Meath 4-6
Derry 2-10

This was a pulsating encounter that had everything and which could have gone either way right to the finish. Ulimately it was a Niamh Mc Loughlin goal in the 56th minute that swung the tie Meath's way in this minor B final. The Royal girls produced a brilliant second-half comeback,trailing by four points at the break  Meath went further in arrears as Derry tagged on two early second-half points to lead by six.

Meath started the first-half  brightly with Labhaoise Martyn scoring a point after 30 seconds.Drumree's Niamh Gallogly justified her selection at corner forward with two goals,both ground strikes after following in after shots from Megan Thynne and Aoife Minogue respectively.Meath led 2-1 to 0-1 after 11 minutes.

Derry responded by upping their game with Aoife Shaw and Eimear Mc Guigan causing all sorts of problems for the Meath defence adding three points without reply.They were awarded a 20 metre free on 15 minutes and as Aoife Shaw stood over the sliotar shaped as if she was going to settle for a point,but cheekily drove a rasper of a shot to the net,reminiscent of Waterford's Paul Flynn in his prime.

Amy Coyne settled the Leinster girls, with a beautiful point after some excellent interplay with her midfield partner Aoife Minogue.Meath were rocked as the Oak Leafers scored a 29th minute goal when a speculative long range shot from Eimear Maguire was failed to be adequately dealt with and ended up in the back of the net.This left the half-time score 2-6 to 2-2 in favour of Derry.

After conceding 2 early second-half points influential Captain and Player of the Match Aoife Minogue started to exert her influence around the middle third.Playing with the wind she played intelligent ball in front of the Meath forwards.Labhaoise Martyn capitaslised on one such ball doubling on a hopping ball to score an excellent point.Minogue now on fire then added a goal and a point and when Nadine Doyle was upended in the square for a penalty you felt it was going to be Meath's day.

The penalty was saved and this seemed to spur the Derry girls on as they relentlessly drove at the Meath defence who were under extreme pressure.Siobhan Whitty in the Meath goal pulled of a stunning save in the 56th minute when she bravely blocked a certain Derry goal.

Sport doesn't usually do fairytales but in this case it did, as less than a minute later Ratoath's Niamh Mc Loughlin struck the ball to the back of the net to set the Meath supporters wild in the stand.The final score was Meath 4-6 Derry 2-10.

There were emotional scenes after the final whistle as the enormity of the achievement began to sink in.This was a historic day for Meath camogie and all club mentors,coaches and officers can rightly feel they had some part in this superb victory.Eleven clubs were represented in the squad and credit must be given to Meath Camogie Board past and current who enthusiastically embraced the introduction of County Development squads at all ages from under 13 upwards.A huge amount of work has gone into these squads over the past number of years.The benefit of
these efforts were on display in this historic victory.

The Camogie Association have also to be commended for bringing the Finals to a venue befitting of such an occasion.The facilities and pitch of Inniskeen Grattans GAA Club, set in the rolling Drumlin country of Co. Monaghan were absolutely spectacular.

Meath; S Whitty, B Keyes, M Clince, A Doyle, F O' Brien, E Coffey, L Reilly, A Coyne(0-1), A Minogue Capt.(1-02), A Gaffney(0-1), L Martyn(0-2), N Doyle, N Mc Loughlin(1-0), M Thynne, N Gallogly(2-0) Subs;C Jones for A Doyle, M Burke, J Wall, R McIntyre, N Costello, R Fagan, A Stenson, C Murphy, C Mahon, S  McInerney, R Hoey, D O, Sullivan

Derry; E Burns,S McGuckian, C Henry,S McWilliams, L McKenna,R Cassidy, A McNabb,S Mellon, A Shaw,E Stinson, C Rafferty,F Burke, S O' Kane, E McGuigan,A Gorman Subs; U McCoy, S McNabb,N Tosh, S Doherty,D McKenna, B McNicholl,R Mc Laughlin, K Colgan,E Corrigan, S Murray

Referee; Philip McDonald (Cavan)

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