Classy Sars wrestle Munster title away from Drom

CAMOGIE: AIB Munster Club Senior Championship Semi-Final

Sarsfields 2-11

Drom & Inch 2-7

Report: Joe Scully in Clonoulty

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Lucy Allen (Sarsfields)

SCORERS – Sarsfields: Lucy Allen 2-0; Kate Fennessy 0-5 (3 frees); Orlaith Mullins, Hollie Herlihy, Clare Mullins 0-2 each.

Drom & Inch: Eimear McGrath 0-4 frees; Miriam Campion 1-1; Siobhan McGrath 1-0; Aoife McGrath, Katie O’Dwyer 0-1 each.

The dream of back-to-back Munster titles is over for Tipperary champions Drom & Inch after a four-point defeat to Cork champions Sarsfields after a hard-fought battle in Clonoulty on Sunday afternoon.

Overall, Sarsfields were deserved victors as they were the better side over the hour. They nullified the Drom attack throughout, and kept them under severe pressure, whenever they were on the attack.

Drom who can have no complaints about the outcome as they were beaten by the better side but will be a little disappointed with their own performance as they never hit the heights that we all know they are capable of.

The first half was a tight enough affair with the game swinging back and forth, but with 24 minutes gone and the scores level at 1-4 apiece, the Lee-siders would hit their second goal of the game, through player of the match Lucy Allen and would then hit a purple patch going onto outscore their opponents by four points to one for the rest of the half to lead by six at the break.

This would prove crucial as Drom would never fully recover despite a Miriam Campion goal at the start of the second half as a strong defensive performance from Sars held the Drom attack at bay and limited them to just two points in the second half, led in the main by the excellent Ellen Murphy, who ran Lucy Allen very close for player of the match.

The Lee-siders were quickest out of the traps and opened a two-point lead through Orlaith Mullins and Kate Fennessy. The five-in-a-row Tipp champions would hit back though through a rather fortuitous Siobhan McGrath goal when her shot from 45 metres dropped short and somehow managed to evade Sarsfields keeper Molly Lynch and into the back of the net.

This goal sprung the Tipp side into action, and they would hit the next three points from Eimear McGrath, Katie O’Dwyer and Aoife McGrath to leave them four ahead after twelve minutes.

But within a minute the gap was back to just one-point after a Lucy Allen goal in which she turned her marker and finished past Kristina Kenneally in goal. Hollie Herlihy and Mullins then hit a point each to put the Cork champions back ahead before Miriam Campion hit an equaliser to leave it at 1-4 apiece.

Then in the 24th minute the key moment came when after good play by corner forward Clare Mullins who played a great cross-field ball to Lucy Allen who finished with a powerful shot to the back of the net to put her side three ahead.

Kate Fennessy and Eimear McGrath would exchange frees before Sars finished the half strongly with scores from Clare Mullins and two placed balls from Fennessy, for a 2-8 to 1-5 lead at the break.

The second half was a low scoring affair with only 1-5 scored in total but it was a tense tight battle as Drom tried in vain to find a way back into the game and got off to a perfect start to the half when Miriam Campion scored a great individual goal, running at the Sars defence before batting the ball to the back of the net.

However, Sarsfields, just like they did in the first half, responded when Drom came at them and hit two points in response through Fennessy and Herlihy to leave the gap at five points.

Drom, as excepted, would respond and had a great goal chance, but Deirdre Dunne’s shot was well saved by Molly Lynch in goal. Eimear McGrath then hit the next two scores to put just three in it once again.

However, Orlaith Mullins had the gap out to four with 51 minutes gone with what proved to be the last score of the game.

Drom & Inch would continue to push for a way back in to the game but rather uncharacteristically their shooting would let them down as they hit a number of wides in the final ten minutes albeit it under severe pressure from a Sarsfields defence which were at the top of its game, and they would see out the game comfortably to win their first ever Munster title much to the delight of their fans in attendance.

TEAMS – Sarsfields: Molly Lynch (6), Laura Dunlea (7), Ellen Murphy (9), Olivia McAllen (6), Niamh O’Callaghan (7), Cliona Lynch (7), Lucy Kelly (7), Ava Fitzgerald (8), Evie Twomey (8), Orlaith Mullins (7), Lucy Allen (9), Hollie Herlihy (7), Clare Mullins (8), Kate Fennessy (7), Katlyn Sheehan (6).

Sub: Rachel Roche (NR) for Sheehan (59).

Drom & Inch: Kristina Kenneally (7); Maria Connolly (8), Christina Brennan (7), Eimear Cahill (6); Niamh Long (6), Mairead Eviston (7), Anne Eviston (8); Caroline Shanahan (6), Aoife McGrath (7), Siobhan McGrath (7), Mary Burke (7), Niamh Treacy (6), Katie O’Dwyer (7), Eimear McGrath (7), Miriam Campion (7).

Subs: Joanne Ryan (6) for Shanahan (HT), Michelle Woodlock (6) for S McGrath (40), Deirdre Dunne (6) for O’Dwyer (44), Maureen Ryan (NR) for Cahill (49); Noirin Butler for Burke (52 blood); Noirin Butler for A Ryan (55 blood).

Referee: Aaron Hogg (Clare).