Camogie gaining momentum
November 30, 2006
Meath Camogie Board broke new ground in 2006 with the introduction of an Intermediate Championship for the first time and it was a former senior power in the game, Dunboyne, who took the inaugural title, beating neighbours Blackhall Gaels in the final.
That was the biggest day of the year for camogie on the club front in the county as the intermediate decider was the first part of a double-header at Ratoath with the Senior Championship final in which Kilmessan underlined their current high standing by retaining their crown with a victory over keen rivals Killyon.
The club championships got under way in May with 11 clubs affiliated. Apart from Kilmessan and Killyon, Trim and Navan O'Mahonys also participated in the Senior Championship, with Kiltale, Dunboyne, Donaghmore/Ashbourne and Blackhall Gaels in the new intermediate competition.
The Junior Championship had five entrants - Dunderry, Boardsmill, Ratoath and the second string teams from Kilmessan and Dunboyne - so, overall, 13 teams took part in the 2006 county championships.
Kilmessan won their eighth senior title when they deservedly defeated Killyon by 1-13 to 2-4 in the final. However, the reigning champions struggled in the opening half and with teenager Amy Gannon netting twice in the eighth and 20th minutes the Hill of Down side moved into a four-point (2-3 to 0-5) lead at the break.
Sharon Raleigh notched two points for Killyon in that half and centre half-back Sylvia Rattigan got the other, while the Kilmessan scores came from Aileen Donnelly, who was on the mark three times, Stephanie Horan and Michelle Horan.
Kilmessan improved after the change of ends and Donnelly sent over four third quarter points, in reply to Killyon's only second half score from Raleigh, and those efforts reduced the deficit to the minimum at 0-9 to 2-4.
Stephenie Horan went close to goaling when she shot low across the goal mouth, but after Donnelly opted to put her side on level terms by pointing from a penalty, Kilmessan notched their vital goal five minutes from the end when Donnelly netted after Ann Gorman did the necessary spade work.
That put Kilmessan firmly on the road to the retention of their title and they added three points to be six clear at the finish. It was certainly a good afternoon for Donnelly who ended with a highly impressive personal tally of 1-8 to her credit.
The teams in the final were:
Kilmessan - N. Sheridan; N. Lynch, A. Lynch, E. Doyle; B. Dennehy, AM Dennehy, K. Ward; F. Lynch (0-1), AM Fagan; S. Horan (0-2), L. Tyrrell, M. Horan (0-1); A. Gorman, A. Donnelly (1-8), S. Ross (0-1). Sub - S. Cusack for Doyle.
Killyon - M. Connolly; L. Maguire, M. Burke, M. O'Halloran; A. Maguire, S. Rattigan (0-1), MT Gilsenan; F. Clarke, D. Fitzsimons; O. Ennis. K. Mullen, C. Massey; C. Raleigh, S. Raleigh (0-3), E. Gannon (2-0). Sub - J. Maher for O'Halloran.
Referee - David Noble (Dublin).
There is every likelihood that Dunboyne will re-emerge as a power in senior camogie following their 1-5 to 0-6 win over Blackhall Gaels in a closely contested Intermediate Championship final. The club was reformed over a year ago and this was their first championship title in two decades.
They are the most successful club in the history of the Senior Championship, winning it on no fewer than 10 occasions, including a fabulous four in-a-row between 1970 and 1973.
Margaret O'Connor gave Dunboyne a dream start against Blackhall when she netted inside the opening two minutes, but they then endured a barren spell of 36 minutes, during which the Gaels recovered to be on level terms (0-3 to 1-0) at half-time thanks to points from Emily Mangan (two) and Jane Burke.
Jane Dolan and Mangan added to their tally after the break as they moved ahead and they were in front by 0-6 to 1-2 at the three-quarter stage after Dunboyne's Marie Carroll and Blackhall's Dolan had swapped points. Blackhall defended with great determination, but Dunboyne were back on level terms with eight minutes to go when Sinead Hackett was on target.
