St. Michaels 4-10, Royal Gaels 0-9.

An impressive first half scoring display by St. Michaels proved to be the foundation for their deserved victory over Royal Gaels and saw them lift the division 3 league cup in sunny Skryne on Saturday evening.

St. Michaels who lost influential midfielder Megan O'Brien through an ankle injury in the opening seconds, made the ideal start when wing half back Fiona Nevin found the roof of the net in the opening minute after one of her trademark solo runs and when Alicia Curtis and Aisleen Regan added points from play things didn't look too good for Royal Gaels who had yet to open their account and the situation could have been a lot worse but for the performance of Orlagh McLoughlin who pulled off some brilliant point blank saves in the Gaels goals.

The first half was a stop start affair with a series of accidental knocks and collisions resulting in an additional 18 minutes of injury time at the end of the first half and two St. Michaels players having to attend casualty on the way home from the game. Royal Gaels broke their duck after 21 minutes with a pointed free, they added a second on the half hour mark but St. Michaels however were playing with greater purpose and their constant attacking play saw Marion Farrelly find the back of the net for her sides second goal in the 5th minute of injury time to leave it 2-3 to 0-2, Patricia Owens followed with her first point 3 minutes later and when Farrelly got her second goal, a rasper of a shot to the top corner the fear was that this was going to be a very one sided affair. Both sides exchanged a point apiece to finish the half with St. Michaels holding a commanding 3-5 to 0-3 interval lead.

Royal Gaels opened the second half with a pointed free which was immediately cancelled out by Sinéad McCormack, then up popped Marion Farrelly to complete her hat trick 4 minutes into the half, McCormack added a further point 3 minutes later to leave plenty of daylight between the teams at 4-7 to 0-5. Royal Gaels continued to work hard despite the game going against them and they enjoyed their best period possession wise in the fourth quarter registering 0-4 in a 10 minute spell, they also brought the St. Michaels keeper Lorraine Curtis into the action but she coped admirably making a couple of fine saves to keep a clean sheet. Jillian Brogan, Patricia Owens and Sinéad McCormack completed the St. Michaels scoring with a point apiece.

The St. Michaels defense when tested stood their ground and Mary Clinton, Mary Carpenter, Áine Sheridan, Marita Rogers and Hayley Doyle worked tirelessly throughout to cut out the Royal Gaels attacks as did Sinéad McCormack, Fiona Nevin and Marion Farrelly who on numerous occasions were back defending their own goals.

This was a great all round team effort which was expertly led by captain fantastic Aisleen Regan who was on a mission to bring the cup back to north Meath and when presented with it at the end of the match by Meath Ladies fixtures secretary Barry Leahy she paid tribute to Laura Yore RIP who was a member of the last St. Michaels team to lift the league cup back in 2007.

St. Michaels team & scorers: Lorraine Curtis, Marita Rogers, Mary Clinton, Mary Carpenter, Áine Sheridan, Hayley Doyle, Fiona Nevin 1-1, Sinéad McCormack 0-3, Megan O'Brien, Marion Farrelly 3-0, Aisleen Regan 0-2, Jillian Brogan 0-1, Alicia Curtis 0-1, Patricia Owens 0-2 Erin McGrane.
Subs: Gillian Curtis for Megan O'Brien 1 minute, Lauren Doyle for Erin McGrane 46 minutes, Rebecca Lynch for Gillian Curtis 48 minutes, Sharon Mooney for Hayley Doyle 55 minutes, Suzanne Reilly for Jillian Brogan 57 minutes.

Referee: Noel Hand.

Report and photos Pascal Reilly.

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