Tyrone Minor Ladies sunk by Sligo in All-Ireland Final

TYRONE 0-7  SLIGO 1-13

TYRONE Ladies failed to bridge the 24 year gap to their previous All-Ireland Minor Championship success as a slick Sligo side deservedly took the spoils in sunny Enniskillen on Saturday afternoon.

The Yeats girls won the majority of the personal tussles all over the park and in the likes of Jade Gabbidon, Cara King and the brilliant Anna McDaniel had the stand our performers.

While Tyrone captain Sorcha Gormley did show sporadic glimpses of her natural class, the Connacht side looked to swallow her up when she was fed any decent ball.

Elsewhere for the Red Hands Ella McCaffrey looked solid and assured between the sticks, while Bree McBride did an effective job sweeping up in front of her keeper.

Free taker Ellen Giblin punished any Tyrone indiscretion within scoring range across the afternoon, and she landed the first of her half dozen scores from placed balls in the opening minute to hand Sligo a lead they were never to relinquish.

With Sligo dictating proceedings around centre field from the off, the Red Hands were pegged on the backfoot and McCaffrey had to be on her guard in nets to collect a dangerous delivery from Blaithin Lavin under her crossbar.

Anna McDaniel then cut inside to slip over a second Sligo point before Gormley was impeded and knocked over the resultant free herself in the eighth minute to get Tyrone on the board.

Unfortunately though this was the only time in the first half that they were to register a white flag.

It was Sligo who held all the aces, imposing themselves down the spine of the pitch with their physicality and movement.

Keeva Flynn latched onto Anna McDaniel’s pass to provide a composed finish, and full-forward Rachel McGoldrick then swivelled on the edge of the Tyrone square but her tame effort was comfortably cleared.

By the quarter hour mark Sligo had eased into a 0-5 to 0-1 lead, with captain Ciara Walsh thumping over in fine style, and Giblin slipping over another free. A series of sloppy passes and costly turnovers stymied any progress from the Red Hands, with their attack feeding off scraps for the most part.

Indeed only for tigerish defensive showings from Bree McBride and Emily Conlon they could have been facing an even bigger deficit. So despite the concession of another pointed free from Giblin, and superb score with the outside of the foot by Keeva Flynn, the half-time scoreline was still retrievable (Sligo 0-7 Tyrone 0-1).

There was no immediate signs of the pattern of the contest being altered as Anna McDaniel split the posts with real authority but Sorcha Gormley demonstrated her battling qualities with two sublime strikes in quick succession to give her side some hope.

Yet Tyrone were just unable to build up a concerted spell of pressure and this fleeting moment of optimism quickly evaporated.

Another brace of Giblin frees restablished Sligo’s grip on the game at 0-10 to 0-3, and while Tyrone sub Catherine MMoohan converted a placed ball herself at the other end, it was really going to take a goal to help the Ulster side build up a head of steam.

However Sligo keeper Catherine Gallagher went through the match virtually untroubled, and with corner back Aoibheann Durcan storming up the right wing to fire over, it highlighted the swagger with which they were going about their business.

The hard-working McDaniel then hoisted a wonderful score, which was cancelled out by an equally as good a point from Gormley, who squirmed into space to shoot, but time was running out for Tyrone.

And in the 53rd minute the issue was put beyond all doubt when Sligo full-forward Rachel McGoldrick cut in along the endline and toe poked a low shot across McCaffrey into the far corner of the net. There was still time for a couple of consolation scores from Tyrone subs Catherine Moohan (free) and Emma Murphy but the All-Ireland trophy was heading west.

The Scorers

Tyrone

Sorcha Gormley (0-4,1f), Catherine Moohan (0-2,2f), Emma Murphy (0-1)

Sligo

Ellen Giblin (0-6,6f), Rachel McGoldrick (1-0), Anna McDaniel (0-3), Keeva Flynn (0-2), Aoibheann Durcan, Ciara Walsh (0-1 each)

The Teams

Tyrone

Ella McCaffrey, Tori McMullan, Emily Conlon, Aoife Marlow, Cara McCoubrey, Emma McCrossan, Cora Quinn, Aoife Quinn, Meadhbh Campbell, Caitlin Crozier, Sorcha Gormley, Hannah Cavlan, Amy Sheehy, Nicole Donaghy, Bree McBride. Subs used: Catherine Moohan for N Donaghy (25mins), Emma Murphy for M Campbell (h-time), Keeva Owens for H Cavlan (33), Ciara Hughes for C Quinn (41), Niamh Quinn for A Quinn (55)

Sligo

Catherine Gallagher, Hazel Redican, Leanne Galvin, Aoibheann Durcan, Eimer Mitchell, Ciara Walsh, Jade Gabbidon, Jasmine Dunleavy, Cara King, Anna McDaniel, Keeva Flynn, Blaithin Lavin, Jillian Monaghan, Rachel McGoldrick, Ellen Giblin. Subs used: Tara Hastings for E Mitchell (39mins), Orna Murphy for J Monaghan (50)