O'Mahonys march to deserved victory
COLIN O'BRIEN
With the aid of a strong breeze in the second half, Navan O’Mahonys overcame a vigorous challenge from St Colmcille's to lay claim to the Junior C crown, 5-5 to 3-7. The large crowd assembled in Donore were treated to a great game, with the rain holding off for the hour.
St Colmcille's opened up the scoring with a well-taken point from play, putting themselves into an early lead. Full forward Cara Ratty rattled the Cilles net from the next play, giving Navan O’Mahony’s an early edge. A lobbing ball from Doireann Mellett ended up in the net within sixty seconds, leaving five points between the sides after only three minutes.
This early lead was needed by Navan O’Mahonys as they struggled to score for the remainder of the half. In spite of having plenty of possession, the Brews Hill side struggled to convert this to points on the board with a number of wides and balls dropped short.
Midway through the half, St Colmcilles reduced the gap to a single point when the found the back of the net. Indeed, they could have taken the lead with a few goal opportunities, only for interventions from netminder Rebecca Crowley, Aoife Devlin, Róisín Tobin and Tara Gleeson. A 29th minute point from Ratty left Navan O’Mahony’s to the advantage by the minimum at the interval: Navan O’Mahony’s 2-01 St Colmcille's 1-3.
With the wind, which had risen at half time, behind them, Navan O’Mahonys began to take control of the game in the second half. Two minutes in, following a foul in the square, Muireann Nelson stood over a penalty and made no mistake in burying it. Less than a minute later, Nelson added a point from play leaving five between the sides.
Midfielder and player-of-the-match Neasa McDermott goaled from play after five minutes, putting some distance between the sides. St Colmcille's cool heads prevailed and they responded well with two points from play, reducing the deficit to six points once again.
Midway through the half, nine points separated the sides following Ratty and Nelson points. True to form, St Colmcille's responded in the way expected of them, ensuring it was a battle to the end. Twenty one minutes in, a goal from play left six points between the sides and everything to play for.
A Milly Clarke goal once again left nine points between the sides but St Colmcilles were not going down without a fight. They responded in injury time with a goal from play and were successful in making their way to the danger zone on several occasions.
Credit must go to Alannah Brady, captain Aileen Falahee, Hannah Nugent, Caitlin Ball, Deirdre Forde and Órlaith Devlin who ferociously kept the Cilles forwards from breaking through on goal in this time. With injury time approaching five minutes, St Colmcilles added two points with four points separating the sides at the final whistle.
Along with the scorers, Lauren Woods, Caoimhe Johnson, Jorja Keogh and Grace Cahill all impressed for Navan O’Mahony’s with the whole team showing great grit and determination. Captain Aileen Falahee gave an impressive speech following the presentation.
Navan O’Mahonys - Rebecca Crowley, Róisín Tobin, Aileen Falahee, Alannah Brady, Tara Gleeson, Deirdre Forde, Aoife Devlin, Neasa McDermott (1-0), Caoimhe Johnson, Milly Clarke (1-0), Lauren Woods, Doireann Mellett (1-0), Muireann Nelson (1-03), Cara Ratty (-02), Jorja Keogh Órlaith Devlin for Devlin, Grace Cahill for Keogh, Caitlin Ball for Tobin, Hannah Nugent for Gleeson