PICTURES: Round up of last weekend's U14 County finals

U14 A Shield Final

Kilruane MacDonagh’s  4-08

Ballybacon Grange         1-01

At 7.30pm on Sunday evening the meeting of Kilruane MacDonagh’s and Ballybacon Grange took place in the U14 A Shield final. These sides have had great close battles on many occasions but on Sunday it was Kilruane who held the upper hand throughout and secured victory on a scoreline of 4-08 to 1-01.

It was the perfect performance from Kilruane MacDonagh’s  with standout performers all over the field. None more so than captain Clodagh Shinners who took the game to Ballybacon Grange from the offset. With 19 minutes gone in the opening half Kilruane led 4 points to no score with Clodagh scoring all 4 points, 3 45ms and a point from play.

The Ballybacon response was very good though and with Sinead Lonergan excellent at centre back and Aoibhin Maher working hard in midfield they reduced the deficit to 3 points thanks to a pointed 45m by Aoibhin Maher in the 21st minute.

Great play by Eibhlis Hannon and Sarah Williams meant Kilruane had the ball worked back up the field 2 minutes later where Orla Heffernan was on hand to score a goal. With 25 minutes on the clock it was the turn of Ballybacon to raise a green flag thanks to great play by Aoibhin Maher . Clodagh Shinners then stepped up  to nail a free to leave the half time score 1-05 to 1-01. 

The second half was another tough physical battle but unfortunately for Ballybacon the scores just came easier for Kilruane. A switch into full forward brought Mioda O’Shea more and more into the game and her pace and skill produced a goal shortly after the restart followed by a point on the 34th minute to push Kilruane further ahead.

Kilruane registered two more goals before the end thanks to a Clodagh Shinners penalty and a late goal from Grace Cleary. Evie O’Meara was a constant threat up front for them while Sophie O’Meara was ever reliable in defence.  It wasn’t to be for Ballybacon who were short a number of players on the night due to injury.

They never gave up to the final whistle and Kilruane were made to earn every score. In defence Zara O’Mahony, Lucy Butler and Sinead Lonergan stood out while Aoibhin Maher and Alice Purcell also played very well.