Orla Benson Cup final

Boston Shamrocks 1-06 Tir Na Nog 4-06

The ladies were the first to take to the field this week with the Boston Shamrocks taking on Tir na Nog in the Orla Benson Cup final. Although the game was played under poor, slippery conditions, both teams provided some very entertaining football. Both teams dominated for periods but it was the brighton seemed to make the most of their scoring opportunities to make them deserving winners on the day. As the saying goes “Goals win games” and that was surely the case for Tir na Nog as they defeated the shamrocks by a margin of three goals in what was otherwise a closely contested game.

The Shamrocks were the first to register on the score both with 2 points within the first 5

 Mins. Shiela Carroll converted a 20m free after a foul on Sharon McGovern, followed quickly from a point from play by Regina Finnegan. Although the Shamrocks seemed to be controlling the pace of the game in the early stages, it wasn’t long until Tir Na Nog settled into a quick, short passing game that the Shamrocks defense found very hard to handle. Caroline Nee opened with their first score in the 9th min followed by points from Caroline Hanley and Amy Connolly. AnneMarie McDonnell replied with a Shamrocks point but it was 2 goals from Hanley & Nee that separated the teams at half time as Tir Na Nog were up 2-03 to 0-03.

In the 2nd half the Shamrocks started to put pressure on the Tir Na Nog defense with some great runs from midfielder Shiela Carroll, Sarah Cunningham and Edel McGovern. However they found it hard to convert their possession to scores on the board. Caroline Nee continued to win a lot of possession around the middle of the field push forward for Tir Na Nog with some great support from Caoimhe Keohgan and Niamh Daly. They registered two more goals from Amy Connolly and Caroline Hanley. Shamrocks did reply with a point from Sharon McGovern and a goal from Sarah Cunningham. However it was too little too late as the 3 goal deficit was just too much to make up.

After the game some of Orla Benson’s family members were in canton to present the cup named in her honour to Tir Na Nog team captain Jenna Davoren

Boston Shamrocks: N. Haywood,T. Doherty, E.McGovern, S. Dempsey, B. lockwood, A. Mcdonald, A. Clarke, S. Carroll, K. Scanlon, C. Gleelan, S. McGovern, R. Finnegan

Tir Na Nog: M. Duess, A. O’Neill, L. Brick, J. Davoren, N. O’Neill, P. Greene, c. Keoghan, N. Daly, A. Connolly, L. Kehoe, C. Nee, S. Bannon, C. Hanley

SFC – Aidan McAnespies 3-11 Mayo 1-08

The weather conditions improved as the sun came out for the second game of the day as Aidan McAnespies took on Mayo. The McAnespies dominated the majority of the game setting up a very fast pace that the Mayo defence were unable to deal with. The duo of Colm McRory and Sean Cournane were a constant thorn in the Mayo side scoring a total of 3-9 between them. Although Mayo did compete for sections of the game they never seemed like a real treat to the Macs who eventually won the game by a comfortable margin.

The McAnespies got off to a dream start with 2 quick points from Colm McRory within the first two mins. McRory was also responsible for the pin point pass that set up Sean Cournane with his first goal of the day for the McAnespies in the 5th min. Mayo did manage to attack on a few occasions but were denied by some fantastic blocking from Fergal O’Doherty and tenacious tackling from Niall Gallen. It took Mayo 16 mins to register their first score, with a point from Danny McNicholas, closely followed by a 2nd from Sean Kenny. The Macs replied with 3 more points from McRory(2) and Courane and Sean Maguire scored a long range free for Mayo. McRory was later pulled to the ground in the small square for a penalty. McRory took the place kick himself beating goalie Brain Cassidy to give Macs their second goal of the half. Mayo finished the half with 2 points from frees taken by Sean Kenny and Kevin McAllister to leave the score 2-06 to 0-04 at half time.

The McAnespies again were the first to score in the second half with a quick point from the fist off Cournane. Mayo did get scoring opportunities but struggled to put scores on the board getting the most of their scores from free kicks. Sean Kenny and Danny McNicholas converted two frees for Mayo in the 43rd and 46th min. Mayo did have a chance to pull back a goal when Alan Benson made a fantastic solo run from the 20m line and only had the goalie to beat. However his shot skimmed wide of the right post. Collie

Donnelly and McRory registered two more scores from play to extend the McAnespies lead. Alan Benson showed his markers a clean pair of heals to scoring a fine point after his solo run from midfield. Macs goalie Paddy Coakley pulled off a fine save to deny rob Murphy. However, Mayo got a second chance on goal when Kevin McAllister fielded from the subsequent 45 and found the back of the Macs net. Cournane ended the half as he started with another goal and a point for the Macs, leaving them outright winners on a scoreline of 3-11 to 1-08.

