Leah Hannigan and Tara O'Donoghue pivotal as Coláiste Choilm land first U16 A camogie All-Ireland
Coláiste Choilm show their joy. Picture: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo
A first-half hat-trick of goals from Leah Hannigan secured a first Allianz Corn Gobnait All-Ireland Junior crown for Coláiste Choilm at Abbottstown.
They become just the second school from Cork to lift the top prize in underage schools’ camogie, 18 years after St Mary’s, Charleville’s took their ninth crown and they have condemned Magehra to a second successive final defeat.
The goals from Ballincollig ace Hannigan, whose sister Rebecca was full-back, gave Coláiste Choilm the platform to win the game. Equally decisive was the performance of goalkeeper Tara O’Donoghue who pulled off some superb saves, the one from sub Brianna Donaghy 10 minutes after the break instrumental in preventing Maghera staging a comeback.
O’Donoghue claimed the Allianz Player of the Match award but it could easily have gone to Hannigan or the other main scorer Rachel Murphy, who had a tremendous second half when her team were under a lot of pressure.
Maghera started confidently enough with two points from McCullagh that were matched by one from play and one from a free by Murphy at the other end. Murphy added a third point from a free before Hannigan’s first goal.
The move started when Sarah O’Conor intercepted a pass in the midfield area and sent Emily McGrath clear on the right wing. McGrath won possession and her hand pass took out two defenders to put Hannigan in on goal.
The next quarter of an hour however was dominated by Maghera; scores from Róisín McAtamney, Catherine McKenna, Emma Quinn (free), Aoibh Mulholland and Orla McCartney edged them ahead by 0-7 to 1-3 after 20 minutes. And that could have been a greater margin but for a couple of fine saves by O’Donoghue Hannigan’s next two goals arrived in the 26th minute and turned the game on its head.
The first came from a mishit free from Rachel Murphy that was taken down by the Maghera defence and the corner-forward nipped in to find the corner of the net. Then 30 seconds later, from a speculative shot for a point from the wing, the sliotar dipped under the bar and into the net.
The goals changed the game; Coláiste Choilm led at the break by 3-3 to 0-7 and maintained that lead throughout the second half, responding each time Emma Quinn tagged on a score for Maghera at the other end.
As Maghera pushed forward, Hannigan provided a huge threat through the second half without adding to her interval total with Rachel Murphy time and again relieving pressure on her defence with her strong running. Murphy added two frees on the re-start and full-forward Clara Murphy made it 3-6 to 0-8 after 36 minutes.
Maghera had some excellent players including Ellie Griffin, Brannagh Brolly and Eimhear Conway at the back, Emma Quinn in the middle and Mary Therese McCullagh up front. However they couldn’t get up a head of steam during the second half. They pushed up but had to rely on Quinn's frees to keep them going while O’Donoghue stretched on a couple of occasions to prevent the breakthrough goal.
Hannigan looked to have grabbed a fourth goal in the 52nd minute but Griffin got back to get in a stunning hook. Fortunately, Ballincollig didn’t need the extra cushion and their defence was able to see out the remaining minutes for captain Aisling Cussen to make history for the school by lifting Corn Gobnait.
L Hannigan 3-0, R Murphy 0-6 (0-4 f), C Murphy, A McGrath 0-1 each.
E Quinn 0-6 f, MT McCullagh 0-3, O McCartney, C McKenna, R McAtamney, A Mulholland 0-1 each.
T O’Donoghue; R Hannigan, A Conway, L Ahern; S O’Connor, A Cussen (c), J Mehigan; A Whelton, C Roche; S Galvin, R Murphy, C Fitzgerald; E McGrath, C Murphy, L Hannigan.
A McGrath for A Whelton and S Óg Walsh for S Glavin (both ht).
K Birt; L McKaigue, E Griffin (c), GM Bradley; B Brolly, E Conway, O McCartney; E Quinn, A McWilliams; C McKenna, MT McCullagh, R McAtamney; O Johnston, A McFaul, A Mulholland.
B Donaghy for O Johnstone (22), E Diamond for A McFaul (43), G Diamond for C McKenna (49).
A Largue.
App?
