Ballincollig land camogie league title against Sars as Clodagh Finn hits 2-4 off the bench

Ballincollig 2-15 Sarsfields 1-7 

Ballincollig took the Premier Intermediate Camogie League title as they overcame Sarsfields' second adult team in Castle Road on Monday.

A close opening 30 minutes saw the sides level at 0-4 each, after a half where both defences were under a lot of pressure.

Lucy Lynch in the Sarsfields goal was in superb form, denying Ballincollig twice with excellent saves. After 23 minutes, they had a three-point advantage but Sars kept at it and hit three without reply to tie it up at the break. 

Ballincollig upped the pace in the second half, picking off five points before introducing Cork senior panellist Clodagh Finn, who has joined the club this year. Her class shone through and she fired 2-4 from play to power Collig to the title.

Linda Dorgan had the opening score with Chloe Casey replying before Cork minor Leah Hannigan edged Ballincollig in front. It took an excellent save from Lucy Lynch to deny Ballincollig a goal. 

Sorcha McCarthy and Olivia O’Leary were winning a lot of possession but with Ciara Rice and Eimear O'Callaghan strong in the Sarsfields defence, they held firm.

Hannigan and Blaithin Cunniffe added points to stretch the Collig's advantage to three, but driven on by Deirdre McCarthy, who was doing huge work, Sarsfields were back level with points from Ciara Rice, Deirdre McCarthy and Casey.

From the start of the second half, Ballincollig began to gain a grip. Cunniffe, Sorcha McCarthy, Dorgan and Keeley Goulding had points as the young Sarsfields sides battled to stay into contention. 

Chloe Casey and Lily May Kelleher narrowed the gap before Finn grabbed two goals.

Sarsfields, to their credit, never gave up.

Casey sent a free to the net before taking her tally to 1-4. Finishing strong, Ballincollig had points from Saoirse McCarthy and Finn to run out winners.

Huge credit must go to Sarsfields on reaching the Premier Intermediate League final with their second adult team, many of whom were minor players.

Scorers for Ballincollig: C Finn 2-4, L Hannigan, B Cunniffe, S McCarthy, K Goulding, L Dorgan (0-1 f) 0-2 each, O O'Leary, 0-1.

Sarsfields: C Casey 1-4 f, C Rice (f), D McCarthy, LM Kelleher 0-1 each.

BALLINCOLLIG: A Hartnett; U Berbecka, M Healy, S Buckley; K Goulding, L Weste, R Millett; I Fleury, A Scanlon; B Cunniffe, L Dorgan, S McCarthy; L Cooper, L Hannigan, O O’Leary.

Subs: F Cousins for L Cooper (h-t), C Finn for B Cunniffe (42), E Casey for L Dorgan (57).

SARSFIELDS: L Lynch; S Scanlon, A Nestor, N Quirke; A Soden, C Rice, E O'Callaghan; C Tierney, C Galvin; D McCarthy, M Sheehan, L Walsh; C Casey (c), S Duggan, E Hegarty.

Subs: M Bracken for S Scanlon (22), LM Kelleher for S Duggan (h-t), E Kelleher for L Lynch (inj 46), J Power for C Galvin (54), A Ryan for E O'Callaghan (58), S Costello for L Walsh (58).

Referee: Brendan Barrett (Ballygarvan).