Historic win for Clonoulty Rossmore as they claim honours in camogie final

Clonoulty Rossmore made history on Saturday with a fantastic senior win over Thurles Sarsfields at The Camogie Grounds, The Ragg.

Many years of perseverance finally paid off as the westerners claimed their first title by producing a dominant display of quality score taking to defeat a brave Thurles Sarsfields in a tense encounter.

Excitement was high from the off. The Cathedral town side were first to score with a Caoimhe Stakelum free after 48 seconds before Casey Hennessy responded after a minute with the ball well worked up through the lines by the powerful Clonoulty half forwards.

Lucy Purcell put Sarsfields ahead again and throughout the game she had a great battle with Courtney Ryan with hooks, blocks and earnest effort from both. 

Karen Kennedy was tightly marked but put her stamp on proceedings sending quality ball into the Sarsfields forwards, however not enough of it stuck with three Clonoulty players challenging just Andrea Loughnane for the ball at times.

At the other end converted frees settled Clonoulty. Cáit Devane struck on 14 minutes putting her side ahead before   another long range strike just after  edged them 0-4 to 0-2 ahead by the quarter mark.

Thurles Sarsfields came more into the game at that stage with Caoimhe Stakelum striking a fine point  after the ball had been cleverly worked up the field following a defensive free.

Casey Hennessy responded with a well taken effort as both sides looked evenly matched.

Eimear Loughman was working her socks off by now as was Kellie Quirke and Sarah Fryday for Clonoulty who were creating the chances and winning the frees.

Cáit Devane was converting them too, and she levelled matters at 0-8 a piece just before the half time whistle. Despite the stop and start nature of the game with frees,  excitement and tension levels were high so both teams  and supporters were glad of a short recess. 

On resumption Sarah Fryday struck a point from close range and you could sense the need in the Clonoulty team to win after falling short so often. 

The pain of half a decade of final losses drove them on. The next few minutes were the winning of the game with a huge offering of effort. 

Clonoulty Rossmore pushed on to go 0-13 to 0-8 clear after ten more minutes which was the key period in the game.

This surge gave them an unassailable lead. Firstly the skilful Eimear Bourke shook off her marker to strike a rousing pont with the supporters in the stand finally starting to believe they could climb their Everest successfully. 

That put them two up. They kept the intensity going with a free from Cáit Devane before Sarah Fryday made a storming run forward soloing towards the Sarsfields goals before being  fouled.

Another pointed free  put them four up after 37 minutes of camogie. They sensed victory. By now they could do no wrong.
Often ball half blocked was gathered again and released quickly with Courtney Ryan and Sarah Fryday in particular leading the way.

She struck her second point from play to put them five up. The Cathedral town side to their credit  rallied.  Emma Carey and Karen Kennedy roused them and Caoimhe Stakelum pointed a hard earned free. 

Only the brilliant defending of Lorna Ryan prevented a certain Sarsfields goal in a key moment then as she hooked Lucy Purcell before lines were cleared just on the 45 minute mark. 

Clonoulty knew they had to dig deep to see it out. Rucks developed and they won the key ball  time after time.

Casey Hennessy and Kellie Quirke won  loose ball before a free which Devane pointed . It was her ninth score by then and the work rate of Clonoulty players in winning those frees was ultimately the difference in the game. 

Sarah Fryday worked hard to win a breaking ball as the final quarter rolled around, setting up Kellie  Quirke with a pass for a neat point  pushing Clonoulty closer to the title.

At the other end Teresa Bourke denied Sarsfields again with a good save and ‘Sars’ just couldn’t find a way back into the game with the clock against them. 

Andrea Loughnane tried to pull the trigger but was pushed out and had to be satisfied with a point before the ball went down the other end where Kellie Quirke repaid Sarah Fryday for her earlier pass for a score, as Quirke set up Fryday for another point from play. 

The duo were leading the way for Clonoulty and then a huge long range late score struck by the impressive Eimear Bourke on the run gave them another boost.

Sarsfields responded briefly but with the strong lead Clonoulty kept the pressure on, and led 0-18 to 0-10 with five to play. 

Stakelum pointed late on while Karen Kennedy struck a late consolation goal for the Blues who worked hard all through this game with the skilful Lucy Purcell and Caoimhe Stakelum, along with Karen Kennedy, the most influential for them.

The tight marking Clonoulty defence hurled well. Despite losing Casey Hennessy to a second card for a late challenge on Karen Kennedy, Clonoulty used all their experience to win their first ever title. 

They were full value for the win as they struck quality points from play and won rucks and tackles all afternoon. 

Eimear Bourke struck four massive points while Sarah Fryday hit some quality points as well as setting up scores. The frees from Cáit Devane, who hit 0-11,  ensured they punished Sarsfields time after time. 

Perseverance paid off as Clonoulty Rossmore must have felt over recent years that they would never match perennial champions Drom Inch but they kept working and won this title in real style.

Afterwards their manager James Heffernan said that the emotions ran deep: “I’m so proud of them for coming back after all the heartache. There is a lot of teams that wouldn’t come back like that but year after year they did and there was something different about them this year. 

“I know it doesn’t guarantee you anything and you can easily be bet in a semi final or today but there was something different about them when they were all back and ready to go in January.

“They improved. We had a good league then reset again over the summer, obviously had a bad start to the championship but week on week we improved. 

“I felt we got stronger and I am so proud of what we have achieved,” he said.  After that the cup went back to Clonoulty Rossmore for the first time ever. 

Starting teams:
Clonoulty Rossmore: Teresa Bourke; Lorna Ryan, Aoife Bourke, Moira Kinane; Courtney Ryan, Clodagh Quirke, Eimear Loughman; Casey Hennessy, Kellie Quirke; Sinead Ryan, Cora Hennessy, Kate Ferncombe; Cáit Devane (C), Sarah Fryday ,Eimear Bourke. 
Thurles Sarsfields: Siobhan Hennessy; Aoife Butler, Emer Kennedy, Leanna Coppinger; Lorna  Loughnane, Emma Carey, Robyn Fanning; Ciara Cummins, Karen Kennedy (C); Aoife Dwyer, Lucy Purcell, Nicola Loughnane; Rebecca O'Meara, Andrea Loughnane, Caoimhe Stakelum.