The Tara girls faced John Mitchells of Birmingham on Saturday in the play off for the Junior League final. The intensity is always high when both teams meet and Saturday was no different. Tara emerged victorious in what was one of the best Junior games of Camogie seen this year so far.

It was Mitchells that got off to the best start with their full forward, Aoife Murphy gaining possession in their half forward line. After a quick turn she slotted the ball over the bar at ease. The Tara back line were in trouble as 2 minutes later the same thing happened and she put over another point for the Birmingham side. The Tara girls tried their best in defence to get some structure and keep the full forward at bay, although in the 7th minute of the game she caused even more trouble. Aoife Murphy managed to find the ball out at the half forward sideline and powered through the Tara defence to stick the ball in the back of the net making the Londeners trailing by 5 points going into the 8th minute.

The Tara girls managed to find their feet in the 10th minute of the game with Joni Traynor putting their first score on the board. She followed suit not so long after slotting over a free to tighten the gap to 3 points. It was mid fielder, Sarah Quinn who levelled the sides after 18 minutes with a fantastic goal from the halfway line. John Mitchells responded with a point from their full forward, Aoife Murphy. Joni Traynor put her 3rd point on the board with a 45 yard free. Eilish O Neill really stepped up for the girls in blue and found the back of the net in the 22nd minute of the first half making the Tara girls lead by 3. The tara back line had finally found their feet and with some excellent defending from Sarah Quinn and Derbhail O Rourke made it very hard for the Birmingham girls to get through. Gillian Dennehy and Joni Traynor both got points for the London side in the last 5 minutes of the first half, not before the speedy full forward replied with another point for Mitchells. This left the score 2-5 to 1-4 at half time in favour of the Londoners.

The Tara girls came out strong in the opening minutes of the second half. With corner forward Eilish O Neill scoring 2 consecutive points in the first 5 minutes you could tell that the Tara ladies meant business. Emma Dunlea, the Tara goalie, had a lot of work to do in the 2nd half and she pulled off some fantastic saves to keep the girls in blue in front. Despite some excellent defending from Niamh Murphy, Joni Traynor and June Donnely, a free was conceded inside the Tara defence which Aoife Murphy sent in between the posts. Eilish O Neill continued her excellent form of the day by responding with powering through the Mitchells defence to drive home her second goal of the day. This left the score 3-7 to 1-5 with 10 minutes to go. John Mitchells never gave up hope and a 45 was taken by Aoife Murphy and, as always went straight over. The Tara girls still worked very hard even though they were winning and a goal by Tara's Katie Healy in the last 5 minutes of the game ensured there was no way of Tara losing. Gillian Dennehy slotted over a point in the last minute of the game making the final score 4-8 to 1-6 in favour of Tara. Tara will now face Croydon in the league final, date TBC.

Well done both teams on an excellent display of Camogie, this games shows that the standard of Camogie is rising rapidly in London. Many thanks to all the officials, referee Rita O Mahoney and to all those at Tir Chonail Gaels for the use of the facilities on Sunday.

Tara CC have both Junior & Senior teams and welcome new players all year round. Contact 07771 957 341 or via www.camogie.co.uk" Tweet

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