Gallant Eglish thwarted in bid for final

Eglish (Tyrone) 0-9

Na Fianna (Meath) 1-9

By Damien Donnelly

EGLISH camogs left nothing on the pitch at Darver in Saturday’s All-Ireland semi-final and can consider themselves unlucky not to have made the final.

This was a tremendous tussle at the Protection & Prosperity Louth GAA Centre. Kerrie Cole’s first half goal may have been the score statistic separating the sides by the finish but it was only part of a compelling tale.

All the Eglish camogs can hold their heads up high following a performance packed full of enterprise and effort. The St Patrick’s side, especially in the second half, pushed Na Fianna back to such an extent that the Meath team’s goal led a charmed life at times.

There were blocks, last ditch clearances and saves from Na Fianna keeper Niamh Kirby plus her defence that somehow kept the strong wave of Eglish attacks at bay. Reagan Fay and company kept driving forward in search of the scores to turn this tie around and they got so close on several occasions.

St Patrick’s custodian Julie Lagan and her defence plus the entire Eglish team produced plenty of skilful endeavour throughout plus they showed steel and spirit of the highest calibre.

Kerrie Cole had struck for her goal in the 14th minute when a well-worked move set up Cole for a cool finish in off the post that enabled her team to show ahead 1-5 to 0-5 at half-time.

Reagan Fay led the St Patrick’s first half returns and Cliodhna Goodfellow was also among those to land efforts. Aoife Carey and Emma Regan were on target with Na Fianna scores to back up Cole’s goal.

Eglish were in no mood to let Na Fianna make more headway after the restart and what emerged was a riveting second half battle as the teams gave everything to their respective causes. Regan Fay brought her tally to five points for Eglish, with Oilibhia Farley (0-1), Cliodhna Goodfellow (0-1) and Kaitlin Gallagher (0-2) completing the St Patrick’s scores.

Time ticked away and Eglish needed a goal to save the day. The St Patrick’s certainly gave their all in that quest but were thwarted by the smallest of margins on more than one occasion.

Eimear Regan, Aoife Carey and Kerrie Cole(1-3) each ended play with three points for Na Fianna. The Meath team had some dual players on duty the next day(Sunday) in an All-Ireland football semi but they had fortune on their side for this classic contest.