By Gary Toohey, at NGDC Abbotstown
Naomh Treasa 2-3
Ceann Créige 0-4
Naomh Treasa of Dungannon got the better of the history makers from Ceann Créige in Glasgow this afternoon at the NGDC in Abbotstown to secure AIB Junior B All-Ireland club camogie honours, with Gráinne Rafferty’s long-range goal the clinching score.
Róisín McErlean’s goal right at the start of the second half set Naomh Treasa on the road to a second All-Ireland title at this grade against a team that was the first from Scotland in an All-Ireland final.
Scores were hard to come by in the first half, with both teams going in level with just one point each scored. In difficult and wintry conditions, it wasn’t until the tenth minute that the first score was registered, Nicole Nugent hitting the target from a free for the Scottish outfit. Ceann Créige had their goalkeeper to thank for holding that lead, as Sarah O’Sullivan dived brilliantly to her left, denying Clare Kelly a certain goal for Naomh Treasa.
The Ulster side had to wait all of 23 minutes for their first score, Róisín McErlean the scorer from a 45, but despite the low-scoring fare, the speed and competitiveness of the tie, and the end-to-end nature of the camogie, left supporters in no doubt as to the high stakes involved.
No doubt Dean McParland would have asked for a fast restart from his Naomh Treasa charges at half-time, and they delivered in style, finding the net after just 28 seconds.
Róisín McErlean was the driving force for a dominant second half from the Ulster Champions and she was the scorer in this instance, picking a lovely pass from the impressive Gráinne Rafferty inside the 45 to drive through the Ceann Créige defence and bury it into the back of the net.
All around the pitch, there were positive sides for Naomh Treasa. Laura Barker was starting to pick up a lot of loose ball around the middle third, forcing the Glasgow outfit to sit very deep in their own half, while Katie McMahon was probably the player of the half in the first half but the Northerners found a way to curtail her influence after half-time.
It was a sign of things to come for Naomh Treasa, with McErlean adding a point from play while pressure mounted, though Sarah O’Sullivan made another incredible save to prevent her from scoring what would have been a match-winning goal.
That crucial green flag wasn’t too far away as just before the midway point in the second half, a long ball in from Rafferty caused confusion for the Ceann Créige defence and just when everyone in Abbotstown thought the ball was cleared, both umpires signalled a goal.
Down the home straight, Ceann Créige started to push bodies forward, and their late surge kicked off with a well-taken score from the impressive Anna McKee.
The 2020 All-Ireland champions responded with a well taken Claire Kelly point to push the lead back out to seven again however, meaning that Ceann Créige had just too much to do in the closing minutes.
A 20m free from Sarah O’Sullivan and a point from the energetic Nicole Nugent wasn’t enough to really threaten a late turnaround, as the history-making visitors from Scotland, with ten different counties represented in their ranks, never looked like scoring the goal they needed to get back into the tie.
SCORERS FOR NAOMH TREASA: R McErlean 1-2 (0-1f); G Rafferty 1-0;C Kelly 0-1
SCORERS FOR CEANN CRÉIGE: N Nugent 0-2 (1f); S O’ Sullivan (f), A McKee 0-1 each
NAOMH TREASA: E Colton, C McNulty, B Barker, C Ferran, M Barker, C Casey, Á McNulty, C McGrath, R McErlean, G Rafferty, L Barker, B Jones, C McErlean, C Kelly, C Little. Subs: B Santos for C McErlean (42) D Ó Faoláin for C Little (47), N Moore for C Kelly (58)
CEANN CRÉIGE: S Sullivan, H McGough, O Donnelly, C Doyle, K Dullea, E Gavan, A McCarthy, Nugent, K McMahon, B Donaghy, N Rice, M Reynolds, A McKee, O McArdle, A Clarke. Subs: S McDonnell for O McArdle (39), A Keyes for K Dullea (59)
REFEREE: Ciarán Goff (Wicklow)
#TheToughest
