It all goes wrong for Inniscarra

THE expected arm wrestle between two teams that won their first county title last year never materialised, as Killimor blew Inniscarra away with a stunning display to garner the All-Ireland senior club camogie crown at Croke Park yesterday.

A larger-than-expected attendance of 4,724 came through the stiles at Headquarters to watch Brenda Hanney lead the Galwegians to success, while Eoghan Rua took the intermediate honours on a 3-8 to 2-3 scoreline.

Camogie president Joan O’Flynn expressed her delight with the attendance.

“Those are fantastic figures” she said. “It’s a great boost for camogie (and) for the club finals in their first year back at Croke Park and we hope to build on this now.”

It was Killimor’s day though and victorious manager Tommy Callagy revealed that while the margin of victory might have been a surprise, the performance wasn’t.

“We had been thinking all year that there is a performance like that in them but it’s an incredible achievement to get it out in Croke Park” enthused Callagy.

“In some of the matches this year we haven’t started well. It’s very important when you come to Croke Park that you do start well and we had focussed on that.”

They raced into a four-point lead early on as they absolutely flew out of the traps, Claire Conroy, Martina Conroy (two) and the outstanding Susan Keane doing the needful. Inniscarra were very slow to settle and when Helen Quinn goaled in the 17th minute, the signs weren’t good for the Cork outfit.

“We didn’t show up at all,” said Inniscarra selector Irene O’Keeffe. “I thought our preparations went well all week, the girls were very focussed this morning but they got a good start and we never came back from it.

“We tried to force the game too much; a lot of our experienced players were trying that bit too hard, dropping ball and fumbling it. They were coming by scores easier. It’s hard to explain it to be honest.”

Niamh Dilworth finally got her side off the mark with a pointed free in the 23rd minute but Lorraine Donnelly goaled at the other end directly from the puck out to give her side a scarcely believable 2-4 to 0-1 lead at the break.

Inniscarra were clearly shellshocked and failed to improve after the resumption, as Susan Keane, Martina Conroy (who finished with 1-6) and Hanney kept the scoreboard ticking over.

Inniscarra did have plenty of possession but they struggled massively against a resolute Killimor rearguard in which Julie Brien was magnificent.

All the damage was being done at the other end and Martina Conroy sent a stunning shot to the Inniscarra net from 16m after a blistering run from Hanney just approaching the final quarter. She added another couple of points from frees, while Emer Haverty also struck a brace and Hanney also found the target to stretch the margin to 20 points.

Rena Buckley fired over from a 45’ before Dilworth scored an excellent 53rd minute goal, catching Joanne Casey’s delivery and sending a powerful shot to the roof of the net.

It was scarcely a consolation though and a flurry of points from Serena Brien, Conroy and Hanney put the seal on a wonderful day for the Tribeswomen.

Hanney revealed that she’d had a positive feeling about the game when she saw how calm everyone was when they stopped in Enfield en route for a puck around. The captain and player-of-the-match admitted that the pain of All-Ireland defeat with Galway last September was a definite personal motivation.

“It’s very, very special. We’ll wake up (tomorrow morning) and realise just how big of an achievement this was (today). It’s just a super, sweet feeling.”

KILLIMOR: H Campbell; N Hanney, N Lawless, J Brien; K Brien, AM Hayes, M Duane; E Haverty 0-2, AM Starr; C Conroy 0-1, B Hanney 0-4 (1f), M Conroy 1-6 (0-4fs); H Quinn 1-0, S Keane 0-4, L Donnelly 1-0.

Subs: AM Lagana for Quinn (52); S Brien 0-1 for Donnelly (52); N Donnelly for C Conroy (57); N Connolly for Keane (59); C Brien for M Conroy (60)

INNISCARRA: S Ní Riain; A Sheehan, L Hayes, M Buckley; K Jones, R O’Mahony, E Kingston 0-1; R Buckley 0-1 (45), O Healy; J Casey 0-1, MN O’Sullivan, K O’Mahony; M Cosgrove, F O’Connell, N Dilworth 1-1 (0-1f).

Subs: L Burke for Kingston (21); Kingston for Cosgrove (28); T McCarthy for O’Connell (47); L Buckley for Healy (50)

Referee: O Elliott (Antrim).