Cork minor camogie side safely into Munster final
Leah Hannigan, pictured in action for Ballincollig, scored three goals for Cork in their Munster minor championship win over Clare. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Cork are safely through to the Munster minor camogie championship final following their comprehensive win over Clare at Castle Road on Sunday afternoon.
They took the lead after three minutes, and from here to the finish, they never looked like losing, despite the best efforts of Clare, led by Sarah McEvoy.
The Rebels had plenty of impressive displays all over the pitch with Ava Ashman and Caoimhe O’Donnell anchoring their defence.
Caoilainn Ryan and Caoimhe Foley impressed at midfield, while up front the likes of Orla Troy, Clara Murphy, and Leah Hannigan were a handful over the hour.
But overall, this was a very impressive team display, with the eight subs introduced not weakening the side in any way.
They won’t know their opponents for a few weeks, with the final scheduled for the weekend of January 24-25.
Leah Hannigan opened the scoring for Cork when she got their first goal, with points from Troy and Murphy soon following.
Cliona Harte added another goal, with Troy and Murphy adding points to see Cork lead by 2-4 to no score after 11 minutes.
McEvoy got Clare off the mark from a 45, and she proved to be their only scorer in the first half.
With 17 minutes gone, it was effectively over as a competition as Hannigan scored two goals in a minute, to make it 4-4 to 0-1 and kill off any real chance Clare had of winning.
McEvoy got her second point, with Murphy replying.
Two more from McEvoy closed the gap, with Troy getting the last score of the half as Cork led by 4-7 to 0-4 at half-time.
Troy added another to her tally before two apiece from Murphy and Caoimhe Foley increased Cork’s lead further, 4-12 to 0-5.
McEvoy added two more to bring her second-half tally to three, and Clare’s to 0-7. With 45 minutes gone Murphy, Eanna Duff, and Troy kept the scoreboard ticking over for Cork before Aoibhe O’Leary pointed for Clare.
Late points from McEvoy and Sheena Beirne rounded off the scoring for Clare, but they were no more than consolation scores as Cork ran out deserving winners and move on to the final in a few weeks time.
L Hannigan 3-0, C Harte 1-0, C Murphy 0-7 (1f), O Troy 0-5 (3f), C Foley 0-3, E Duff 0-1.
S McEvoy 0-8 (4f, 0-1 45), A O’Leary, S Beirne 0-1 each.
K Crowley (Courcey Rovers); S Donohue (Blarney), A Ashman (Killeagh), T O’Neill (Fr O’Neill’s); L O’Connor (Killeagh), C O’Donnell (Sliabh Rua), M Lombard (Ballinhassig); C Foley (Courcey Rovers), C Ryan (Newtownshandrum); O Troy (Newtownshandrum), C Murphy (Éire Óg), S Dwyer (Douglas); E Healy (Éire Óg), C Harte (Barryroe), L Hannigan (Ballincollig).
K O’Sullivan (Newcestown) for E Healy, R Hannigan (Ballincollig) for L O’Connor (both 35), E Duff (Aghabullogue) for S Dwyer, A Halpin (Sliabh Rua) for T O’Neill (both 48), G Claassen (Erin’s Own) for C Ryan, A O’Brien (Brian Dillons) for L Hannigan, C Hayes (St Catherine’s) for O Troy (all 53), C Roche (Éire Óg) for C O’Donnell (55).
A Boland; A McGuane, S Ryan, C McDonnell; K Connellan, E Carmody, O Cahill; K Kennedy, S Beirne; L Pearl. A O’Leary, S Beston; S McEvoy, K Conlon, A Quaid.
J Grady for C McDonnell, A Crowe for S Beston (both ht), M Purcell for A Quaid (50), K Dowling for L Pearl (53), G Cooney for A McGuane (59).
Johnny Dooley, Tipperary.
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