‘Pollard rocked by early goals as Delvin win junior camogie decider

Westmeath Junior ‘A’ Camogie Championship final: Delvin 2-7, Castlepollard 1-5

Jason Keelan reports

Despite the best efforts of Castlepollard to recover from a demoralising first half, a brace of Denise McGrath goals helped Delvin to take the county junior ‘A’ camogie title on a fine autumn afternoon in TEG Cusack Park last Saturday.

The two north Westmeath clubs may be separated by less than 20km on a map, but the opening 30 minutes suggested they were light years apart. Delvin rattled off scores to take a nine-point advantage before the half-time interval.

Castlepollard got the scoring going when Lauryn Sheridan lobbed a shot towards goal only to see it pushed away by Courtney Carroll. The sliotar eventually came back to the aforementioned Sheridan who grazed the crossbar as she pointed.

Delvin then restored parity through Niamh Horan, who turned her marker well before showing a great turn of pace and firing over. A short period of scrappy play ensued before the green flag was raised by Delvin after a stunning strike from Denise McGrath – Janette Greville with no chance of stopping it.

Horan went on to point again to put Delvin 1-2 to 0-1 ahead with 20 minutes played. Castlepollard deserve some credit for managing to keep the scoreline down mainly through the efforts of Caitlin Devine, Niamh McCarthy, and Aoife Gallagher in particular.

However, there was nothing anybody could do about McGrath’s second goal. Caoimhe McCarthy (starting in place of Deirdre Barry) laid the ball off to the Westmeath corner-forward, and she belted to the net once again. Indeed, a replay would perhaps show the goal had more than a touch of similarity to the first effort.

Player of the match Áine Newman shone without hitting the scoring highs of McGrath – her enthusiastic energy around the middle third proving vital for her side as they built up a healthy lead. Newman did get her only score before the break when she finished off a move that she started herself.

McGrath tagged on the final score of the half before Jemma Maybury missed a half-chance for ‘Pollard. Delvin went in ahead by 2-4 to 0-1 – Sheridan’s score inside the opening minute the only one that The Town could muster.

Perhaps realising they had little to lose in the second half, a resurgent ‘Pollard side emerged with a different approach. Caoimhe McCormack and Ruth Daniels operated with a more vibrancy and direct running game and it yielded success in many ways.

Delvin’s forward line found possession a little hard to come by but still had the likes of Olivia Kelleghan and Linda Kenny working hard to create chances. McCormack was penalised on her first attempted run as she struggled past a Delvin wall of defence marshalled by Mags McQuillan and Ruth Fitzsimons.

Substitute Aishling Brown did manage to get through, but was clearly fouled and Barry Nea awarded a penalty. McCormack expertly drilled low past Carroll and Pollard had something to work from.

McGrath responded with an impressive long-range effort and a free soon after to effectively cancel out the penalty. No sooner had she done so when McCormack was stepping up to the spot again – the midfielder herself fouled this time while attempting a shot. This time her effort went high and over to make it 2-6 to 1-2.

A fine point by Catríona Murtagh and a McCormack free brought it closer again, but ‘Pollard just couldn’t find another green flag. Sheridan’s diagonal high-ball just evaded Murtagh before an injury to McCormack added another pause in play (Sheridan had been hurt in the opening half). It was going to take more than that to stop McCormack as she notched a free to add to her growing tally.

The drama wasn’t quite over in terms of penalties, as incredibly McCormack again won her side’s third of the game in stoppage time.

Unfortunately for McCormack however, her low effort was correctly read by Carroll, and Jimmy O’Grady’s Delvin took the crown by 2-7 to 1-5 after a dominant opening half.

At full time, the Valley’s captain, Karen Gaffney, accepted the cup from Westmeath Camogie Board chairperson Karen Goldrick.

Scorers – Castlepollard: C McCormack 1-3 (1-1 pen, 0-2f), L Sheridan and C Murtagh 0-1 each. Delvin: D McGrath 2-4 (0-2f), N Horan 0-2, Á Newman 0-1.

Castlepollard: Janette Greville; Caitlin Devlin, Niamh McCarthy, Laura Kilcoyne; Liza McCormack, Aoife Gallagher, Emma Lancaster; Caoimhe McCormack, Ruth Daniels; Lauryn Sheridan, Emma Gilchrist, Catríona Murtagh; Emma Kilcoyne, Jemma Maybury, Louise Nea. Subs used: Aishling Brown for Nea (h-t), Sabrina Dermody for Kilcoyne (50).

Delvin: Courtney Carroll; Mags McQuillan, Niamh Barry-Cogan, Ruth Fitzsimons; Darcy Ryan, Karen Gaffney, Elaine Farrelly; Áine Newman, Ciara Higgins; Olivia Kelleghan, Linda Kenny, Caoimhe Gaffney; Denise McGrath, Niamh Horan, Linda Clune. Subs used: Deirdre Barry for Clune (h-t), Emily Leavy for Kenny (43), Kenny for Higgins (47), Hannah Kelleghan for Ryan (50).

Ref: Barry Nea (Clonkill).

Player of the match: Áine Newman (Delvin).