Venue Walterstown

Boardsmill 1-11 St Colmcilles  1-7

Boardsmill ladies were deserved winners of the Division 3 league title in rain soaked Walterstown on Saturday evening.

St Colmcilles had qualified for this final, unbeaten in their round games and boasted a comprehensive victory over their final opponents in round 1. That victory  proved no indicator of the challenge they would face in the decider ,as Boardsmill had swept all before them in the following rounds and came to the final in good form. 

Boardsmill scored first through the  boot of Paula Dorian but spent much of  the first quarter scrambling after a highly mobile and well drilled east coast outfit . Niamh Doggett  and Tara McHugh pointed for St Colmcilles after Boardsmill had squandered two excellent   goal chances and were made to pay with an opportunist strike from Emma Brophy when a long ball to the Baordsmill square was broken into Brophy's  grasp. She made no mistake and St Colmcilles looked well set to dominate with an early 4 point lead. Cliona Smith stretched it to 5 points before the highly effective Dani O Sullivan grabbed a crucial goal for the eventual winners on 16 minutes.  Rachel Troy had moved to Midfield and with Cliona Murray in outstanding form at full back ,  the game settled into a closer contest for the remainder of the half. Player of the match Amy Troy pointed for the eventual winners before Doggett and Dorian exchanged points as the half drew to a close with the minimum between the teams. 

Boardsmill had squandered much of their hard fought possession in the opening half , kicking passes into the clutches of the dual sweepers deployed by St Colmciles in that period. The East coast ladies then broke with pace and purpose and only for the dogged resistance of Cliona Murray , Ciara Ashe and Rachel Troy could well have taken an unassailable  lead. Helen Regan and Maeve Murray had dropped deep for the mill in that second quarter and got through an amount of good work to help their beleaguered defence. Boardsmill were much the happier  at half time and used the break to reorganize their troops and make a telling substitution by introducing Caroline Quinn at Corner forward. Quinn went on to dominate the opening 10 minutes of the 2nd period , linking well with Amy Troy  and proving a constant menace to the Cilles defence. 

Amy Troy  and Paula Dorian pointed for Boardsmill with Cilles sole response in the first 20 minutes of the second period coming from Cliona Smith. It could have been so different had St Colmcilles not managed to squander a glorious goal scoring opportunity on 35 minutes. Eimear Murray will take the credit for pressurizing the kicker but in truth the game turned on that escape.  Niamh McEvoy came on after 40 minutes and strengthened the winners defense before Quinn , O Sullivan (2)  Quinn again and Dorian pointed  to grab a 5 pointed lead on 55 minutes.  Rhiannon Hoey also came on for Boardsmill in the final 10 minutes . Tara McHugh and substitute Megan Dunne registered late points for St Colmcilles but it was left to Quinn to round off an excellent second half display with the final point. Boardsmill were worthy 4 point winners 1.11 to 1.07.

Team managers Brian Troy and Eamon Murray will be delighted with their charges having won their second consecutive league promotion . They can look forward to the dizzy heights of division 2 next season. Boardsmill were best served by Amy Troy, Cliona Murray and Caroline Quinn while Ciara Ashe, Helen Regan, Dani O'Sullivan, Mayve Murray and Paula Dorian all contributed significantly.

St Colmcilles were gracious in defeat , having played an excellent final , that on another day could have gone their way . 

Boardsmill team captain Mayve Murray, who was due to jet off to London that evening, accepted the Division 3 league trophy on behalf of her teammates and  led the celebrations on a soggy evening in Walterstown.   

Boardsmill : Eimear Murray Sarah Dowling , Cliona Murray Hannah Tuite , Kim Garrigan , Ciara Ashe , Rachel Troy , Helen Regan , Moira Hegarty , Amy Troy ( 0.2) Mayve Murray(capt) , Dani O Sullivan (1.02), Paula Dorian (0.4) Laura Garrigan Becky O Toole.  Substitutes. Niamh McEvoy for K Garrigan , C Quinn (0.3) for O Toole and R Hoey for M Hegarty.

St Colmcilles: C Kilcoyne , F FItzgerald , C Daly , T Brennan, A Rothwell , A Byrne T Monahan, G Rice,  D Ni Oistin(capt), N Davitt T McHugh (0.2) N Doggett (0.2) C Smith (0.2) R Kirwan E Brophy (1.0). Substitute M Dunne (0.1)

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