Eglish Camogs pip Naomh Tresa to retain their Senior County title

SENIOR CAMOGIE CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Naomh Treasa 1-9  Eglish 0-15

EGLISH camogs withstood a strong Naomh Treasa challenge in the county senior decider as the St Patrick’s got over the line to clinch a landmark 25th consecutive title.

There was no sign here at Edendork of the stormy weather that caused last week’s postponement. The St Malachy’s club were celebrating too as Edendork camogs had won the junior league title earlier in the day.

Naomh Treasa began trying to end the long run of Eglish as county senior champions. They got close but not close enough despite a valiant effort.

Both teams showed great resilience and the standard of play was high, with several excellent scores taken too by each of the teams.

Naomh Treasa battled back bravely after Eglish had the better of the first half exchanges, but the St Patrick’s withstood some sustained pressure and landed a few vital points to secure the silverware victory.

Kate Daly turned in a player-of-the-match display at the centre of the Eglish defence, ably assisted by the likes of Reagan Fay, Kaitlin Gallagher, Oliibhia Farley, Eve Hughes and Francine Farley among others in a solid overall team performance.

Naomh Treasa had plenty of heroines too as the Dungannon camp tried to unlock the key to victory. They prised the door open quite significantly but Eglish held their ground to retain that long-held title.

Roisin McErlean had a fine game for the Naomh Treasa camogs plus Grainne Rafferty, Cora McGrath, Catherine Casey, Becky Santos, Aine McNulty, Beth Jones and team-mates across the field gave their all here.

Eglish hit the ground running and the St Patrick’s side had four points on the board by then seventh minute, with Oilibhia Farley at the double alongside Gemma Daly and Cliodhna Goodfellow contributing to the St Patrick’s cause.

Naomh Treasa settled down to the task and influential midfielder Roisin McErlean sent over two long-range placed efforts to halve their deficit by the 12th minute of the match.

Reagan Fay replied with a brace at the opposite end before Eve Hughes angled over to establish a 0-7 to 0-2 advantage 17 minutes into the final. Fay tagged on a further free but Naomh Treasa responded through a Roisin McErlean free plus a fine solo score by McErlean as well.

Naomh Treasa had a score in each half ruled out by the officials but they kept probing and chasing to try and get on terms.

Eva Hughes, Oilibhia Farley, Kaitlin Gallagher and Fay in the main maintained Eglish’s hold on the lead as the St Patrick’s reached half-time 0-11 to 0-6 ahead. McErlean kept her team in relative touch with points too.

Scores were that bit tougher to find during the course of the closing half but McErlean pointed in a third quarter during which both defences stayed on top and some efforts went astray as well.

The game’s only goal arrived on 47 minutes when Naomh Treasa keeper Eimear Colton sent her well-struck free right to the Eglish net and suddenly there were only two points between the teams at 0-12 to 1-7.

Eglish, though, managed to weather the storm of some dangerous-looking Naomh Treasa attacks as play moved inside the last ten minutes.

The St Patrick’s then picked off three more points as Reagan Fay, Cliodhna Goodfellow and Gemma Daly made important contributions.

Laura Barker landed a score for Naomh Treasa, but the Dungannon squad could not find a way through to close the gap any more as Eglish emerged the victors.

Scorers

Naomh Treasa: Roisin McErlean 0-8(7f), Eimear Colton 1-0, Laura Barker 0-1

Eglish: Reagan Fay 0-5(4f), Oilibhia Farley 0-3, Gemma Daly 0-2, Cliodhna Goodfeollow 0-2, Eve Hughes 0-1, Kaitlin Gallagher 0-1, Gemma Daly 0-1

Teams

Naomh Treasa: Eimear Colton, Caitlin McNulty, Catherine Casey, Caitriona Ferran, Marian Barker, Aine McNulty, Dearbhla O’Faolain, Roisin McErlean, Grainne Rafferty, Beth Jones, Cora McGrath, Clare Kelly, Siobhan McNulty, Laura Barker, Becky Santos. Subs: Niamh Moore, Aisling McLaughlin, Niamh McKenna, Faye Donnelly

Eglish: Brenda Horsfield, Francine Farley, Aisling Donnelly, Niamh Donaghy, Grace Daly, Kate Daly, Casey Gallagher, Kaitlin Gallagher, Reagan Fay, Oilibhia Farley, Gemma Daly, Cliodhna Goodfeollow, Eve Hughes, Rhiane McLoughlin, Catherine Muldoon. Subs: Lottie Mackin, Emma Holmes, Shannon Gildernew

Referee: EP Cassidy, Derry