Delight for Clonakilty as they see off Kinsale in U21 ladies football final

Clonakilty 3-9 Kinsale 1-4

CLONAKILTY got off to a flying start at the Páirc Uí Chaoimh astroturf on Tuesday evening in the U21 B county final.

After two unlucky misses for the Clon side, Ciara White bagged the first point of the game.

Kinsale were quick to answer with a well-kicked free from Caoimhe Horgan after Clon’s solid Siobhan Callanan put a stop to a run on goal.

Kate O’Donovan and Siofra Pattwell reigned in the centre of the field and showed great progression through the Kinsale defence while Millie Condon complimented them nicely with some lively runs up the wing.

Another two points for the Clonakilty side was the kickstart Kinsale needed to gain back possession and build up to another goal chance, but Katie Hearne made a great save to keep Clonakilty in front.

Just when they needed it most, Caoimhe Horgan came to the rescue with a superb goal after a great pass in.

Referee Peter O Leary was kept very busy throughout the half with some big tackles from both teams but did well to keep the play flowing as naturally as possible.

Clon’s Aisling Moloney found the back of the net before Siofra Pattwell scored a beautiful point to put Clon in a substantial lead at half time.

Captain Kiya O’Mahony shot a magnificent point to open the second half before Aisling Maloney raised the green flag again to further the gap between the two west Cork teams.

Nicole Buckley was a credit to Kinsale when she saved yet another shot on the goal, but despite the best efforts of Maisie O’Callaghan on the Kinsale wing Ruth Shanahan’s leadership from Clonakilty’s Centre-back line was just too powerful to overcome.

Kate Redmond clocked up some incredible mileage in midfield but saw no joy from it and with every wide Kinsale kicked, the morale was weakened.

Clonakilty however grew more and more confident. Siobhan Callanan’s grit at full-back was heroic, sweeping up any loose ball before bursting up the middle of the field fearlessly, but it was captain Kiya O’Mahony’s unstoppable goal that put the final nail in the coffin in the county final. Things went from bad to worse Kinsale receiving a red card resulting in them being down to fourteen players.

The final whistle was music to Clonakilty’s ears as they celebrated being crowned Cork County U21 B champions.

Scorers for Clonakilty: A. Maloney (2-02), K. O Mahony (1-01), S Pattwell (0-03), M Condon, C. McEvoy, C White, (0-01) each.

Kinsale: C. Horgan (1-02), F. Aherne, R. Buckley (0-01) each.

CLONAKILTY: Katie Hearne; Niamh Kennedy, Siobhán Callanan, Caoimhe Murphy; Millie Condon, Ruth Shanley, Mary Murphy; Ciara White, Kate O Donovan; Aisling Moloney, Siofra Pattwell, Aoife O’Flynn Meade; Rachel Deasy, Kiya O’Mahony, Caoimhe McEvoy.

Subs: Ciara Allman for C McEvoy (57), Aoife O’Donovan for A Moloney (61), Ella O’Donoghue for R Deasy (61).

KINSALE: Jeanne Murphy; Sarah Murphy, Caoimhe Heffernan, Katelyn Forde(C); Meadbh Hurley, Sophie Collins, Amy Casey; Kate Redmond, Nicole Buckley; Maisie O’Callaghan, Geraldine Tyner, Caoimhe Horgan; Sophie Webb, Mary-Clare Murphy, Lily Collins.

Subs: F. Aherne for M. Hurley, R. M. Buckley for M. C. Murphy, A. Buckley for L. Collins.

Referee: Peter O’Leary, Inch Rovers.