Clare put in their most impressive performance of the 2015 Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship with a comprehensive twenty two point victory over Derry.
Clare 4-19
Derry 1-06
Venue: Cusack Park
Prior to their clash with Derry, Clare had scored a total of 1-25 in three games. They focused on hitting the target in this encounter with Derry and came three scores short from matching what they’ve hit all year.
It must be noted that while the Banner performed well their Derry counterparts didn’t. As well as getting lost on their long trek to Cusack Park, they travelled down with only sixteen players which will not win any game at inter-county level.
Despite being one of Clare’s more consistent performers in 2015, Kilmaley’s Emma O’Driscoll made her first ever Championship start in this tie and she set the ground running with the first point of the afternoon with over one minute played. A penalty was awarded to Chloe Morey after a foul by full-back Eilis Ní Chaiside but Morey saw the resulting penalty saved by netminder Niamh McQuillian.
Ní Chaiside was shown a yellow card for another foul on Morey four minutes later and the Sixmilebridge woman made no mistake in slotting over the subsequent free. The 2013 All Star picked up her first point of play on the ninth minute following good work from Michelle Caulfield. Derry opened their account with a free from Karen Kielt on the tenth minute.
Colm Honan changed his midfield pairing for this clash and the move worked wonders with both Maire McGrath and Roisin McMahon pointing in a two minute spell that saw McGrath wind up a long shot that sailed over the crossbar and some smart thinking from the Cratloe native setup McMahon on the fifteenth minute.
Aoife Keane struck for the first goal of the game on the eighteenth minute after Chloe Morey disposed the Derry defence and handpassed to an on-rushing Keane who finished to the net. Clare won the resulting puckout and sent the sliotar back in to Morey who picked up Clare’s second goal in the space of forty three seconds.
Inagh/Kilnamona’s Clare Hehir worked hard to set up O’Driscoll for another white flag to extend Clare’s lead to eleven points. More misery was piled on the visitors as Chloe Morey broke the ball through to Aoife Keane who stuck the sliotar to the back of the Derry net with twenty three minutes on the clock.
Andrea O’Keeffe added another point for the Banner but Derry replied with two scores in succession from Mary Kelly and Dervla O’Kane. O’Keeffe added to her account with her first ever goal at Senior inter-county level as a pass from Maire McGrath found her in acres of space and she tore through the gaps in the Derry defence to send a blistering strike past Niamh McQuillian. Karen Kielt was on target from a 45 to narrow the gap to fifteen points at the interval.
Joe Baldwin’s Derry were first off the mark after the resumption with Dungiven’s Orlaigh Mullen raising a green flag following a pass from Marie Kelly that found her unmarked with only Denise Lynch to beat. Aoife Keane responded with a point off her left side but her effort was cancelled out by Maureen Heneghan.
Dual-star Ailish Considine shot to national prominence last week as she kicked a perfect swerving effort that split the posts on the training field. Considine showed her football skills to all those present in Cusack Park as she kicked the sliotar over the bar off her right foot with seven minutes played.
Keane and Meabh McGoldrick swapped scores with twelve minutes played and McGoldrick’s pointed free turned out to be the final score from the Ulster County in the contest.
The 2014 National League finalists pushed on with scores from Andrea O’Keeffe, Roisin McMahon, Keane, Morey and Loughnane to seal the win.
Interestingly the clash was a repeat of the 2007 All-Ireland Junior Final where Clare suffered a heartbreaking 3-12 to 2-14 defeat. Denise Lynch and Kate Lynch remain from the Clare team of 07 while Meabh McGoldrick came off from the bench in that September 9th meeting. Both sides have since advanced to the Senior grade but a vast difference between both sets of teams since 2007 is there seems to be less fire in the bellies while in Derry’s case their standard of camogie has regressed. Ironically Cathal Egan was the man in the middle for the 07 All-Ireland and the Cork man was on duty for the Cusack Park affair.
The Oak Leaf County seemed to be resigned to the fact that they were playing for nothing. The fact that they travelled with a panel of sixteen confirms this. After coming so close to Tipperary and Dublin in earlier games there was an expectation that this would be a tight outing but Derry didn’t bring their A game and the scoreline reflects this. Dervla O’Kane was a constant threat for the Clare defence while Meabh McGoldrick and Mary Kelly featured regularly when Derry were in possession.
This display was badly needed on Clare’s behalf not just to keep their Championship dreams alive but to boost morale within the team that they can create scoring chances and take them. Before a ball was pucked in this game Clare had just four different scorers from three Championship games, that figure has now increased to ten and Honan’s girls will be more assured in front of goal.
What happens next for Clare remains unclear, if a toss goes ahead and it goes in their favour Wexford will require a considerable improvement from Clare’s behalf and the same applies if a play-off with Dublin ensues. One aspect of their play that hadn’t been effective thus far was their passing of the ball and in this game Clare linked up very well with one another and as a result they retained more possession. Aoife Keane had a super game hitting 2-04 from play, Emma O’Driscoll created a lot of scoring chances. At midfield Maire McGrath and Roisin McMahon made a big difference while Kate Lynch fitted in well to the wing-back role.
Teams:
Clare: Denise Lynch (Kilmaley); Aoife Griffin (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Carol O’Leary (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Emma O’Connell (Ballyea); Kate Lynch (Kilkishen), Orlaith Duggan (Clooney/Quin), Clare Hehir (Inagh/Kilnamona); Maire McGrath (Sixmilebridge) (0-01), Roisin McMahon (Newmarket-on-Fergus) (0-01); Michelle Caulfield (Truagh/Clonlara), Eimear Kelly (Truagh/Clonlara), Emma O’Driscoll (Kilmaley) (0-02), Ailish Considine (Kilmaley) (0-01), Chloe Morey (Sixmilebridge) (1-06 5f), Aoife Keane (Inagh/Kilnamona) (2-04). Subs: Andrea O’Keeffe (Inagh/Kilnamona) (1-02) for Kelly (15), Vera Loughnane (Feakle) (0-01) for Caulfield (46), Amy Keating for Considine (54), Teresa O’Keeffe (Inagh/Kilnamona) for O’Driscoll (69), Kathleen Horgan (Truagh/Clonlara) for Hehir (69).
Derry: Niamh McQuillian (Swatraigh); Bronagh McGilligan (Ballinascreen), Eilis Ní Chaiside (Slaughneil), Maria Mooney (Eoghan Rua); Eimear Mullen (Dungiven), Meabh McGoldrick (Eoghan Rua) (0-01 1f), Maureen Heneghan (Eoghan Rua) (0-01); Karen Kielt (Kilrea) (0-02 1’45 1f), Aoife Shaw (Lavey); Dervla O’Kane (Swatragh) (0-01), Maria Donnelly (Ballinascreen), Eimear McGuigan (Ballinascreen); Orlaigh Mullen (Dungiven) (1-00), Mary Kelly (Slaughneil) (0-01), Mairead McNicholl (Swatragh).
Referee: Cathal Egan (Cork).
