Na Fianna crowned champions once more after comfortable win over old foes

Na Fianna 3-11

Kilmessan 1-5

Na Fianna secured another senior camogie championship in style on Saturday afternoon at Pairc Tailteann as they comfortably saw off old rivals Kilmessan in the decider.

Two first-half goals in succession gave Na Fianna a healthy advantage of 2-5 to 0-2 heading into halftime and Kilmessan never really looked like making any inroads into that deficit in the second 30 minutes.

On the day Na Fianna’s strong players stood up to the challenge and really controlled the occasion. Sophia Payne, Claire Coffey and Leah Devine were excellent in defence as Kilmessan were restricted to two points for 36 minutes.

The full forward line of Kerrie Cole, Brook Flynn and Katie Kelly accounted for 3-3 of Na Fianna’s tally. Na Fianna's half-forwards, Aedin Slattery and Emma Regan were probably Na Fianna’s best two performers and were central to everything that the Enfield side did well on the day.

Regan set up Erin Leddy for the opening score before Aedin Slattery gave Na Fianna an early two-point advantage. Kerrie Cole, who had set up Slattery for her score, traded points with Leah Dennehy before Aileen Donnelly reduced the gap back to one.

That was as close as Kilmessan got to Na Fianna on the scoreboard as Katie Kelly capitalised on an error from a Kilmessan puckout to regain the two-point advantage. Aoife Carey secured her first free to stretch that lead to three after 20 minutes of play.

Then came a crucial juncture in the contest. A long effort from Aedin Slatter fell short into the hands of Tara Murphy, however, Kelly did well to dispossess Murphy and the corner forward buried the sliotar to the back of the net for Na Fianna’s opening goal.

A few minutes later Na Fianna got a second goal as a well-worked move that included some lovely link-up play from Sophia Payne and Carey resulted in Emma Regan sending a long ball into the Kilmessan rectangle. Brooke Flynn was the first to react and she did well to scramble the ball to the back of the net to give Na Fianna a nine-point lead. The sides went in at the break with the ladies in black and amber leading 2-5 to 0-2.

Na Fianna picked up where they left off at the resumption and Cole had an early opportunity for a goal but her effort rattled off the Kilmessan crossbar. Eventually, the sliotar found its way out to Emma Regan and the influential wing forward tapped over to put Na Fianna 10 points to the good.

Kilmessan hit a little bit of a purple patch and they rattled the next three points through two frees from Aileen Donnely and a well-taken score from Aoibheann Lally.

Na Fianna soon put a stop to Kilmessan’s momentum with their third goal and Brooke Flynn’s second. Flynn did well to jink past three Kilmessan defenders before producing a marvellous finish to restore Na Fianna’s 10-point lead.

Na Fianna stretched their lead further with two fantastic long-range efforts from Slattery and Leah Devine before Carey secured her second-placed ball score. In what turned out to be somewhat of a consolation score, Dennehy did find the back of the Na Fianna net with eight minutes left to slightly improve matters for Kilmessan.

Na Fianna did not let up in the closing stages and two more points courtesy of Cole and Carey saw Niall Burke's side run out comfortable winners.

Na Fianna – Katie Mulvihill; Gracie Grehan, Claire Coffey, Aisling Byrne; Sophia Payne, Eimear Fagan, Leah Devine; Erin Leddy, Aoife Carey; Brodie Kelly, Aedin Slattery, Emma Regan; Brooke Flynne, Kerrie Cole, Katie Kelly

Kilmessan – Tara Murphy; Anna O’Brien, Michelle Horan, Rachel O’Neill; Rebecca Horan, Laura O’Neill, Tracy King; Abbie Donnelly, Aoibheann Lally; Stephanie Horan, Aileen Donnelly, Aoife Swan; Ella O’Brien, Megan Thynne, Leah Dennehy.

Referee - Gerrard Smith (Boardsmill)