And they found their form when it was needed most as points from Carroll and Aoife Thompson secured the title.
The teams in the final were:
Dunboyne - A. Keogh; C. Baker, E. O'Connor, E. Carty; F. O'Neill, M. Keogh, S. Synon; A. Thompson (0-2), M. O'Connor (1-0); S. Ledwith, T. Clarke, S. Hackett (0-1); P. Moran, D. Curran, M. Carroll (0-2). Subs - L. Buggle for Ledwith, A. O'Grady for Moran.
Blackhall Gaels - A. Heavin; C. O'Brien, N. Gleeson, H. Murphy; H. Geraghty, K. Murphy, P. Fahy; J. Dolan (0-2), J. Burke (0-1); N. Heavin, C. Griffin, J. Jordan; M. Farrell, E. Mangan (0-3), S. Hughes. Subs - C. Burke for Hughes, SJ Brody for Heavin, Hughes for Farrell.
Referee - Pat Gannon (Killyon).
Meath Camogie Board chairperson Brigid Carney made the presentation of the cups after both finals - to Kilmessan's Alison Lynch and Dunboyne's Evelyn O'Connor.
Kilmessan made it a very notable double when they defeated Dunderry by 3-3 to 0-1 in the Junior Championship final at Kiltale in early October. Kilmessan had contested eight out of 10 finals and, at last, secured the junior title for the first time.
Dunderry, who did well to reach the decider having been recently re-formed, were without some key players for the game, but were well in contention when they trailed by only 0-1 to 1-1 at the interval after Mags Stephens responded with their point after Clare Sheridan had pointed and Rita Longworth netted for Kilmessan.
Sheridan and Kelly Matthews notched second half goals for Kilmessan to put them firmly on the road to an historic victory. Patricia Grimes, Matthews and Sheridan were particularly effective for Kilmessan, while Stephens was superb for Dunderry and received the player of the match award. Goalkeeper Susan Mulligan was another of the losers' star performers.
The teams in the final were:
Kilmessan - M. Montague; V. O'Neill-Quinn, C. O'Leary, J. Horan; JA Stevens, D. Kane, F. Horan; ME Sheridan, E. Fitzgerald; K. Matthews (1-1), D. Fitzgerald, K. Ni Choileain; P. Grimes (0-1), R. Longworth (1-0), C. Sheridan (1-1). Subs - O. Doyle for C. Sheridan, S. Curtis for D. Fitzgerald, Y. Maguire for E. Fitzgerald, K. Lynch for J. Horan.
Dunderry - S. Mulligan; T. Smyth, S. Wright, A. McCormack; A. Cregan, E. McCormack, J. Martyn; M. Stephens (0-1), C. Stephens; L. Coogan, Y. Callaghan, L. Gillick; L. Byrne, T. Mulligan, K. McCormack. Subs - L. McGuinness for Gillick, C. Smyth for Wright.
Ratoath claimed the Under-14 Championship when they defeated Blackhall Gaels by 6-6 to 2-1 in the final.
Blackhall made a great start with a goal from Christine Troy, but a goal from Shonagh Dowd helped Ratoath to lead by 1-3 to 1-1 at the break. A hat-trick of goals in the space of 10 second half minutes from Niamh Leonard gave Ratoath a decisive edge and they went on to win decisively. Blackhall's Troy was named player of the match.
The teams in the final were:
Ratoath - D. Vogelaar; L. Canavan, C. Fagan, K. Whelan; C. Laffey, S. Dowd (1-0), S. Birt; S. Ryan, K. King (1-1); L. Osborne-Ryan, A. O'Reilly (1-5), O. McDonnell; A. Kavanagh, N. Leonard (3-0), S. Coakley. Subs - S. McDonnell for Leonard, G. Randles for S. Ryan, A. McIntyre for Kavanagh.
