Drom retain senior camogie title in seeing off Clonoulty

CAMOGIE: Tipperary Senior Championship Final

 

Drom & Inch                     1-13 
Clonoulty/Rossmore       0-9 
 
Report: Enda Treacy at The Ragg 
 

MATCH DIGEST
Player of the Match: Eimear McGrath (Drom & Inch) 
SCORERS - Drom & Inch: Eimear McGrath 0-7 (5 frees); Niamh Treacy 1-1, Dee Dunne 0-3; Mary Burke, Mairead Eviston 0-1 each. 
Clonoulty/Rossmore: Cait Devane 0-9 (7 frees). 

Drom & Inch secured back to back county senior camogie titles in impressive fashion after a commanding performance in dispatching Clonoulty/Rossmore in the final on Saturday afternoon. 

All year, the Mid ladies have looked the part, showing fantastic consistency in every game they’ve played and they perhaps produced their best display at the final hurdle, as they made a good Clonoulty team look decidedly average. 

Although it was level at the break, a strong wind in favour of Clonoulty was giving a false reading of how the game was developing on the field, as Drom were by far the sharper team, and it was testament to their workrate and defensive effort all over the field that they only allowed a single scorer for their opponents in the whole 60 minutes. 

With the gust at their backs in the second half, Drom completely took over and savage performances from the likes of Niamh Treacy, Eimear McGrath and Mary Burke was too much for Clonoulty to handle, as they simply couldn’t play their way into the game and were far too reliant on placed balls from Cait Devane. 

The first ten minutes were extremely tense and scrappy, with the breeze present also playing its part in this with both teams feeling their way into the game; and it took until the ninth minute for the first score to be registered through a nice swiveled shot from Dee Dunne going away from goal. 

Eimear McGrath made it a two-point lead for Drom three minutes later but the game was extremely disjointed with both sets of backs keeping things tight in front of the half forward lines and as such, Clonoulty had to wait until two minutes after the water break to get their scoring interest underway through a Cait Devane free from close range. 

That water break gave the teams a chance to settle their game with a bit of direction from management and it seemed to benefit Drom most as they were linking up far easier after the resumption, with Siobhan McGrath and Mary Burke linking up to send the latter clear on the 45 to slot a score on the run and make it 0-3 to 0-1 after 20 minutes. 

Clonoulty responded with another placed ball from Cait Devane, who was being kept very quiet apart from free efforts, but they were denied a goal just a minute later after Casey Hennessy fielded well just before she struck a rasper goalward, but Caoimhe Bourke was equal to the task to keep the shot out. 

Drom were doing most of the hurling but they were making some silly errors near goal, conceding needless frees and with Cait Devane in town, they were always going to be punished and they were hit for three-in-a-row from Devane after Eimear McGrath’s scored free in the 21st minute to go behind by a point with half time approaching. 

Perhaps the score of the game came in the final throes of the first half through Niamh Treacy when she came short for possession in midfield before soloing some 20 yards and launching a major from distance into the wind, and it sailed right over the black spot as the sides went in level with Drom to have the wind advantage in the second half. 

Indeed, they would make full use of the elements and after Eimear McGrath and Devane traded frees in the opening five minutes, the champions took control all over the field and went into top gear in the third quarter; Niamh Treacy’s goal in the 37th minute being the catalyst as she finished a move she started from close range to open a four point lead. 

Further scores from Eimear McGrath – who was dropping deep and pulling the strings for all the second half – Dee Dunne and a massive score from midfield from corner back Mairead Eviston opened a lead that everyone present knew was going to be an insurmountable lead for Clonoulty. 

Again, Eimear McGrath continued to show for the ball and she was proving to be impossible to handle from Clonoulty as she was the out ball from the back-line time and time again, and she slipped over two lovely scores from play in the 46th & 52nd minute, opening a big 1-12 to 0-6 lead with the clock ticking down quickly. 

Goals were now the order of the day for Clonoulty but they weren’t getting any joy as Cait Devane and Casey Hennessy, along with the returning Sarah Fryday, they couldn’t find a route through but three points (including their first scores from play) from Cait Devane put somewhat of a sheen on the score line. 

Dee Dunne’s third point of the game just before full time put the cherry on top of the back-to-back cake for Drom, as they eased their way home in impressive fashion to claim another deserved county title to the jubilation of the supporters present. 
  
TEAMS - Drom & Inch: Caoimhe Bourke; Maria Connolly, Christina Brennan, Mairead Eviston; Eimear Cahill, Aoife McGrath, Maureen Ryan; Niamh Treacy, Mary Burke; Dee Dunne, Anne Eviston, Siobhan McGrath; Eimear McGrath, Joanne Ryan, Miriam Campion.  
Subs: Michelle Woodlock for J Ryan (45); Niamh Long for S McGrath (51). 
Clonoulty/Rossmore: Lorna Ryan; Theresa Bourke, Clodagh Quirke, Moira Kinnane; Katie Murphy, Courtney Ryan, Eimear Loughman; Bernadette Ryan, Kelly Quirke; Cait Devane, Kate Ryan, Avril Quirke; Eimear Bourke, Casey Hennessy, Kayleigh Davern. 
Subs: Sarah Fryday for K Ryan (36); Jennifer Ryan for Burke (58). 
Referee: Mike Ryan (Nenagh Eire Og)