St. Michaels 2-06, Drumbaragh 3-11

A brace of goals in the final six minutes of this U-15 division 5 Shield final in Dunganny on Sunday afternoon last set Drumbaragh up for a dramatic eight point victory over a gallant St. Michaels outfit in what was a hugely exciting match.  

Although scores were hard to come by in the opening 30 minutes the game produced some excellent football from two evenly balanced teams as both experienced periods of dominance and the winners can be thankful to their 'keeper Vicky Carry who pulled off a couple of great saves on two goal bound shots in the opening half which kept her side in contention. 

Drumbaragh were first on the scoresheet with a point in the third minute and although they had their fair share of possession they didn't score again until the 20th minute. St. Michaels started slowly and didn't register their opening score until Claire Reilly pointed in the tenth minute. Brioch Meehan added another five minutes later and Anne Behan goaled on 26 minutes after good exchanges with Meehan for a 1-2 to 0-4 interval lead. 

Drumbaragh levelled the match a minute into the new half, Meehan then put her side back in front before the eventual winners levelled again and in a two minute spell they added 1-1 for a four point lead. Back came St. Michaels with a well struck goal from Claire Reilly to reduce the deficit to a point, Drumbaragh replied with a point but then the St. Michaels girls were dealt a cruel blow when their influential half forward Lauren Murphy was sin-binned in the 50th minute, down to 14 players and playing against the “hill” on the wide expanse of what is the Dunganny Astro-turf pitch began to show on the legs of the St. Michaels girls, but their never-say-die attitude stood to them again as they fought back and Meehan finished off a good move up field with a point. However, the Drumbaragh girls were never going to let the game slip from their grasp and the game changing moment came when in a six minute spell starting in the 54th minute they clocked up 2-1 without reply with only seconds remaining on the stop watch as the St. Michaels girls were visibly tiring having worked their socks off.

We congratulate both teams on a great final, however there always has to be a loser, and unfortunately for St. Michaels, lady luck wasn't on your side yesterday.   

St. Michaels team and scorers: Ori-Anne McConnell; Ciara Bennett, Kate Mulligan, Grace Keoghan; Shauna Murphy, Anna Cunningham, Ciara Finnegan; Aoife Bennett; Ciara Reilly (0-1); Katie Smyth, Lauren Murphy, Edel Reilly; Claire Reilly (1-2), Brioch Meehan (0-3), Anne Behan (1-0).

Subs:  Ella Armstrong for E. Reilly, Bebhinne Dolan for S. Murphy, Sophie Rogan for K. Smith. Subs not used: Ava Berdeta, Emily Everard & Kellie Harten. 

Report: Pascal Reilly, PRO. 

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