Quinn elated to see Errigal Ladies back at the summit

LADIES DIVISION ONE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

By Niall Gartland

ERRIGAL Ciaran ladies are back at the top of the tree after a hugely deserved win over Dungannon on Saturday evening, and their joint-manager Eoin Quinn says the players have got their reward for all the hard work done behind the scenes on the training pitch.

They claimed a 0-10 to 0-4 victory to seal their second senior championship title in three years, and Quinn, who manages the team alongside Sean McKenna, explained that there was a burning desire within the camp to make amends for falling short last season.

“Look, it was very disappointing last year getting knocked out of the championship by St Macartan’s. So there was a big desire in the players to bounce back and show what they’re capable of.

“Now they’ve done that – they came up against two very teams in Omagh and Cappagh, then Trillick asked questions of us in the semi-final and we had to set up differently. We were able nullify their threats, then we knew it was going to be dog-eat-dog in the final and the girls worked incredibly hard in training and got their rewards.”

Errigal Ciaran laid the foundations for victory in the first half against Dungannon, racing into a 0-9 to 0-3 lead at the interval. Quinn was pleased with how they controlled the game after the break.

“It was a matter of using the wind in the first half. We were lucky enough to win the toss and to be fair [Dungannon goalkeeper] Marcy pulled off a great save from Aoife Horisk at one stage.

“We thought maybe we should’ve been further in front at half-time, and we knew the second half was about game management and seeing it out.

“Six points wasn’t a massive lead, there’s always the possibility of conceding two slippy goals, so we knew how important it was to control the ball, move it through the hands and keep possession, and the girls did that very well.”

They limited Dungannon to a single point after the break, a reflection of their defensive solidity, and when all was said and done, Errigal were full value for their victory.

Quinn said: “I thought our defence was excellent, including in the first-half. We managed to turn them over quite a bit in the second-half and kept our compsure. They brought in Aoife McGahan and Maeve Lyons, two dangerous players, that asked questions of us and thankfully our defensive structure held up.”