By Oisín Noone at Grant Heating St Brendan’s Park
Galway 3-14
Kilkenny 2-17
The newly-named Kate Moran Cup for the Eir All-Ireland U-16A Camogie Championship was contested with style and panache worthy of the former Athenry and Galway star this afternoon in Birr, and supporters of both Galway and Kilkenny will mark next Saturday in their diaries for what should be a tremendous replay after the two sides couldn’t be separated over the course of a remarkable hour’s play.
Late drama crowned a memorable contest. Galway centre-forward Cara Giblin, who finished with 1-4, went low with a last-gasp free to level the sides a minute into injury time. Kilkenny, who had led by six points in the first quarter and by five with ten to play, couldn’t quite hold on to win their first title at this grade since 2008 as Giblin, Orna Dunne (2-2) and Maeve Cronin (0-3) shone in a stellar Galway attack.
Katie Brogan split the posts to put Galway in the lead after ten seconds, but Kilkenny led 0-8 to 0-2 after 14 minutes as their relentless running put Galway backs under extreme pressure. Galway shot five first-half wides while the Cats didn’t put a ball astray until the 22nd minute, punishing Galway with metronomic accuracy.
Rachel Duff, Amy Walsh, Kate Dalton, Ruby Norris, Dearbhla Ryan and Elizabeth Sida were all first-half point scorers for the Noresiders, while Katelyn Hynes, Giblin and Grace Roche provided responses for Galway.
Duff ran down the heart of Galway’s defence for a statement goal after 20 minutes, however Dunne responded with an equally fine finish into the corner of the Cats’ net three minutes later, leaving Galway 1-4 to 1-9 adrift with the margin four points at the break.
Dunne’s redeployment to the full-forward line proved successful as she shot a quickfire 1-1 to level the contest five minutes after the restart, but in a game packed with twists and turns, that served only to inspire another Kilkenny purple patch.
Ryan restored Kilkenny’s lead with a goal immediately after Dunne’s levelling effort and although Galway had the better of the next ten minutes, Kilkenny found a late surge that looked like it might be decisive.
Ryan finished as top scorer for her side with 1-6 and she extended their lead once more alongside efforts from Duff and Dalton to push Kilkenny’s lead out to five, 2-15 to 2-10.
It only got better from there. Substitute Cronin made her minutes count with three scores, Giblin and Dalton swapped points, and the scoreboard read 2-16 to 2-13 entering injury time.
Cronin earned the crucial free that Giblin hammered in between a packed goalmouth full of Kilkenny hurl, Ryan gave Kilkenny the go-ahead with a free once again, but Galway weren’t coming out of Birr with less than a draw as Giblin equalised once more.
Both teams had chances to avoid the game going to a replay in what remained, but tiring limbs were unable to hit the target and so the two teams will be back at the same venue next Saturday, May 9th, at 5pm.
In the first leg of the afternoon’s double-header, Kildare and Westmeath got the worst of the conditions in Birr but it was the Lilywhites who defied the elements and recorded a 4-11 to 2-6 victory.
Jules Flanagan set up Ania Mazur for an early Kildare goal as they moved 1-4 to 0-2 in front, while Westmeath’s radar was off with six wides in the first 20 minutes.
The Lake County did rally and after rattling off three points in row they hit the front though a close range Amy Beggan goal. They needed to keep that momentum going until half-time and instead shipped two more green flags to trail by 3-4 to 1-5 at the turnaround.
Holly Kinsella put her name on both, though the latter was all about great approach play from Catherine Murphy.
Alesha Kennedy goaled for Westmeath early in the second half but a speculative shot from Mazur that bounced on the astroturf and evaded the Westmeath goalkeeper was a crushing blow and five of the last six points went the way of the Lily Whites, who dominated the final quarter.
In other All-Ireland finals played around the country this afternoon, Carlow beat Meath by 4-13 to 1-13 to secure the U-23C title at Castletown Geoghegan and the Minor C Championship decider in Sallins saw Wicklow edge out Westmeath by 2-10 to 0-14.
SCORERS FOR GALWAY: O Dunne 2-2; C Giblin 1-4(1-2fs); M Cronin 0-3; G Roche 0-2fs; K Hynes, K Brogan, C Mullins 0-1 each
SCORERS FOR KILKENNY: D Ryan 1-6(0-4fs, 0-1 45); R Duff 1-3; R Norris, K Dalton 0-3 each; A Walsh, E Sida, 0-1 each
GALWAY: C Doyle, K Melville, A Hughes, A Lawlor, E McDonagh, N Coen, K Dolan, M Nevin, K Brogan, K Hynes, C Giblin, O Dunne, E Harkin, C Mullins, G Roche. Subs: S Maher for McDonagh (28), M Cronin for Dolan (40), D Griffin for Harkin (48), K Burke for Mullins (58).
KILKENNY: H Culleton, S Cash, R Corcoran, C Joyce, S Farrell, R Murphy, I Carroll, A Walsh, R Smith, E Sida, R Norris, R Duff, K Dalton, M Kenny, D Ryan. Subs: H Drennan for Farrell, S McCabe for Kenny, R Mullins for Walsh, L Ahern for Sida, R Gibbons for Rebecca Smith.
REFEREE: Simon Redmond (Dublin).
