London Camogie County Board with Emer Kelly and Rebecca Molloy

Blue skies and crisp October air set the scene for one of the best junior camogie finals in London. Tara of London, who last won in 2009, faced off against Birmingham's John Mitchels, who wanted to relive the victory they had in 2012. Normal time wasn't enough to decide the winner, only after an intense extra time, Taras emerged victorious on a final scoreline of 3-12 to 1-13.

Tara were first to grace the scoreboard in the very first minute of the game when corner forward, Mary Fenton, collected the ball and put it between the posts. Tara conceded a free from the puck out which Mitchel's Corner forward, Aoife Murphy, put over the bar. She followed up two minutes later by scoring an excellent point from play. Anna Nyhan, was given a chance from a 45 yard free in the 8th minute, which she didn't pass up. Despite some great defending by Tara's Niamh Murphy and Dee Ryan, it was evident that the pressure was getting to the Tara back line from Mitchels' Louise Reddington and Clara Linnane. Two frees conceded in a row from Aoife Murphy put the Birmingham side up by two, 20 minutes in. Eilish O Neill, who had a very busy day, responded with a point having caught Emma Dunlea's puck out. Things looked grim for the Londoners in the 24th minute when Murphy got through the Tara defence to put the ball in the back of the net. Taras kept their heads high and two minutes later won a free which Orla Tynan converted with ease. Aoife Murphy continued her top form by putting over two points before the break. Mitchels were up by five points at half time, on a score line of 1-6 to 4 points.

Coming out in the second half, Tara knew that they would have to do something spectacular to turn things around. In the third minute of the second half, Joni Traynor cleared the ball down the field and Eilish O Neill was the one who picked it up in the half forward line. O Neill ran through the Mitchels defence and rattled the back of the net. Anna Nyhan made a fantastic run down the pitch two minutes later and popped the ball between the posts putting only a point between the teams. This was now anybody's game.  Mitchel's Murphy stepped up to the plate once more and put the ball over the bar to put the margin back to two. It was obvious at this stage how much this meant to both teams when every single player was putting their body on the line. There were some great runs forward by Mitchel's Emma Carroll and Noelle Devlin, but both found it hard to convert their scores because of the great defending by Dearbhail o Rourke and Sarah Quinn. Orla Tynan scored a fantastic point in the 20th minute again, only to be responded by Murphy with another point. It was a battle between the two in the final minutes of normal time. Tynan scored a free in with five minutes to go to put one between the teams. The last five minutes saw some great camogie in which every player on the pitch gave it their all. When Mitchels conceded a free at the half way mark in the last minute, Tynan stepped up to the plate. Against the wind, Orla who put the ball between the posts to level the game at full time. This left the final score of normal time 2-8 to 1-11, sending both teams into 20 minutes of overtime. 

With both teams regrouping and refocusing, it was the Tara's who had a stronger start the first half of additional time. Within one minute of the referee's whistle, a great ball by Sarah Quinn found the hand of O'Neill who slotted the ball over the bar with a long range point.  Mitchels, however, soon worked the ball back up the field, with great runs from Michelle Finnerty and Bernie Cannon, to put the Tara backs under pressure yet again. With some strong defending by Dee Ryan and Joni Traynor, the ball only got as far as Emma Carroll who, again, advanced upon the goal to slot over the equalizing point. Both teams knew that every ball would have to be fought for and some great battles ensued in midfield for possession. Mitchels continued to put pressure on the Tara backs with Eva Hicks puck outs, but with the fresh legs of Dearbhail O'Rourke and experience of Joni Traynor and Emer Kelly, they were to stop the Mitchels forwards from scoring again before the end of the ten minutes. It ended with one point apiece after the first half of additional time.

The next 10 minutes of Camogie was one of the most dramatic ends to a final seen in Greenford. In the first two minutes, there was a great attack up the field by Lisa Creamer which ended with Eilish o Neil scoring her second goal of the day. Aoife Murphy stepped up for Mitchels to score a fantastic point from the half way line. With two points between the teams, Murphy had one thing on her mind, a goal. Having made a fantastic run through the Tara defence, she was pulled down in front of the goal to win a penalty. Emma Carroll stepped up to take the penalty but was denied when both Emma Dunlea and Emer Kelly pulled off a dramatic save. The turning point of the game occurred when the ball was cleared up to Gillian Dennehy, who with fresh legs, ran the ball through the Mitchels defence. She found support in Eilish O Neill who rounded her player to score her third goal of the day. This put the Londoners up by five with four minutes to go. The Birmingham girls fought to the end, and Murphy came back down the field to score her 11th score of the day. Orla Tynan put the cherry on top when in the last minute scored a free from the sideline, 65 yards out. This was a dramatic finish to a spectacular 80 minutes of camogie. Taras won by five points on a score line of 3-12 to 1-13.

Well done to both teams on a fantastic display of camogie and a great ending to the most impressive junior championship seen in years. Etty Kelly, London camogie president, presented the cup to Tara captain Emer Kelly, who was overjoyed to bring the cup back to the Tara club after five long years. Congratulations to the Tara girls and their coach Alan Smyth, who will be hoping to achieve the same victory next Saturday, 11 October, in Ruislip, when they meet Croydon in the Senior Championship Final.

Thank you to the referee and all the officials in the final and throughout the season. Thank you to Tir Chonaill Gaels for the use of their pitch. Thank you to the London county board for all their work throughout the year. There is no doubt that next year's final will likely hold a similar dramatic ending with the increase in skill for all the teams this past year.

 

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