Seneschalstown ladies claim another senior title

Seneschalstown 2-7, Boardsmill 0-7 Of all their previous 12 Ladies SFC final victories Seneschalstown will hardly have endured a tougher one than this as they were forced to dig deep into their reserves of experience to fend off the challenge of Boardsmill at Trim on Saturday. As if to prove how tough this was for the defending champions the player-of-the-match award went to goalkeeper Louise Byrne who had to produce a number of outstanding saves to deny Boardsmill certain goals. Ultimately it was a couple of fortunate goals that proved decisive. The first from Louise McKeever 13 minutes into a stop-start second-half which resulted from a breaking ball that crashed off the crossbar. The second goal, 12 minutes later, came when Boardsmill goalkeeper Eimear Murray was unfortunate to spill Stephanie Byrne's short point attempt over the line. Those goals were knives through the hearts of Boardsmill, but they were the inspiration Seneschalstown needed to secure their 13th title in 15 remarkable years for the club. Boardsmill were left to rue 11 wides, two efforts that struck the upright, one shot that hit the bar and at least four excellent goal chances that were superbly saved by Louise Byrne. The goalkeeper's heroics were supplemented by excellent performances from Stephanie Byrne, Orla Sheridan, Edel McGrane, Mary Sheridan and outstanding captain Fiona Mahon. Although they were out-played for the majority of the opening half, Seneschalstown raised their game significantly and held Boardsmill to just two points, one from play, in the second-half. The second-half was a fragmented period with play held up for eight minutes after Seneschalstown changed their jerseys at half-time and then re-appeared with all bar Louise Byrne and McKeever wearing different numbers to the ones they had started the game with. Play was stopped to rectify the matter. That delay came after Laura Griffin had a goal chance brilliantly deflected for a '45' by Louise Byrne and when play resumed eight minutes later it was Seneschalstown who looked the more composed side as Boardsmill struggled to regain the outstanding work they showed in the opening half. During that opening period Boardsmill excelled with Cliona Murray anchoring a superb defensive effort and Michelle Peel, Laura Dempsey, Ciara Dempsey, Edel Guy and Emma Troy all impressing. However, Seneschalstown's experience stood to them as they grabbed the crucial scores to decimate first-time finalists Boardsmill. It had all started so promisingly for Boardsmill. Troy hit the upright when in a decent position, but 30 seconds later Laura Dempsey opened the scoring after an excellent move that involved Helen Regan, Peel and Guy. Stephanie Byrne drew the sides level in the seventh minute before Seneschalstown were denied a goal by some outstanding defending by Cliona Murray. Aoife Flynn restored Boardsmill's lead from a free as Bertie McLoughlin's side looked comfortable. A superb save by Eimear Murray denied Amy Gilsenan a goal and when Laura Dempsey capped another fine move with a superb score Boardsmill found themselves 0-3 to 0-1 clear. Mahon's free provided Seneschalstown respite, but Guy blazed over a goal chance and Ciara Dempsey tagged on a score to stretch Boardsmill's advantage to 0-5 to 0-2. However, Seneschalstown proved their resilience with first-half injury-time points from the superb Stephanie Byrne and Hazel Dennedy to close the gap to 0-4 to 0-5 at the break. The second-half didn't reach the same levels of quality with 16 minutes of stoppages between the furore over the jerseys and several injuries, but it was Seneschalstown who showed more composure. After Griffin had a great goal chance saved by Louise Byrne in the opening seconds of the half Seneschalstown breathed a huge sigh of relief and kicked on. Mahon restored parity after the eight-minute break and 90 seconds later Seneschalstown moved into pole position when Mary Sheridan's effort rebounded off the post and fell to McKeever who had the simple task of tapping to the net. After Flynn's free come back off the upright, Boardsmill closed the gap with an Edel Guy point and they continued to pile forward with Flynn flashing a shot wide and Griffin missing the target. Then further disaster for Boardsmill as Stephanie Byrne's speculative high ball slipped from Eimear Murray's grasp and into the net to make it 2-5 to 0-6. McKeever and Stephanie Byrne added points to put the issue beyond doubt, but still Boardsmill refused to give up and it took fine saves from Louise Byrne to deny Edel Guy twice and ensure the title returned to Seneschalstown. Seneschalstown - L Byrne; A Rooney, P Sheridan, O Sheridan; S Hickey, E McGrane, A Carolan; F Mahon (0-2 one free), M Sheridan; S Sheridan, S Byrne (1-3), H Dennedy (0-1); S Grimes, L McKeever (1-1), A Gilsenan. Subs - R Nulty for Gilsenan, R Sheridan for Rooney both 42 mins. Boardsmill - E Murray; S Kennedy, C Murray, S Cleary; S Bagnall, C Ashe, A Guy; H Regan, M Peel; C Dempsey (0-1), E Troy, L Griffin; L Dempsey (0-3 one free), E Guy (0-2), A Flynn (0-1 free). Subs - S Kealy for Flynn, L Bagnall for Regan both 60 mins. Referee - Catherine O'Brien (Navan).