St. Michaels 1-11, Dee Rangers 3-11

Dee Rangers continued their march up through the grades following this 6 point victory over neighbours St. Michaels in the Meath ladies Coca Cola Intermediate final in Paddy O'Brien Park in Navan on Saturday evening last. There was little between the teams in the opening 30 minutes and they traded scores for much of the opening half and were level pegging at the break. In a tentative opening 9 minutes Megan O'Brien was the only player to find the target when she split the posts for the opening point in the first minute after a surging run from midfield. Dee Rangers got off the mark in the best possible way with a goal in the tenth minute which was quickly followed by their opening point two minutes later. Three points from Sinéad McCormack had the teams on level terms by the 17th minute and two minutes later after some good work from Alicia Curtis and Aisleen Harte, Sharon Callaghan found herself in space and blasted to the bottom corner to put St. Michaels 1-4 to 1-1 to the good.

Dee Rangers responded by winning their own kick-out and the resultant attack yielded another point, St. Michaels responded likewise when McCormack split the posts on 21 minutes, however 4 minutes later some slack defending by St. Michaels allowed Dee Rangers in for their second goal which levelled the match at 2-2 to 1-5. Dee Rangers then followed up with two unanswered points, a Sinéad McCormack converted free won by the hard working Seona Lynch and in the fourth minute of first half injury time Seona Lynch won the ball on her own full back line and then ran the length of the pitch before off-loading to Marion Farrelly who fired over to level the match once more. Farrelly won the resultant kickout and put her side back in front but there was still time for another Dee Rangers attack which resulted in a free and a sin binning for Mary Clinton of St. Michaels, the free came off the upright and over to see the two sides go in for their half time team talk tied at 2-5 to 1-8.                                                                           

Another attacking  move by Seona Lynch resulted in her being fouled and Sinéad McCormack duly sent over the resultant free in the opening minute of the second half, St. Michaels, now down to 14 players held their opponents scoreless for the opening nine minutes of the second half but they themselves failed to score at the opposite end and when Dee Rangers opened their second half account they did so with 3 unanswered points, McCormack pulled one back at the end of the third quarter to leave one between the sides but the winners tagged on two more points to restore a 3 point lead. Seona Lynch added her sides last point of the match on 52 minutes however Dee Rangers pulled further clear with another point on 57 minutes and their third goal in the second minute of injury time.

For St. Michaels, the final score doesn't reflect the effort they put in, with 3 minutes of normal time remaining there was just one score between the sides but it just wasn't to be on the day, however their day will come as these ladies have been wonderful ambassadors for our club and with the young nucleus that exists there is no reason why they cannot be champions this time next year.                                                              

St. Michaels team & scorers: Lorraine Curtis, Marita Rogers, Mary Clinton, Elaine Coyne, Áine Sheridan, Hayley Doyle, Seona Lynch 0-1, Sinéad McCormack 0-7, Megan O'Brien 0-1, Alicia Curtis, Marion Farrelly 0-1, Ellen Cassidy, Sharon Callaghan 1-0, Patricia Owens, Aisleen Harte 0-1.     
Subs: Mary Carpenter for Marita Rogers, Ella Reilly for Alicia Curtis, Erin McGrane for Megan O'Brien.

Referee: Sarah Stanley.

Report: Pascal Reilly.

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