Battling St Pat’s girls undone by classy Cork opposition

St Mary’s, Macroom Cork 8-13  St Pat’s Academy, Dungannon 4-12

FIVE first half goals set St Mary’s Macroom on the road to a comfortable All-Ireland Post Primary Schools Junior Under-16 Final victory against a battling St Patrick’s Dungannon side that refused to throw in the towel at the Manguard in Kildare on Thursday afternoon.

The Tyrone girls did their upmost to claw back a fourteen point deficit after the break but the task proved just too much for them, despite the best efforts of Aine Neillis, Cara McMoran and Lauren O’Neill.

Even with Macroom reduced to twelve players midway through the second half, with two yellows and a red card, the gap on the scoreboard was just too much to reel in.

Shauna Keane opened the scoring inside a minute for the Cork girls before a quick Academy response through O’Neill and Nelis. While St Pat’s pressed through the early stages the St Mary’s defence stood firm and at the other end their influential attacker Keane beat Aoibheann Ward in nets to open the floodgates.

After the goal the Academy did reply through Nelis (0-2) and McMoran but there was then five scores on the bounce from the Munster girls.

Roisin Ni Liathain and full forward Cora Delaney both found the net, while Delaney added points as they strecthed out in front 5-7 to 0-8 by the break with St Patrick’s struggling to make much headway.

Ni Liathain proved to be a thorn in the St Patrick’s side all day finishing with a personal tally of 4-3 and within a minute of the restart she added her second goal. Quick fire points from Evie Mc Mahon and Keane opened the gap to twenty.

Therese Loughran rattled the Cork crossbar, the ball sailing over, and Neilis pointed before a dramatic seven minute spell of Macroom madness. First Sara Kelleher was yellow carded, quickly followed by midfield partner Szonja Moram before a horrendous challenge by goalkeeper Lorna Hodman on Ceallagh Rafferty brought a red card and penalty. O’Neill drove the spot-kick to the net.

Neilis pointed to give St Patrick’s hope but it was quickly snuffed out when on the break quality combination play allowed Ni Liathain in for a fourth goal. A fine McMoran goal raised St Pat’s morale and there were several other opportunities for Aoife Quinn, Neilis and O’Neill to put pressure on Macroom. However an eighth goal effectively sealed the deal for St Mary’s

The Academy raised a late green flag through O’Neill who showed tremendous character against a quality Cork side whose early goals had laid the foundations for an historic first All-Ireland title.

Scorers

St Mary’s, Macroom: Roisin Ni Liathain 4-3, Shauna Keane 1-5, Cara Delaney 2-1, Orla O’Brien 1-1, Szonja Mora 0-1, Evie McMahon 0-1, Sara Kelleher 0-1.

St Patrick’s Academy: Lauren O’Neill 2-2, Cara McMoran 2-2, Aine Nelis 0-7, Theres Loughran 0-1.

Teams

St Mary’s, Macroom: Lorna Hodman, Siun Cronin, Clodagh Murray, Hhayleigh O Shea, Ruby Prendaville, Cara O’Brien, Pippa Murphy, Sara Kelleher, Szonja Mora, Shauna Keane, Evie McMahon, Orla O’Brien, Cliona O’Brien, Cora Delaney, Roisin Ni Liathain. Subs: Orlaith O’Brien for Keane, Rachel Murphy for O’Brien, Ella Deasy for Delaney, Aine O Riordan for Cronin, Eadaoin Kelleher for O O’Brien

St Patrick’s Academy: Apobhean Watt; Natalie Manzjuka, Aoife Black, Aimee Devlin, Ellie Mae Carty, Therese Loughran, Tess Daly, Cara McMoran, Amy Holmes, Lauren O’Neill, Aine Nelis, Aaine McDonald, Ceallagh Rafferty, Aoife Quinn, Emily Boyle. Subs Chloe Cullen for Manzjuka, Ciara McKeown for C Rafferty, Aoife Kerr for Devlin

Referee: Kevin Corcoran (Mayo)