McGreevey, Ursula Quinn and Onagh and Paula Gribben all played an instrumental role for the champions. Clonduff however did not have it all their own way in the second-half as Ballycran tried to take the game to them with Catherine McGourty and Nicola Branniff causing the Clonduff defence problems but they remained impenetrable as Clonduff held on for the win.
“”It was a great team performance everyone played with so much heart. Ballycran really put it up to us but thankfully we managed to dig deep and get the result,”” said Clonduff’s Fionnuala Carr.
Newry Shamrock’s took home the Division Three Championship defeating Ballygalget 4-05 to 2-04.
Keady sealed their sixth Senior championship title with a comprehensive win over first-timers
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