Senior ‘A’ camogie final: Raharney in seventh heaven

Raharney’s dominance of the Westmeath senior camogie scene was maintained in Kinnegad yesterday afternoon when they defeated Clonkill in the county final by a somewhat flattering eight-point margin (4-8 to 1-9), writes Gerry Buckley.

The game’s top scorer Amelia Shaw – she ended up with a tally of 1-5 – scored the only goal of the first half in injury-time, and her side led by 1-6 to 0-4 at the break.

A great goal from Méadbh Scally brought Clonkill right back into contention less than three minutes after the resumption of play.

However, Hannah Core’s opportunist goal just five minutes later put Raharney in control again, and they copper-fastened their victory with further goals from the outstanding Aoife Doherty in the 42nd minute and Core’s second in the 52nd minute.

Despite the enormity of his charges having just won a seventh successive title, Raharney manager Padraic Connaughton remained very grounded when he spoke to the media after the Deelsiders had defeated Clonkill in Kinnegad last Saturday afternoon.

“We had a very tough battle in the semi-final [against Castlepollard/Crookedwood], and it prepared us and hardened us for today. We were confident coming here, but we knew Clonkill were a good team and they got to within two points of us at one stage,” he stated at the outset.

“But I suppose composure stood to us in the end. When they did apply pressure, we got the goal, and when they came back at us again, we got another goal. That is the sign of true champions. But we never talk about seven in-a-row, just the game ahead of us each time.”

When he was asked about Hannah Core’s vital brace of goals, the winning bainisteoir responded: “As I said after last year’s final, Hannah is a finisher. When she gets in there, she is lethal, as is Aoife Doherty – she created the runs. We got frees from the girls’ running. They were brilliant.”

Connaughton confirmed that the girls in blue will open their Leinster junior campaign in a quarter-final against Portlaoise in Joristown on November 28.

With last year’s championship cancelled because of Covid, he concluded by saying: “We are looking forward to that game and won’t give up our Leinster crown easily.”

For a full report on Saturday’s final, see next Tuesday’s edition of the Westmeath Examiner.