Boston Shamrocks 5-5 Connacht Ladies 1-11
Boston Shamrocks secured the Ladies senior football
championship with a four goal second half salvo. Connacht Ladies held a 2 point half time
lead, but before the second half was 10 minutes old were looking at an eight
point deficit. Kelly Boyce Jordan at
wing back, and Mairead O’Driscoll, and Sara Jane McDonald in the forward line,
were full of running and the Shamrocks eventually broke down the Connacht
defences to deliver the first title in 4 years.
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| Boston Shamrocks had an unbeaten season and captured all 3 trophies in 2016. |
It was a hotly contested first half with Connacht Ladies not
letting the Shamrocks settle into any kind of rhythm, and really held the
advantage on the balance of play. The
westerners defended in numbers and when in possession attacked with speed. Aisling Reynolds at full forward looked
dangerous in the early going and opened the scoring for her side. Shortly afterwards she set up a score for
Roisin Curran. The Shamrocks eventually started
to put pressure on the Connacht Ladies goal, and Maria Bannon netted after
being found by Mariead O’Driscoll with a ball across the face of goal.
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| Two happy Shamrocks veterans. |
The defending champions responded well however, Ruth Cox got
the score right back following a sweeping downfield move. The Shamrocks pointed three times on the trot
through Rebecca Mongan, Sara Jane McDonald and Aoife Darcey, but their
opponents continued to keep up the pace.
Rose Boyle and Reynolds were very involved in the forward line, however
shooting let the Connacht Ladies down on a handful of occasions. Connacht held a two point lead at the break
after Reynolds and Ruth Cox pointed and must have felt confident heading into
the second period.
The second half saw the Shamrocks vaunted attacking line
come into its own and take advantage of the sin binning of Roisin Boyce,
banging in three goals in quick succession.
Aisleen Cunningham had moved to the middle of the field and after
netting a goal, was involved in another tremendous goal that was finished by
O’Driscoll. With Sara Jane McDonald and
O’Driscoll running well in the forwards, and Kelly Boyce-Jordan covering ground
from wing back, Leanne McCrystal finished off another move for the Shamrocks
with a 3 pointer to put them into an 11 point lead.
After Boyce reentered play, Connacht had a player advantage
as Cunningham was sin binned for a high tackle.
There were 10 minutes to try and claw back the large gap. Connacht Ladies pulled two points back
through Reynolds and Jane Ward, and had a goal chance after Ailbhe Finnerty was
pulled down in the box. Reynolds tried
to place the ball but it curled the wrong side of the crossbar. The Shamrocks defence was alert to Connacht’s
efforts as the westerners pushed for a goal, and saw out the game to reclaim
their first title since 2012.
Shamrocks: L.
Crowley, C. McEleaney, L. Larkin, C. McCormack, K. Boyce-Jordan, M. Collins, M.
Hagan, L. Kiernan, L. McCrystal, S. McDonald, A. Cunningham, R. Mongan. Subs: S. McDonnell, B. Maguire.
Connacht: J.
McDonagh, C. Boyle, A. Egan, H. Ennis, E. Hannon, M. Peel, S. Cleary, J. Ward,
R. Boyce, R. Curren, R. Boyle, A. Leahy, M. Mullen, A. Reynolds, R. Cox. Subs: A. Kerr, M. Kelly, A Finnerty.
By Rory O'Donnell
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