Knockbride (Cavan) 3-10
Caltra Cuans (Galway) 0-4
By Daire Walsh
KNOCKBRIDE proved too strong for Galway champions Caltra Cuans after producing a top class display.
“It’s a dream come true and I couldn’t be happier to do it with such a great group,” said Sarah McCabe. “My best friends, we’ve had a long year together. It has just been amazing and I think it’s just something that will bond us for life, this win.
“Unbelievable, I can’t put it into words. I scribbled a few words down on a piece of paper just on the off chance that I’d have to say something (in a winners’ speech). I was scrambling for them after, it was just the best feeling in the world. Brilliant.
“I think we knew from our All-Ireland semi-final, we went in two points up and there was nothing you could take for granted. We really learnt from that. We learnt from every game we had in the run-up to this, that you couldn’t take anything for granted. They could come out and just as easily go nine points up in the second half. We just pushed on.”
Caltra Cuans manager Peter Birch said it was disappointing the way the final slipped away from them but when they look back they will appreciate they have had a great year.
“We met a good Knockbride team and that’s the end of it. We probably didn’t show up in the game and we’ll probably regret a lot of it. If you look back at the year, it was a great year,” said Birch.
“One game doesn’t show a true reflection on a team. They might have their heads down now, but they need to come out of Croke Park with their heads held high and say ‘look, we had a great year, even though it didn’t go to plan today’.
“I actually thought we started quite well. The first couple of minutes we were controlling the ball and we looked good. We just couldn’t get that score and from the penalty then on and the point or two after that, we probably had the heads down and things didn’t go well.”
McCabe, Gia McCabe and Katie Rogers got the goals as Knockbride became the first team from Cavan to win an AIB All-Ireland intermediate club championship title.
They led by 2-3 to 0-0 at the break when a looping shot from player of the match Gia McCabe floated into the Caltra net for a 19th minute goal.
This lead was extended on the resumption with another expertly-taken point from Abbi Connor, but the Cavan outfit did miss a golden opportunity to raise another green flag when McCabe fired wide off her second penalty.
Knockbride nevertheless maintained a tight grip on proceedings with a fourth Connor point, before 2010 All-Ireland junior champions Caltra finally opened their account on 43 minutes when marauding wing-back Caoimhe Ni Cheallaigh superbly found the target with the outside of her right foot.
However, Knockbride took over again and Rogers got their third goal as Connor took her haul to six points to claim the title.
Scorers – Knockbride: A Connor 0-6 (5f), G McCabe 1-1, S McCabe 1-0 (pen), K Rogers 1-0, E Reilly 0-2, A Nulty 0-1. Caltra Cuans: S Noone 0-3, C Ni Cheallaigh 0-1.
KNOCKBRIDE: K Mulvey; A Rogers, A Lynch, N Rogers; E Lynch, S O’Reilly, N Smith; T Rogers, KM Reilly; G McCabe, S McCabe; A Nulty; R Davey, K Rogers, A Connor. Subs: E Reilly for Davey (37), G Smith for Lynch (51), D Donohoe for Nulty (53), A Reilly for Rogers (54), J Clarke for Connor (56).
CALTRA CUANS: T Loughnane; C McCabe, N Conway, H Cullinane; A Murray, S Noone, C Ni Cheallaigh; E Bleahene, A Fitzpatrick; R Bleahene, S Murray, C Mullins; C Murray, E Reaney, L Naughton. Subs: M Kelly for Conway (6-13, blood), M Kelly for Mullins (21), E Naughton for Murray (48), D Kelly for R Bleahene (54), O Hannon for Murray, A Quinn for McCabe (both 56).
Referee: Kevin Phelan (Laois)
