Meath girls beaten in Banagher

Meath's bid for the Ladies All-Ireland u-16 title was halted by Galway in the decider tonight at Banagher as the Connacht side won by 7-16 to 3-10.

REPORT BY JACKIE CAHILL

Ellen Power sparkled at midfield and claimed the player-of-the-match award as Galway claimed a third successive All Ireland u-16 A title.

Galway produced an impressive display to win a fifth crown in all in this grade – as 2018 final player-of-the-match  Chellene Trill lifted the silverware
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Meath were spirited in defeat and before the game, they sported tee-shirts in solidarity with colleague Aoife Hughes, who is battling cancer.

The Royals had 1-3 from both Ciara Smyth and Nicole Smith but Galway’s scores came from eight sources, including both midfielders and five of the starting forwards.

Kate Slevin, Caoimhe Cleary and Laura Kelly all finished with 2-1 as Verona Crowley starred from centre forward, adding six points.

In front of a huge crowd, and with the aid of the breeze, Galway were off to a flier within two minutes as Cleary rattled the Meath net.

They roared into a 1-6 to 0-2 lead but Ciara Smyth hauled Meath back into contention with a goal in the 13th minute, and a point from the Skryne player had the Leinster champions within three.

But when Slevin was fouled midway through the half, Laura Kelly stepped up and made no mistake, as Galway moved six clear again.

As half-time approached, Power bombed through from midfield to score a crucial third goal for Galway, a score that helped them to lead by 3-10 to 1-6 at the break.

That goal seemed to knock the wind out of Meath before the interval and more green flags would follow for Galway, four in the second half.

Cleary grabbed her second five minutes into the second half, Lara O’Neil responded in kind for Meath, but Slevin killed the game stone dead with a quickfire brace.

Goal number seven arrived with as many minutes remaining, as Laura Kelly collected her second.

Galway closed the game out with three further points to put the seal on a comfortable win.

SCORERS

Galway: K Slevin 2-1, L Kelly 2-1, C Cleary 2-1, V Crowley 0-6, E Power 1-2, E Noone 0-2, S Brennan 0-1, 
M Glynn 0-1 É Nic Dhonnacha 0-1.

Meath: C Smyth (1-3), N Smith 1-3, L O’Neill 1-1, E Brodigan, A McNulty & A O’Dowd 0-1 each.

TEAMS

Galway: A Griffin; S Fahy, E Madden, S Brennan; K Kearney, C Trill, E O’Connor; E Power, M Glynn; I Davoren, V Crowley, C Cleary; L Kelly, E Noone, K Slevin. Subs: T Kinneavy for O’Connor (38), É Nic Dhonnacha for Cleary (42), M Banek for Fahy (44), C Boyle for Davoren (51), L Hynes for Crowley (55).

Meath: A Corcoran; K Kealy, E.J. McKeon, E Regan; Z Matthews, L McEnery, M Clarke; E Brodigan, T Foster-Carroll; A McNulty, A O’Dowd, C Smyth; N Smith, L O’Neil, R O’Byrne. Subs: N McEntee for O’Byrne (36), A Martyn for McEnery (46), A Muldoon for Brodigan (46), C Lawlor for McNulty (53), K Lenehan for O’Dowd (53).

Referee: K Phelan (Laois)