Na Fianna Dethrone Champs
Na Fianna 2-14  Cavan 1-14

NA Fianna is back in the Sean Faherty Cup final after defeating 2011 ladies champions Cavan by three points. They used a strong second half defensive display when they held Cavan to four points, and they got the necessary scores at the other end. They had a higher percentage of execution when they got within scoring distance, and that was telling in the final 30 minutes.  

In the first three minutes Na Fianna had 1-1, with the goal coming from a penalty when Aoife Herbert was fouled. She dispatched the resulting kick to the net.

Cavan had a brace in reply from their center strike force of Lindsey Davey and Denise McKenna. After a Natasha Barnwell score for Na Fianna, Cavan dominated for the next 10 minutes as they added 1-4 to their total.

The goal came when Hazel Kingham won the ball in the half back line and fed Linda McKeon in the middle. The number 8 launched a long ball to McKenna, who then crashed the ball to the net with authority.

Na Fianna needed a response and it came from Herbert. She won a long ball from the left wing from Kelly McCormack and rattled the back of the net with a cracking shot.

After a Kelly Donohoe long range point on 21 minutes it was Cavan 1-7 Na Fianna 2-2. Na Fianna was making their chances stand up in front of goal, and they added four of the next five scores to edge in front.

McKenna did have two points shortly before the halftime whistle. However, just at the buzzer Na Fianna had a point from Barnwell to tie up the game again.

Aine Dwyer and Rosie O’Reilly swapped scores to open the second half. Na Fianna then added four of the next five scores.

The best of the bunch was an outstanding score by Emer Considine when she soloed close to 50 yards, getting by three challenges before slotting over with the left leg. An inspiring score. Donohoe also had a shot stopped by Alison Leydon.

The game took one of its final turns with 11 minutes left on the clock and Na Fianna holding a 2-12 to 1-12 lead. McKenna was fouled in the area for a penalty, but the Davey shot was easily blocked by Leydon and cleared.  

Na Fianna did receive a sin bin for this, and also a following infraction with Barnwell and Mullarkey cautioned.

Cavan could not use the extra numbers to their advantage, however, and they also lost Ashley Callery to a yellow.

A McKenna point was cancelled out by Dwyer before Kathryn Sullivan had their final score. A Davey point from a free brought it back to a one score lead, but Cavan could not get any closer.

Cavan: 1 Nora Kilkenny, 2 Catherina Rafferty, 3 Nicola O’Reilly, 4 Caroline McBrien, 5 Ashley Callery, 6 Hazel Kingham (0-1), 7 Katie McEvoy, 8 Linda McKeon, 9 Mairead Ruane, 10 Alisa Jordan, 11 Lindsay Davey (0-6), 12 Rosie O’Reilly(0-1), 13 Nicola King, 14 Denise McKenna (1-4), 15 Kelly Donohoe (0-1). Subs: Mary Hanley .

Na Fianna: 1 Alison Leydon, 2 Bridget Judd, 3 Cathriona Lynch, 4 Imelda Mullarkey, 5 Stephanie Tierney, 6 Kathryn Sullivan, 7 Shannon Spillane, 8 Aine Dwyer, 9 Fiona Dwyer, 10 Kelly McCormack, 11 Brianna Tierney, 12 Emer Considine, 13 Aoife Herbert, 14 Mary O’Rourke, 15 Natasha Barnwell.

Player of the game: Kathryn Sullivan (Na Fianna).

Second Half Charm for K/D
Kerry/Donegal 2-15 Fermanagh 3-8

THE second semifinal in the ladies division was a game of two contrasting halves. Fermanagh held a six point lead at the interval, but they only added two points to their total in the second half as Kerry/Donegal caught them and then overtook on the way to victory.

K/D came out flying and they had three of the first four points of the game.  Denise Dunnion had two and was showing her undoubted talents.

Fermanagh responded, and they had three points in succession before the 11th minute, with Maeve Redmond causing problems with her running with ball in hand.

After a reply from K/D of two points from Mairead Tenneson and Dunnion, Fermanagh broke the game open. In a four minute span they put the ball in the back of the net three times.

The first came when Aishlinn Gormley took a long low ball into her, and turned to drive to the net. The kickout was returned to the scoring sector and Maeve Redmond pounced on it and fired their second goal. A defensive mistake gave Gormley an opportunity for goal number three and she gladly took it.

Both sides had points in the aftermath to leave Fermanagh ahead 3-6 to 0-7 with six minutes left in the half. K/D finished strongest with three wides and two points to narrow the gap to six at the short whistle.

The second opened with a Dunnion point within seconds. Tennyson followed with a point before Loretta Cunningham had a score at the other end.

When Kelly Roche and Megan McNeilus swapped points it was still anyone’s game at 3-8 to 0-12.
Amazingly that was to be the final score for Fermanagh. K/D chipped away with two points before Marie Dargan fired in a goal to level the tie.

Fermanagh had three chances at the other end but wides were their only result. Tenneson added a free before Dargan put the icing on the win and her player of the game performance with a cracking goal.

The final of the Ladies Championship is now set and will be played on Sunday, July 22 at prime time, 4 p.m.

