Experienced Clonoulty edge past Annacarty

CAMOGIE: FBD Insurance County Senior Championship Semi-Final

Clonoulty-Rossmore 0-14

Éire-Óg Annacarty 1-9

Report: Thomas Conway in Dundrum

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Cáit Devane (Clonoulty-Rossmore)

SCORERS – Clonoulty/Rossmore: Cáit Devane 0-11 (10 frees), Casey Hennessy 0-2; Kate Ryan 0-1.

Eire Og Annacarty: Eva O’Dwyer 0-8 frees; Jean Kelly 1-0; Orla O’Brien 0-1.

Time is a mysterious thing. The less of it there is, the more we seem to make use of it. That was the case for Éire-Óg Annacarty last Saturday, but even a bizarre late come-back wasn’t enough to stop Clonoulty-Rossmore from setting up a repeat of last year’s county-senior final, with a showdown against Drom & Inch now imminent.

Played out in streaming autumn sunshine and a declining afternoon temperature, this clash between two West Tipperary clubs couldn’t have asked for a more ideally located venue than Dundrum. Nor could it have asked for a more exciting finish, with Annacarty snatching 1-1 out of nowhere in an elongated period of stoppage-time and very nearly turning the tables on their opponents.

Kieran Hammersley has moulded this Clonoulty side into a superbly organised collective, which maximises its strengths and shapes its gameplan around Cáit Devane. The effectiveness of their approach was apparent for much of the first-half, which they dominated, overturning a promising Annacarty start to build up a 0-9 to 0-3 lead at the interval.

Annacarty’s game-plan seemed to make sense in the opening minutes - isolating Eva O’Dwyer and Eilish McDonald in a two-person full-forward line and allowing Jean Kelly to drop deep. They were on the scoresheet first, but Clonoulty quickly began to gain the upper hand.

Casey Hennessy slotted their first in the eighth minute, stealing the ball from a melee of players and unleashing an effort from thirty metres. By the twelfth minute Devane had nailed two frees from the wing, Clonoulty now looking far more dynamic than their opponents. Cora Hennessy was impressive, connecting the play with her usual driving stamina and helping to create Devane’s next two frees - one from the left, on the stand side, and other from straight in front of the posts.

Annacarty midfielder Gemma Fox was trying hard to inject some energy into her side, but Clonoulty were painfully efficient. Defeated by Cashel in last year’s quarter-final, Annacarty looked destined for a semi-final exit midway through that first-half, and things would get worse before they got better. They saw their best attack of the game rapidly converted into an outstanding Clonoulty point, with the ball recycled the length of the field and the move finished by, you guessed it, Cáit Devane. A quick handpass from keeper Therese Shortt, a determined clearance up the wing by Kellie Quirke, caught in an under-arm motion by Devane, who then feinted towards goal, set off on a solo-run and arrowed the ball over.

Casey Hennessy would add another point, before Devane ended Clonoulty’s first-half scoring with a free. Two late frees from O’Dwyer might have hinted at a lapse in concentration from the leading side, though Annacarty’s ability to produce stoppage-time drama would later reveal itself in full.

Annacarty emerged from the interval determined to atone for a poor first-half display. They certainly became more competitive in general play, though not on the scoreboard. Devane began to lose her magic touch as the game wore on, hitting frees wayward from scorable positions, but O’Dwyer was having no such difficulties at the other end. Really and truly though, it shouldn’t have mattered. The process of catch-up was taking too long.

A series of stoppages definitely contributed to the fourteen minutes of additional time which referee Paul Carew decided to play. Nobody was quite sure when he would opt to stop the clock, but there was a sense of meaninglessness to the added time given the extent of Clonoulty’s lead. Two more frees from Eva O’Dwyer enhanced her personal tally, and then, out of nowhere, Jean Kelly darted in and laced the sliotar past Therese Shortt. That was the 69th minute, and before the 70th Orla O’Brien had slotted another point, reducing the deficit to one.

It was frantic stuff, bizarre in the extreme, but Clonoulty/Rossmore somehow held their nerve, winning a free which Devane dispatched. There was even time for Kelly to pick up a yellow card in addition to her late goal. It would have been a stunning reversal had Annacarty actually managed to force a draw, or perhaps more, but the better side won out. Just about.

TEAMS - Clonoulty-Rossmore: Therese Shortt (7), Lorna Ryan (7), Moira Kinnane (7), Kellie Quirke (8), Katie Murphy (7), Courtney Ryan (8), Emer Loughman (7), Cora Hennessy (8), Bernie Ryan (7), Casey Hennessy (8), Cáit Devane (8), Avril Quirke (7), Eimear Bourke (7), Kate Ryan (7), Sinéad Ryan (7).

Sub: Kate Ferncombe (7) for Bourke (60).

Éire-Óg Annacarty: Aoife Butler (7), Ellen Gantley (6), Rosanna O’Donnell (7), Sarah Bourke (6), Orlaith Walsh (6), Karen Fox (7), Ciannait Walsh (6), Orla O’Brien (7), Gemma Fox (7), Rachel O’Dwyer (7), Siobhán O’Neill (7), Jean Kelly (8), Ciara Slattery (7), Eilish McDonald (7), Eva O’Dwyer (8).

Subs: Cora Heffernan (7) for Slattery (49); Sheelagh Carew (6) for G Fox (56 inj).

Referee: Paul Carew (Lattin-Cullen).