Brilliant Byrne hits hat trick as Bower girls claim Leinster title

Jennifer Byrne scored a hat-trick of goals as Our Lady"s Bower recorded a comprehensive victory over St Mary"s SS, Naas, in this Leinster Schools Junior (U-16) "C" Ladies Football final at a bitterly cold Kinnegad on Wednesday of last week. Naas had no answer to the fielding ability and scoring power of Byrne, the outstanding full-forward ending the game with 3-4 to her credit. But this wasn"t a one-woman show by any means. Amy Farrell was excellent at wing-forward, scoring 1-4, with some of her points top class. Indeed, the entire Bower attacking division was very lively and dangerous throughout. Team captain and right half-forward Vicki McEnery worked hard and delivered some good ball into her inside forwards, while centre-forward Aoife Dolan scored three points. Corner-forward Aine McCaul contributed 1-2 to the Bower"s tally and was involved in several good moves. The Bower"s midfield pairing of Mary C Walsh and Lizzie Curran enjoyed a height advantage over their opponents and they had the edge in this sector. Managed by Deirdre Slevin, assisted by Elizabeth Stuart-Trainor, the Bower will now meet the Munster champions in the All-Ireland semi-final in the coming weeks. In looking for improvement for that semi-final, the Bower management team will probably be hoping for their defence to be tighter, although centre half-back Meadhbh Flynn, along with corner-backs Sarah Hughes and Edel Ryan, had some good moments in last week"s game. The Bower line-up featured ten players who play their club football with Garrycastle. These were joined by Athlone duo Laura Dowling and Aine McCaul, and the remainder of the starting fifteen was made up of three boarders - Rachel Bleach from Co Clare, Westport"s Mary C Walsh and Lizzie Curran from Clonbur, Co Galway. Interestingly, arguably the Bower"s three most impressive players on the day - Jennifer Byrne, Amy Farrell and Aoife Dolan - are all ex-pupils of St Colmcille"s NS in Ballinahown. Ironically, St Mary"s dominated the early stages of the game but had only one point to show for their efforts, corner-forward Sinead Lawlor scoring inside the opening 20 seconds. The trend of the game changed irrevocably when Amy Farrell scored the Bower"s first goal in the 7th minute. Mary C Walsh, Jennifer Byrne, Aoife Dolan and Aine McCaul were involved in the build-up and when the ball eventually came to Amy Farrell, she drove a crisp low shot into the far corner of the net. This was followed by a pointed free from Vicki McEnery and splendid points from Aoife Dolan and Amy Farrell. The Kildare side responded with a point from centre-forward Cliodhna McSweeney (free) and a well-taken goal from full-forward Amy Hyland (16th minute). However, just a minute later, Jennifer Byrne stamped her class on the game with her first goal. The Ballinahown girl cut in from the right and drove a powerful left-foot shot to the net. That gave the Bower a 2-3 to 1-2 lead and they never looked back thereafter. Two points from Farrell and Dolan increased the Bower"s lead to six points. Naas goalie Aoife Hederman (whose twin sister, Niamh, had the unenviable task of trying to mark Jennifer Byrne) then pulled off a great double save to deny Amy Farrell a second goal. This resulted in a "45" which was caught by Byrne, who duly pointed the free after she was fouled. In the 25th minute, Amy Farrell sent over a fantastic point and Aoife Dolan then added a good point off her left foot, following a pass from Vicki McEnery. Jennifer Byrne struck for her second goal in the 30th minute, this time catching a delivery from Mary C Walsh and surging forward, before driving another great shot to the net. The Athlone side scored another goal in injury time. This time Byrne was the creator, bursting past Elaine Corrigan (who was now marking her), and passing to Aine McCaul, who fired to the net for her side"s fourth green flag. In the first minute of the second half, the same two players were involved again, Byrne forcing a save from Hederman and McCaul hitting the rebound over the bar. St Mary"s then missed two good scoring chances, before Cliodhna McSweeney pointed a free. Naas were now backed by the wind, which was gaining in strength, but they needed a miracle to turn this final around. All doubt over the outcome was removed in the 40th minute, when Jennifer Byrne completed her hat-trick. The Garrycastle player just about got to Aine McCaul"s pass ahead of the Naas goalie, and poked the ball to the net. Byrne continued to wreak havoc in the Naas defence, scoring three points on the trot (one free), and then setting up Aine McCaul for another, which left the Westmeath girls ahead by 5-13 to 1-3. Despite enjoying such a massive lead, the Bower somewhat surprisingly only introduced one substitute, Clann na nGael"s Orla O"Neill entering the fray in the closing stages. To their credit, St Mary"s continued to battle in a bid to reduce the huge deficit facing them. After Bower wing-back Rachel Bleach denied Naas a possible score with a good block, the Kildare side got some reward with points from Cliodhna McSweeney (free) and Amy Hyland (two). In the 57th minute, McSweeney scored a goal, finishing the ball to the net from close range. A point from Amy Farrell interrupted this mini revival from St Mary"s, but Laura Dowling was then called on to make a good save to deny Sinead Lawlor. After McSweeney hit a cracking shot off the crossbar from a 13-metre free, the final score of the day came from Naas midfielder Grace Clifford. It was a mere consolation score at that stage. After the game, Sean McMullin, president of the Leinster Council, presented the winners" cup to Our Lady"s Bower team captain Vicki McEnery, and it came as no surprise when Jennifer Byrne was named player of the match. SCORERS - Our Lady"s Bower: J Byrne 3-4 (0-2f); A Farrell 1-4; A McCaul 1-2; A Dolan 0-3; V McEnery 0-1f. St Mary"s, Naas: C McSweeney 1-3 (0-3f); A Hyland 1-2; S Lawlor, G Clifford 0-1 each. OUR LADY"S BOWER, ATHLONE: Laura Dowling; Sarah Hughes, Niamh Dooley, Edel Ryan; Rachel Bleach, Meadhbh Flynn, Gráinne Elliott; Mary C Walsh, Lizzie Curran; Vicki McEnery, Aoife Dolan, Amy Farrell; Aine Harney, Jennifer Byrne, Aine McCaul. Subs: Orla O"Neill for A Harney (54 mins). ST MARY"S SS, NAAS: Aoife Hederman; Aoife Meade, Niamh Hederman, Anna Sargent; Roisin Kane, Gráinne Temple, Elaine Corrigan; Bríd Doolan, Grace Clifford; Leah Whyte, Cliodhna McSweeney, Naomi Curtis; Aoife Caulfield, Amy Hyland, Sinead Lawlor. Subs: Emma Sargent for A Sargent (23 mins). REFEREE: Tommy O"Donohue (Longford).