Ladies Football: Aghada and Éire Óg have to do it all again after tense Senior A final

Aghada 1-7 Éire Óg 0-10

Aghada and Éire Óg will have to do it all again as their Cork Credit Unions Senior A ladies football championship final ended in a draw at MTU on Sunday.

It was no great surprise to see the sides level as it took a 20-metre free shoot-out to separate them last year before Aghada won.

The final is provisionally fixed for next Saturday which will see some of the Éire Óg side possibly having to play a football final on Saturday and a camogie decider on Sunday. A number of them are involved with St Finbarr’s who play St Catherine’s in the camogie next Sunday.

Overall it was probably a fair result with both sides having spells of domination.

Aghada took the lead five minutes in when Abigail Ring pointed from a free, before Orlaith Cahalane got Éire Óg off the mark from the restart. Cahalane was on target again after eight minutes to put her side in front, with Ring equalising at the other end a minute later.

Sadbh McGoldrick put Éire Óg back in front with Ring replying, to make it 0-3 each after 13 minutes.

A minute later and Aghada got the first goal of the game, when Roisin Phelan started a move from midfield, finding Rachel Leahy, whose precision pass found Kate O’Farrell bursting forward from cornerback to find the back of the net.

Cahalane replied at the other end, before Leahy pointed herself, to make it 1-4 to 0-4.

Laura Cleary pointed from a free to put two between the sides before Aghada had keeper Sarah Walsh to thank to ensure they led at half-time.

First, she pulled off a double save from Cahalane, before then somehow getting a touch to a McGoldrick shot to deny Éire Óg a green flag and see her side in front at the break.

It didn’t take Éire Óg long to get back on level terms with Cahalane adding to her tally and Emma Cleary also scoring to make it 1-4 to 0-7 after 34 minutes.

Éire Óg went in front after 41 minutes when Laura Cleary pointed from a free, before Maisie McRae had the sides level again.

Orlaith Cremin and Ring exchanged points before Shauna Cronin put Éire Óg back in front, with seven minutes to go.

Ring pointed another free to level it, before Orlaith Cahalane was sin-binned late on as Éire Óg finished the game with 14.

However they hung on for a deserved draw to see them have to do it all again next Saturday, with details of the replay to be confirmed.

Scorers for Aghada: A Ring 0-5 (0-4 f), K O'Farrell 1-0, R Leahy, M McRae 0-1 each.

Éire Óg: O Cahalane 0-4, L Cleary 0-2 f, S McGoldrick, E Cleary, O Cremin, S Cronin 0-1 each.

AGHADA: S Walsh; K O’Farrell, S McAllister, A Cooper; M McRae, S Leahy, R Leahy; R Phelan, H Looney; Y Burgoyne, K Smith, A Coughlan; A Ring, A Smith, B Smith.

Subs: A O’Connor for A Smith (ht), C Walsh for A Coughlan (47), B McGrath for Y Burgoyne (60).

ÉIRE ÓG: R Halligan; G Young, J O’Gorman, I Sheehan; S Cronin, M Cahalane, E Crowley; S McGoldrick, L Cleary; E Cleary, O Cahalane, O Cremin; L Murphy, A Hayes, A Rodgers.

Subs: R Sheehan for G Young (34), E Healy for A Rodgers (41), K Cahalane for A Hayes (53), M McGoldrick for L Murphy (60).

Referee: Conor McCarthy, Carbery Rangers.