Clann to face Boyle in Roscommon LGFA senior decider

Roscommon LGFA club championships round-up

Boyle and Clann na nGael both justified their favourites’ tags in Sunday’s John Keane Kia Roscommon LGFA Senior Championship semi-finals against Éire Óg and St Dominic’s respectively.

St Dominic’s have made a habit of losing to Clann in this fixture but out of all five semi-final defeats they’ve experienced at the hands of the Johnstown side, Sunday’s 3-11 to 1-7 defeat will be as painful as any.

Niamh Watson gave them the perfect start with an early goal and while Caoimhe Lennon netted in response for Clann shortly after, it was the second quarter – when Dominic’s missed six chances in succession – that will haunt the home side.

Shauna Bannon hit a stunning goal to nudge Clann into a four-point lead at the break but after halving the gap, Dominic’s made two Hope Glynn frees much easier than they needed to be as a result of dissent, and an Aimee O’Connor penalty that sailed over the bar sucked the life out of the home crowd.

Once Caoimhe Lennon and Kayleigh Dunning combined to set up Jenny Higgins for Clann’s third goal, the die was cast and a repeat of the 2023 final was on the cards.

But while Clann will feel that the errant shooting of the home side at Knockcroghery made their life much easier, it’ll be much harder for Boyle manager Kieran McKeon to find any holes to pick in his team’s performance as they overwhelmed Éire Óg at Enfield.

It finished 2-11 to 0-2 in favour of the 2023 county champions in the meeting of the two North Roscommon sides and by the midway point of the first quarter, Boyle were 1-3 to no score ahead while playing into the breeze.

Caoimhe Cregg found the net after reacting sharply to a Katie Conroy free that hung in the breeze, but it was Aisling Feely who was the star of the show at that end, working her way towards an eventual tally of 0-6, five from play.

Éire Óg attacker Rebecca Finan was well-marshalled by Isabelle King and a couple of key moments went against the former Roscommon star as she hit the post with a two-point free and also had a fisted effort on goal saved by Ruth Johnson.

Finan did open the scoring in the second half to make it 1-5 to 0-2 but Boyle hit back with a Katie Conroy goal and they eased to a comfortable win from there.

Kilbride stun Harps to set up final with Pearses

The five-in-a-row heroes of Kilbride from the second half of the last decade have largely moved on, but the next generation of players from the club took a huge step forward when they pulled off the shock result of the weekend in the Hannon’s Hotel Intermediate Championship, edging out Northern Harps by 3-6 to 1-10 to set up a final clash with Pádraig Pearses on Saturday, October 17.

Harps earned home advantage for this semi-final with some superb form throughout the round robin stage of the championship and looked to be in the driving seat when they turned around at Orchard Park with a 0-6 to 0-2 advantage, Lauren Shanagher and Shauna McGrath their scorers.

Keela Kelly, Sophie Hanly and Grace Dowling all defied their youth to put in tremendous displays in the second half, helping to turn the tide. Aisling Hanly hit the first of her two goals (she finished with 2-3 in all) and Eilish Hanly added a couple of crucial points to level the game.

While Grace Cullen’s deft chipped goal nudged the Harps back in front with a little over ten minutes to go, Kilbride - who came so close to recording a shock win over Pádraig Pearses at this stage last year - were surging forward on every possession.

Aisling Hanly hit the net with a superb strike to level the game just as the hour was expiring and on the restart Sophie Hanly seized the kickout to effectively wrap up their win.

The Castlerea Vehicle Recycling Junior semi-finals were also down for decision on Sunday morning and there was another surprise result in Knockcroghery, where Four Roads shocked Oran to set up a county final tilt against competition favourites St Mary’s.

It finished 3-14 to 2-6, with Four Roads lording matters in the second half in response to Mella Lawless’ equalising goal in the first minute after the restart.

Four Roads raced into an early three-point lead thanks to points from Clodagh Finneran, Shauna Fallon and Sally Bolger, but Oran, five-point winners when the sides met in the round robin stages, were in control when a Mia Nally goal made it 1-3 to 0-3 after 20 minutes.

Points from Celine Gacquin, Shauna Fallon, Clodagh Finneran and 1-1 from Liz Coyle pushed Four Roads into a 1-7 to 1-3 lead. And while Oran soon tied up the contest, Four Roads responded with a Méabh Finneran goal that set them on the road to a first Junior ‘A’ county final since 2008.

St Mary’s lie in wait in the final and while last year’s defeated finalists will be the clear favourites to win that decider after making it six wins on the spin at the expense of St Faithleach’s, an injury to key midfielder Grace Jones will be a concern for the Tulsk-based club going into that decider.

Jones was forced off in the opening minute, enabling St Faithleach’s to compete well in the middle third, with Megan Banahan and Ellen Irwin gaining a strong foothold.

It was 0-5 apiece at half-time when Hannah Moylan came on to help turn the tide for St Mary’s and it fell to Kate Murray to score their crucial goal. Aoife Jones, Niamh Feeney and Louise Brady were others who performed well for St Mary’s as they ran out 1-13 to 0-10 winners.

The Junior ‘B’ decider will see the two first teams playing in this grade, Roscommon Gaels and Strokestown, square off on Friday week. Two early goals from Jessica Lee set Strokestown on the road to a 6-8 to 2-11 win over Boyle on Saturday evening.

The other semi-final at Lisnamult saw strong winds keep the scoring much lower, and it was St Brigid’s who had the breeze in the first half, leading by 0-4 to 0-3 as a result.

Alannah Sutton’s goal gave the Gaels control of the game with Shauna Walsh on the mark with a number of frees, however an injury to Ava Mulry that saw the game held up for nearly ten minutes will be a concern in advance of their county final on Saturday week, which will be the first game of a treble header in Ballyleague.

Roscommon LGFA thanks John Keane Kia, Hannon’s Hotel and Castlerea Vehicle Recycling for their generous sponsorship of the adult club championships in the county.