St Mary’s, Macroom (Cork) 8-13
St Patrick’s Academy, Dungannon (Tyrone) 4-12
BY SEAMUS DILLON
ST Mary’s of Macroom overcame St Patrick’s of Dungannon to claim the Lidl PPS All-Ireland junior B title at Manguard Park in Kildare.
On a beautiful spring afternoon it was a five goal burst from St Mary’s in the opening half which left them 14 points ahead at the interval and despite a spirited St Patrick’s second half revival they were unable to catch the Cork school.
Shauna Keane opened the scoring inside a minute for the Cork girls but St Patrick’s responded through Lauren O Neill and Aine Nelis.
The Tyrone girls were playing with the aid of a stiff breeze and despite the majority of possession they were finding it hard to break down a stubborn St Mary’s rearguard
Evie McMahon and Nelis swapped points before the game’s opening goal arrived after ten minutes with Keane getting on the end of Roisin Ni Liathain’s pass to shoot low to the net for the Macroom school. Nelis with two points and Ciara McMoran with one responded for St Patrick’s Academy.
St Mary’s hit the next five scores as Ni Liathain and full forward Cora Delaney both raised green flags. Despite late points from O’Neill, Ciara McMoran and Nelis they still trailed by 5-7 to 0-8 after 30 minutes, with Orla O Brien and Delaney with her second finishing off impressive St Mary’s attacks.
Ni Liathain proved to be a thorn in the St Patrick’s side all afternoon finishing with a personal tally of 4-3. Any hopes of a St Patrick’s revival were dismissed within 60 seconds of the restart as Ni Liathain added her second and St Mary’s sixth goal.
To their credit the Tyrone girls didn’t give up and when St Mary’s went down to 12 early in the second half with a red card and two yellows, they had renewed energy.
Lauren O Neill struck for two goals for St Patrick’s, one from a penalty, and midfielder Ciara McMoran added two as well to close the gap.
But St Mary’s were just too strong and despite the numerical disadvantage they had a sufficient lead with player of the Ni Liathain scoring her fourth goal.
Scorers – St Mary’s, Macroom: R Ni Liathain 4-3, S Keane1-5, C Delaney 2-1, O O’Brien 1-1, S Mora 0-1, E McMahon 0-1, S Kelleher 0-1.
St Patrick’s Academy: L O’Neill 2-2 (1-0 pen), C McMoran 2-2, A Nelis 0-7 (3f), T Loughran 0-1.
St Mary’s, Macroom: L Hodman; S Cronin, C Murray, H O Shea; R Prendaville, C O’Brien, P Murphy; S Kelleher, S Mora; S Keane, E McMahon, O O’Brien; C O’Brien, C Delaney, R Ni Liathain. Substitutes: O O’Brien for S Keane (38), R Murphy for C O’Brien 38, E Deasy for C Delaney (47), A O Riordan for S Cronin (55), E Kelleher for O O’Brien (58).,
St Patrick’s Academy: A Watt; N Manzjuka, A Black, A Devlin; E M Carty, T Loughran, T Daly; C McMoran, A Holmes; L O Neill, A Nelis, A McDonald; C Rafferty, A Quinn, E Boyle. Substitutes: C Cullen for N Manzjuka (13), C McKeown for C Rafferty (60).
Referee K Corcoran (Mayo).
