Four Fitzgerald goals help power Mourneabbey into All-Ireland final

Ciara O'Sullivan, Mourneabbey in action against St Peter's Dunboyne in the Current Account All Ireland Ladies Football Club Championship semi-final at Mourneabbey, Co. Cork.

All-Ireland LGFA SFC Semi-Final: Mourneabbey 6-17 Dunboyne 0-5

Four Laura Fitzgerald goals helped defending currentaccount.ie All-Ireland LGFA senior club champions Mourneabbey canter into the 2022 decider following a one-sided victory over Dunboyne on Sunday.

Three-in-a-row All-Ireland chasing Mourneabbey overwhelmed the Leinster champions during the opening quarter, built an 18-point interval lead and never looked back.

Add in four goals from Laura Fitzgerald plus a terrific defensive effort and winning manager Shane Ronayne had every right to be delighted with his team’s efforts.

“We think we have so many match winners in our squad now,” Ronayne said.

“The job Bríd O’Sullivan did on Vikki Wall today was outstanding. Eimear Meaney full-back on Emma Duggan, unbelievable. Eimear forced five turnovers herself in the first half.

“We are absolutely thrilled and my stats man told me we created 36 scoring chances today. That’s incredible for any group and we limited then to 11 scoring chances. That’s outstanding defence.” Mourneabbey got off to the best possible start with Ciara O’Sullivan splitting the posts prior to her sister Doireann rattling the back of the net. A quickly-taken 45’ released the Cork senior and O’Sullivan made no mistake.

Emma Duggan responded with a free but the Meath forward, who was well marshalled by Eimear Meaney throughout, and her team-mates struggled to contain their opponents lively attack.

A second Doireann O’Sullivan goal made it 2-2 to 0-1 just before the quarter-hour and a dominant Mourneabbey stretched their advantage to 7 points, 2-5 to 0-4, by the first waterbreak.

The hosts continued to pour forward and Laura Fitzgerald scored the first of her four goals shortly before the interval. Two superb close-range finishes preceded a palmed effort into the net as Fitzgerald continued her hot scoring streak (following two recent hat-tricks).

It was 6-11 to 0-4 at the 40-minute mark with Dunboyne now playing for pride. Aishling O’Sullivan’s sin-binning failed to prevent Mourneabbey from dominating the tie with Doireann O’Sullivan keeping the scoreboard ticking over and goalkeeper Méabh O’Sullivan producing a string of top class saves during the final quarter.

Emma Duggan twice hit the crossbar in the closing minutes as a frustrated Dunboyne longed for the final whistle. It arrived shortly after to end the Meath clubs’ misery and confirm Mourneabbey’s place in this year’s All-Ireland final against Kilerrin-Clonberne on January 29th.

“From one to fifteen and all the girls who came on, it was a very good team performance,” Mourneabbey’s Doireann O’Sullvian added.

“Dunboyne are a super team and proved that with Meath at inter-county level. I don’t think the scoreboard gives them credit for how hard it was out there today. We are really proud, as a club, to put in a performance like we did today for the whole Mourneabbey community.” 

Scorers for Mourneabbey: L Fitzgerald (4-2), D O’Sullivan (2-7, 0-5 frees), C O’Sullivan (0-4), R O’Sullivan, B O’Sullivan, E Jack and D Cronin (0-1 each).

Dunboyne: E Duggan (0-3, 0-2 frees), F O’Neill and S Melia (0-1 each).

MOURNEABBEY: M O’Sullivan; M Burke, E Meaney, K Coakley; A Ryan, M O’Callaghan, E Jack; E Coakley, N O’Sullivan; E Harrington, R O’Sullivan, B O’Sullivan; C O’Sullivan, D O’Sullivan, L Fitzgerald.

Subs: A Cronin for A Ryan (35, inj), A O’Sullivan for E Meaney (41), H Gravey for E Jack (49).

DUNBOYNE: A O’Sullivan; R McDermott, E Doyle, D Blaney; A Delaney, H Hickey, A Moffatt; V Wall, A Jones; J Kavanagh, S Melia, S Quinn; N Williams, E Duggan, F O’Neill.

Subs: L Grant for S Melia (41), L Walsh for F O’Neill (44), A Kelly for A Delaney (44), A Thompson for N Williams (49), R Norman for A Jones (55).

Referee: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).