Third time lucky for Adamstown as they retain their title

Adamstown 3-4 Piercestown 1-4

After a torrential downpour postponement and an extra time thriller, it was a case of third time lucky for the Adamstown girls this year when they retained their Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Rackard League Roinn A county title. Last year Adamstown made history when they won their first ever Roinn A title against the same opposition and this it took another titanic effort by these talented girls to achieve the same feat.

Both teams started brightly and exchanged wides early in play. On three minutes, Adamstown got the strong start that they needed when a long Sinéad Roche kick went all the way into the back of the Piercestown net. It would be ten minutes before Piercestown responded with their first score through a Megan Murray Byrne free. It would then take them another ten minutes to get their second, and first from play, from Shauna Moloney. This was largely due to the extremely well organised Adamstown defence marshalled by centre back Isobel English.

Piercestown's defence was also in fine form. Their half back line trio of Niamh Dempsey, Demi Byrne and Jane Sinnott played some great football in the first half and seemed to be the launch pad for every attack. This required Adamstown forwards Niamh English and Róisín Gill to drop deep and help out their teammates on several occasions. With both defences on top, scores were proving hard to come by and a long range Katie English free was the only other score in a hard fought first half.

The second half saw Adamstown open up the Piercestown defence with some fantastic kick passes. The first score of the half came when a quickly taken free enabled Ellen Duggan to score a lovely point with the outside of her right boot. Karolina Jaglarz drifted in at the back post to goal just as a dangerous ball was floated across the goal mouth. Her deft finish put the Adamstown girls firmly in control. Once again the Adamstown girls were denying Piercestown space in attack, but this time they were creating vital space for themselves up front with their smart passing.

Piercestown stayed in touch with two Aoife Cullen frees but these were the only scores that they could get from an extremely well drilled and disciplined Adamstown defence. There was an element of rugby to proceedings at one stage at twenty girls engaged in a scrum as Piercestown desperately pushed for the vital goal that they needed. Adamstown were not to be broken however.

Adamstown attacker Ellen Duggan finished the game in fine form when she scored a vital insurance point in the dying moments. She bombed up the right flank once more and this time saw her cracking effort fly into the far corner of the goal to kick off the Adamstown celebrations. Piercestown finished strongly too when Rachel Doyle finally broke through to get the long overdue goal that her team deserved. Unfortunately, time was up and the Piercestown girls just could not take that precious cup away from Adamstown who will now enjoy a successive year as Roinn A champions.

Adamstown: Aisling O'Dowd, Ciara Mooney, Caoimhe Curtis, Ellen Gill, Ella Furlong, Isobel English, Ellen Duggan, Sinéad Roche, Katie English, Karolina Jaglarz, Niamh English, Caragh McDonald, Maeve O'Neill, Róisín Gill, Emily Davies, Abbie Carthy Walsh, Ciara Smith, Clodagh Creane, Ava Gahan, Ciara Sinnott, Eilis Roche, Molly Cloney, Aoife McCabe, Megan Martin, Gráinne English, Sarah Carley, Roisín Colfer, Laura O'Gorman, Róisín McGowan

Piercestown: Ellen Coleman, Dara Kelly, Rachel Doyle, Roisín Dempsey, Niamh Dempsey, Demi Byrne, Jane Sinnott, Orla Griffin, Imogen Deas, Aoife Cullen, Katie Kehoe, Ellie O'Mahony, Megan Murray Byrne, Isabelle Lett, Leagh Maddock, Leah Cassidy, Shauna Moloney, Melissa Quirke, Blaithnaid Howell, Caithlin Murray, Niamh Myler, Roisin Alouf, Mary Rowe, Caoimhe Delahunty, Jessie Akinyemi, Katie Audsley

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