Drom overwhelmed in second half by driven Loughgiel
CAMOGIE: AIB All-Ireland Senior Club Camogie Championship Semi-Final
Loughgiel Shamrocks 3-6
Drom & Inch 2-6
Report: Thomas Conway in Kinnegad
MATCH DIGEST
Player of the Match: Caitrin Dobbin (Loughgiel Shamrocks)
SCORERS – Loughgiel Shamrocks: Annie Lynn 1-2; Caitrin Dobbin 1-1; Roisin McCormick 1-0; Mary McKillen, Chloe Higgins, Christine Laverty (free) 0-1 each.
Drom & Inch: Eimear McGrath 1-6 (0-4 frees, 0-1 ‘45), Miriam Campion 1-0.
And so, the book finally closes on 2022. Drom & Inch’s plans for this year were clear and unambiguous from the very outset. They wanted to become All-Ireland champions. They wanted to walk up the steps of the Hogan Stand and cement their place in history, inscribe their names into legend. That was always the plan. But plans don’t always materialise.
Following another outstanding season, the four-in-a-row Tipperary champions finally buckled last Saturday, suffering defeat to a Loughgiel Shamrock’s side which at times looked so smooth and elegant that it seemed as if they were playing on some sun-soaked terrain in midsummer, as opposed to the frost-bitten surface of Kinnegad on a tundra-like December afternoon.
Drom played their hearts out, but ultimately, the Ulster champions were superior, on several fronts. If they can bring the same precision and poise to this Saturday’s All-Ireland final against Sarsfields in Croke Park, they stand every chance of ending the year as champions. They play an exhilarating brand of camogie, one which will almost certainly be ignited further by the wide-open spaces of the Croker pitch.
It is tempting to conclude that Drom & Inch left this game behind them. After all, they were two points up at half-time, despite having been exposed on multiple occasions by the Ulster champions. But Loughgiel found something in the second-half. Call it what you want - another gear, an extra edge, an additional bite.
They overwhelmed Drom, commanding possession, working doggedly to win the breaking ball, and most crucially, slotting decisive scores when the need was greatest. Their full-forward line was electric, full of mercurial pace and off-the shoulder movement. Both Caitrin Dobbin and Annie Lynn were the protagonists. The latter launched Loughgiel off the mark with forty-one seconds gone. Several minutes later, Dobbin should really have hit the net, but she blazed a close-range effort over Caoimhe Bourke’s crossbar. Both scores were early warning signs. There would be more to come.
Drom, on the other hand, seemed that little bit less potent up front. The majority of their scores were landed by Eimear McGrath, who finished with 1-6, but still struggled to cope with the ridiculously difficult free-taking conditions. Put simply, Drom were too dependent on her, and ultimately, they paid the price.
And yet, luck seemed to fall Drom’s way in that first-half. Their opening goal was fortuitous. A long-range shot from Joanne Ryan pinged off the post before bobbling into the path of McGrath, who bundled it home. That was the eighteenth minute. Loughgiel required only 120 seconds to respond, and it was Lynn who inflicted the damage, shooting onto a loose ball in the large square and rifling it in straight off the ground. Drom 1-3, Loughgiel 1-2. Everything delicately poised.
The next ten minutes would yield further drama. Miriam Campion was next to find the net, again, somewhat fortuitously. Her long-range effort should really have been dealt with by Eimear Boyle, but the Loughgiel keeper completely misjudged the flight off the ball, allowing it to float in over the goal-line.
Again, Drom’s advantage was transient. Come the 29th minute, the Loughgiel full-forward line were at it again. Dobbin was the protagonist on this occasion, collecting the ball from a colleague and blasting low into the corner, leaving her side trailing by two at the interval, 2-4 to 2-2.
It should have made for a rigorously competitive second-half, but strangely, that wasn’t really the case. Loughgiel seemed to assume control, and although the margin between the two sides was always slim, there was a sense that the Ulster champions were in control of their destiny.
Things turned on their head in the 38th minute. Christine Laverty slotted a free and then within seconds, Roisin McCormick thundered the ball over the line to secure Loughgiel a third goal. In effect, they never looked back from there. They started to play with the sort of fluency and composure which enabled them to finally defeat Slaughtneil just a couple of weeks ago, running the ball through the lines, connecting the play with little dainty handpasses, opening up the channels with clever sprints. Their shooting was almost always precise and calculated, never rushed or without thought.
Two points from Mary McKillen and Lynn consolidated their advantage, as Drom started to look devoid of ideas. McGrath’s frees seemed to be their only method of scoring, and at this level, that just won’t cut it.
By the time the substitute Chloe Higgins entered the fray and laced over another Loughgiel point in the 59th minute, there was a sense that Drom were beaten. You could feel it in the stand. The Antrim crowd were delirious, singing and chanting and celebrating and willing their team to victory.
TEAMS - Loughgiel Shamrocks: Eimear Boyle (7), Charlene Campbell (7), Katie Lynn (7), Clare McKillop (7), Maria Lynn (7), Una McNaughton (7), Shauna Devlin (7), Amy Boyle (8), Lucia McNaughton (7), Christine Laverty (7), Mary McKillen (8), Anna Connolly (7), Caitrin Dobbin (8), Roisin McKillen (8), Annie Lynn (8).
Subs: Katie McKillop (7) for Connolly (43), Chloe Higgins (8) for Laverty (59), Orlagh Laverty (NR) for Lucia McNaughton (60+1).
Drom & Inch: Caoimhe Bourke (6), Áine Greed (6), Christina Brennan (6), Maureen Ryan (6), Eimear Cahill (7), Mairéad Eviston (8), Aoife McGrath (7), Niamh Long (7), Mary Burke (7), Eimear McGrath (8), Anne Eviston (7), Joanne Ryan (7), Niamh Ryan (6), Niamh Treacy (7), Miriam Campion (7).
Subs: Katie O’Dwyer (6) for Ryan (43); Siobhan McGrath (6) for Long (52).
Referee: Liz Dempsey (Kilkenny).