All-Ireland glory for O'Donovan Rossa ladies footballers
Éabha O'Donovan of O'Donovan Rossa celebrates with teammate Kate O'Donovan after scoring the second goal against Claremorris. Picture: Ben McShane/Sportsfile
AN incredible late goal from sharpshooter Eabha O’Donovan fired O’Donovan Rossa to a historic victory over Mayo outfit Claremorris in the 2023 currentaccount.ie All-Ireland Junior final at Parnell Park.
The result looked in doubt late on as Claremorris stormed back to dominate the second half but they simply had no answer to O’Donovan's 2-5 salvo.
Éabha O’Donovan opened the scoring for O’Donovan Rossa when she floated over a free in the second minute, and a minute later midfielder Triona Murphy doubled O’Donovan Rossa's lead with a neat score.
Claremorris struck straight back with well-struck scores from Bree Hession and captain Laura Kelly, only for Jessica Beechinor to immediately restore the Cork champions lead in the seventh minute.
O’Donovan kicked another free soon after before crucially capitalising on a kick-out error by the Claremorris goalkeeper to blast home the game’s first goal from 20 yards.
Then 16-year-old corner forward Ashleagh Salmon stopped the rot from Claremorris' perspective with a point in the 15th minute and two minutes later Hession reduced the margin back to a goal after the Mayo side had regathered a loose Skibbereen clearance.
Rebecca Kean then curled over her first free of the afternoon and it was most definitely game on when Kelly scored in the 21st minute, for Claremorris’ fourth point in a row, to leave them only a solitary point behind.
O’Donovan kicked a 25th-minute free for Rossa's first score in 14 minutes to ensure they led by 1-5 to 0-6 at the break.
Kelly had a shot whistle past the post in the 32nd minute as the Cork and Munster champions had a scare.
The Skibbereen side’s running game used up huge amounts of energy with Cork senior player Laura O’Mahony to the fore throughout, and after Claremorris had squandered a number of attempts to get the scores up and running in the second half it was the ultra-accurate O’Donovan that got the opening score of the half with another pinpoint free in the 40th minute.
Kean found her range from a close in free in the 42 minute but botched a similar attempt two minutes later, as O’Donovan Rossa struggled to get out of their own half.
Nina Wallace then landed her first score of the game in the 45th minute to get her side within one and two minutes later a monster captain's score from Kelly had them level.
The next score was going to be crucial and it came from Claremorris centre-back Siomha McNulty in the 53rd minute when she coolly slotted over from 25 yards to give her side the lead for the first time in the game.
O’Donovan Rossa needed something magical and they got it through the wonderful O’Donovan, who slalomed past several Claremorris defenders before burying to the back of the net in the 55th minute to turn the game on its head.
She added another free in the 59th minute to put two in it again after Sammon had reduced the gap to one, and the Skibb side held out for a famous win.
É O’Donovan 2-5 (0-5 f), T Murphy and J Beechinor 0-1 each.
L Kelly 0-3, B Hession, A Sammon, R Keen (f) 0-2 each, N Wallace and S McNulty 0-1 each.
C Fitzgerald; M Donellan, E McCarthy, A Tobin; F Leonard, S Hurley, L Harte (f); L O’Mahony, T Murphy; J Beechinor, E Hurley, K O’Connell; É O’Donovan, K O’Donovan, F O’Driscoll.
A O’Driscoll for K O’Connell (30), T O’Regan for C Fitzgerald (49), K O’Connell for J Beechinor (50).
C Keane; I Philips, E Maguire, Aisling Cummins; Amy Cummins, S McNulty, S Hughes; A Fitzpatrick, J Regan; M Cawley, R Kean, B Hession; A Sammon, N Wallace, L Kelly (c).
D Horkan for J Regan (30), I Phillips for Regan (57), K O’Brien for N Wallace (58), S Kelly for L Kelly (60).
Ray McBride.
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