Blackhall Gaels - A. Coyle; C. Whitty, E. Delaney, B. Brosnan; E. Keane, A. Keane, A. Dolan; G. Ennis, N. Kelleher; E. Mahon (1-0), C. Troy (1-1), A. Mullally; A. Crosbie, E. Delaney, E. Troy.
There was an historic day at Longwood back in March when London made their debut in the National Camogie League with a match against Meath. It was an extra special occasion for London Camogie Association president Etty Kelly who is a native of the Royal County and won senior club medals with Ashbourne.
She was delighted that London's opening match was against Meath and must have been very satisfied with the way the game went as the visitors won by 1-7 to 1-0 in very difficult underfoot conditions. Understrength Meath trailed by 0-0 to 1-4 at the interval, but they improved in the second half, with Christine Raleigh getting the goal five minutes from the end.
It was certainly a busy weekend for London who flew into Dublin Airport on Saturday morning, travelled to Longwood for the match with Meath and then headed on for an overnight stay in the midlands. The following day they made their way to Carlow for another National League game against the home county which the lost by 1-4 to 1-6.
It was a mixed sort of year for the Meath juniors that included heavy defeats against Waterford in the league and Dublin in the All-Ireland Championship, but there were positive moments too, including when they bounced back from that big loss to the Dubs by defeating Carlow by 4-10 to 0-6 in the Leinster Championship at Killyon. There was also a 5-9 to 1-9 win over Westmeath at Dunsany after the sides had drawn earlier, while Laois eliminated them from the All-Ireland Junior Shield, winning by 3-7 to 0-8 at Rathdowney.
A lot of work is going into the development of under-age camogie in the county and the under-16s enjoyed a good run as they made it to the All-Ireland B Championship semi-finals where they were beaten by Armagh (5-15 to 1-6).
En route to the penultimate hurdle, the Royal County girls defeated Down by 4-8 to 2-1 as Emily Mangan impressed with a tally of 2-1, Katie Ni Choileain notched 1-2 and Orla Doyle also netted. An impressive 5-7 to 3-4 victory followed against Westmeath when Mangan proved highly influential once again as she scored a brilliant 4-3.
The team was coached by Valerie Curtis and Joan Doyle, but unfortunately they didn't make it to the final as Armagh proved too strong at the penultimate hurdle. It was still a progressive run that augured well for the future and all concerned deserve great credit.
The Meath panel was - Caoimhe O'Leary, Julie Ann Stephens, Shauna Curtis, Katie Ni Choileain, Orla Doyle, Kelly Matthews, Michelle Montague, Siobhan Harkin (all Kilmessan), Fiona Madden, Jane Walsh, Sheila Courtney, Alana Madden (all Kiltale), Emily Mangan, Christine Troy (both Blackhall Gaels), Jenny Long, Eimear Keaveney (both Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Sinead Kennedy, Amy Gannon (both Killyon), Niamh Guy (Boardsmill), Amanda Reilly (Ratoath), Emma Kinsella, Tracy Neville (both Navan O'Mahonys) and Aine Kehoe (Dunboyne).
In the Leinster Under-14 Championship, Meath fielded an understrength team against Westmeath at Turin due to players being unavailable and they were beaten on a 1-1 to 3-4 score line.
The profile of the game in the county should certainly be enhanced as a result of the inclusion of camogie in the Meath Green Stars promotion for the first time. Up to that stage, football and hurling, as well as ladies' football, were included and it seems only right that camogie should be similarly recognised.
"We are delighted to be included in this promotion for the first time," commented Meath Camogie Board chairperson Brigid Carney at the launch of the Green Stars in the Simonstown Gaels' clubhouse. "It should prove very popular with the players."
The inaugural winner of the Green Stars 'player of the month' award was Trim's Dearbhla Clarke who has featured prominently for her club and county this year.
Athboy Community School enjoyed a very progressive run in the Leinster Championship before losing out to a strong Gorey team from Wexford in the final. They had got the better of Kilcormac (Offaly), Portmarnock (Dublin) and Heywood (Laois) to get to that stage of the competition and their showing was certainly noteworthy.
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