Rathangan Junior ladies oust Rheban
September 15, 2014
Rathangan 3 - 12
Rheban 2 - 11
Rathangan came out on top in this hard fought, close encounter Junior B final played in Athy, in glorious conditions yesterday.
Rathangan started the brightest with a point from corner forward Ellen Lynch after just 1 minute but Rheban replied very shortly afterwards with a point from their very impressive centre half forward, Alison Shaw. The two teams traded points, scores for Rathangan by Laura Gilligan and Ellen Lynch, leaving the minimum between them when following a great pass from Rathangan's centre forward, Eadaoin Connolly to corner forward Carol Maloney saw Carol score the first of her and Rathangans' goals. Wing forward, Dawn Dempsey caused a lot of trouble for the Rheban backs and won a couple of frees for Rathangan. Alison Shaw scored a great goal for Rheban and their very impressive mid-fielder, Sharon O'Connor put her name on the scoresheet. The half time score was Rathangan 1 - 8 to Rheban 1 - 6
The second half started very effectively for Rheban. Their corner-forward, Tracey Pearse scored a great goal by an overhead flix into the back of the net, beating Rathangan's goalie, Linda Ennis, who is not easily beaten between the posts. They followed this with another point and now with 2 points ahead were looking very confident. Rathangan dug deep. Their backs, especially Niamh Bracken, Niamh Fitzpatrick, Julie Cunningham, who had reverted to the defence in the second half and Caroline Flood, until she received an injury, came into their own. Eadaoin Connolly who picked a loose ball in around the half way mark, soloed through the heart of the Rheban defence and scored an unstoppable short from the 14 yards into the top left hand corner. This score lifted Rathangan and they tagged on a few more points, these were from Eadaoin Connolly (frees), Laura Gilligan and Julie Cunningham. Rheban put more points on the scoreboard from Tracey Pearse and Alison Shaw and Sharon O'Connor. This left the minimum again between the teams. Eadaoin Connolly again gathered the ball on the mid-way mark and delivered a great ball into Carol Maloney who made no mistake and scored her 2nd goal. Rathangan were now the 4 points ahead and the whole team fought to hold onto this lead. Rathangan and Rheban had another point each - leaving just the 3 points between them. Rathangan registered another point and were on top. Rheban did fight hard with Alison Shaw and Sharon O'Connor proving to be very problematic. This day was Rathangan's day and ran out 4 points winners.
Scores for Rathangan. Eadaoin Connolly 1 - 4, Carol Maloney 2 - 0, Laura Gilligan 0 - 2, Ellen Lynch 0 - 4 , Julie Cunningham 0 - 1 and Dorarca Lynch 0 - 1.
This was truly a team performance by Rathangan, but special mention must go to Niamh Bracken, Niamh Fitzpatrick, Julie Cunningham, Dawn Dempsey, Laura Gilligan, Laura Dunne and Eadaoin Connolly for their work rate throughout the hour.