McAnespies: P.Coakley,N.Gallen,M. Bogue,C. Dempsey, F. O’Doherty, P. McConway,G. O’Neill, M. O’Scanaill, E. Hamill, C. Donnelly, S. Lynn, S. Cournane, C. McRory

Mayo: B. Cassidy, M. Murphy, S. Clifford, M. Hickey, P. O’Donaghoe, R. Murphy, S. Maguire, S. Kenny, K. Singleton, D. McNicholas, K. McAllister, S. McHale, D. Igloe

SFC – Cork 1-14 Shannon Blues 2-4

Cork had their work cut out for them in this battle with the Shannon Blues. The Blues dominated the first half but it looked as if Cork would get a break in the second half when the Blues went a man down after a sending off offense. However the Blues dug deep when the pressure was on to maintain their early lead.

The Blues brought the game to Cork right from the throw in. Gary Curran opened the scoring in the 4th min from a free kick after a personal foul on Sean Moriarty. The Blues forwards seemed to be able to create a lot of space up front and quickly followed up with 2 more points from Brain Curran and Gary Curran. Cork struggled to get the ball past midfield as Shannon Blues continued to pressure their defense. Kieran Hurley beat his marker to create a one on one opportunity with the Cork goalie John O’Toole. O’Toole pulled off a fine save but Sean O’Louchrain was in close proximity for the rebound and made no mistake in finding the back of the Cork net. Cork managed to get there first shot in the 14th and still couldn’t convert it to a score. O’Lonchrain fielded a high ball in around the middle of the park and gave a perfect ball into Kieran Hurley who popped it over for his first point of the day. The first Cork score eventually came after 18 mins but the Blue quickly replied with a goal from the kick out. Hurley found Gary Curran on the edge of the square to slot the ball past O’Toole for Shannon Blues second goal. Cork started to pick up some more ball around the middle of the field but when chances were created up front they just couldn’t finish with some very poor shooting. However they did manage to 2 points before the half to leave a score of 1-07 to 0-03 at the break.

In the second half Cork definitely upped their game as James Calliff started to gain more possession in the middle of the field. It looked like Cork would get a break as Shannon Blues player Gary Curran received a red card for a striking offense leaving them a man down. Cork took advantage and began to push forward more with the extra man creating the overlap. Mike Moynahan won a penalty for an illegal block. Peter Kirwan stepped up to take the penalty and scored, but only from a rebound after a great stop from the Blues goalie Tomas McTsaoir. The Shannon Blues started to find form again and replied with points from mike McGowan, Sean moriarty and Dave Diween. The last ten mins of game was a close affair with both teams getting on the ball. Cork registered 2 more points and had the chance of a goal when awared a 2nd penalty. Blues keeper Tomas McTsaior made a fine save yet again from the place kick to deny Cork another goal. This was to be the last action of the game as the Blues won the game on a final score line of 1-14 to 2-04

Teams:

Cork:J. O’Toole, M. Carolan, E. Barry, D. Cleary, C. Caffery, J. Hogan,J. Calliff, P. Leddy, D. Hughes, M. Burke, M. Moynahan, R. McAuley, P. Kirwan

Shannon Blues: T. Tsaoir, D. O’Brien, C. Phelan, B. curran, D. Clarke, R. Callaghan, M. McGowan, D. Diween, S. O’ Lonachain, K. Hurley, S. Moriarty

Other Results

SFC Armagh Notre Dame 0-08 Christophers 1-17

Jr B Football - Armagh Notre Dame 2-10 Hartford 1-6

 Sheenan Cup Final - Fr Toms 0-14 Tipperary 2-10

Next Weeks schedule:

Sat June 9th:

4:15 JR B Cork V Shannon Blues

5:30 SFC Cork V Kerry

Sun June 10th:

12:00 JR A Donegal V Amagh Notre Dame

1:15 SFC Connemara Gales V Wolvetones

2:30 JR A Wolvetones V Donegal

3:45 SFC Galway V Aidan McAnespies