Fermanagh: 1 Leah Mulherne, 2 Anne Marie Kelly, 3 Roisin Toner, 4 Niamh Friel, 5 Siobhan McCourt, 6 Tracy McCullough, 7 Kerry McGinley, 8 Caitlin Slattery, 9 Sarah Donnelly, 10 Maeve Redmond (1-2), 11 Claire McElroy, 12 Loretta Cunningham (0-1), 13 Megan McNeilus (0-3), 14 Aislinn Gormley (2-1), 15 Caroline Murphy (0-1).

Kerry/Donegal: 1 Roisin McCafferty, 2 Niamh Britton, 3 Collette McElligott, 4 Fiona Shultz, 5 Michelle McVann, 6 Louise Lilly, 7 Amanda McGovern, 8 Olive McCafferty, 9 Mairead Tennyson (0-3), 10 Michelle Dowd, 11 Anita McKenna (0-1), 12 Collette McGoldrick, 13 Denise Dunnion (0-5), 14 Marie Dargan (2-5), 15 Kelly Roche.

Player of the game: Marie Dargan (Kerry/Donegal).

Dublin in a Struggle
Dublin 1-9 Armagh 1-5

DUBLIN got the win in a senior football contest that took a long time to get going in the first half. Declan Reilly was their scorer in chief, and he had an excellent hour.

Twenty minutes in it was 0-2 to 0-1 in favor of Dublin, with Reilly getting both. There was little else of consequence in that time.

The final seven minutes did make up for the lack of action, though, as first Calon O’Hanlon had a screamer wide before Reilly and Richie Morgan swapped scores. Morgan’s came after Dublin was very unfortunate not to get a free at the other end.

Dublin had two of the final three points of the half as both sides were more fortunate in front of goal.
Brian Patton added to Armagh’s total to open the second half before sub Chris Corrigan and Cathal Hatzer pushed the capital’s advantage out to 0-7 to 0-4.

On eight minutes Brian Stokes joined the attack for the Orchard men, and he had a goal after a strong run. Patton added his second point to give the side a slim lead.

With the game for the taking Dublin answered the call with another Reilly point and a well taken Hatzer goal when he took a flick on from Reilly and drove to the net.  John Maloney added an insurance point for the win.

Dublin will be happy with the win on the field as the Keaneys, Coughlin, Gray and the excellent Reilly all led the way.

Armagh had good performances from Hearty, Kevin McGeeney, Aiden Morton and Caolan Short.
This game may not be over yet, however, as Dublin were asked for ID cards after the outing. It just may take a conflab in the steakhouse to figure things out.

Dublin: 1 Ray Hennessy, 2 Colm Larkin, 3 Adam Keaney, 4 Fergal Powell, 5 Sean Gibney, 6 William Forkan, 7 Ciaran McHugh, 8 Andy Gray, 9 Peter Keaney, 10 Nick McKeown, 11 Niall Coughlin (0-1), 12 Jonathon Maloney (0-2), 13 Cathal Hatzer (1-1), 14 Declan Reilly (0-4), 15 Mikey Henderson. Subs: Chris Corrigan.

Armagh: 1 Alan Hearty, 2 Patsy Martin, 3 John Cunningham, 4 Stuart Stokes, 5 John Lynch, 6 Kevin McGeeney, 7 Brian Stokes (1-0), 8 Paddy King, 9 Brian Patton (0-2), 10 Ronan Queally, 11 Seamus McDaid, 12 Caolan Short (0-2), 13 Richie Morgan (0-1), 14 Calon O’Hanlon, 15 Aiden Morton.

Referee: Tommy Fahey.

Man of the match: Declan Reilly (Dublin).

Too Many Cavan Weapons
Cavan 2-11 Cork 0-8

CAVAN used a total team performance to get their second win in a week over Cork in this senior football contest.

The board, in its wisdom, had them playing back to back against the Rebels, and they will now play Tyrone back to back, one in the league and one in the championship.

The defense held Cork to just two points in the first half to pave the way, while four of the six forwards got on the board at the other end, with newcomer Graham Guilfoyle very impressive with his running.

The first half was completely dominated by Cavan. At the end of 30 minutes they were sitting on a 0-8 to 0-2 lead. Eoin Ward had two of the first three points for the side, and center forward Guilfoyle was also very active.

Cork’s brightest moment was Mickey Leneghan’s score when he soloed in along the end line and drilled the ball over.

Cavan added to their lead with a quick goal to open the second half when a defensive mistake allowed Ryan O’Hare the easy task of tapping to the net. They added a point, but then Cork enjoyed their best period of the half.

Five consecutive points with Gerard McCarthy in the mix constantly brought the Rebels to 1-9 to 0-7. Tom Hardwick was doing a lot of battling and ball winning in the middle, while Eoin McHugh was also having a presence.

Cavan responded to a stunning save by their keeper Gavin Joyce from an Aiden Walsh shot by grabbing two points at the other end to again put a little breathing room between the sides.

Dillon and Guilfoyle swapped scores to round out the scoring, the latter to punctuate his excellent performance.

Cavan: 1 Gavin Joyce, 2 Ronan McGinley, 3 Ciaran Shields, 4 Ciaran Martin, 5 Paul Lambe, 6 Mike Higgins, 7 Sean Kelly, 8 Eoghan Carew (0-2), 9 Paddy McCullough (0-1), 10 Frankie Barry, 11 Graham Guilfoyle (1-2), 12 Eoin Ward (0-3), 13 Ryan O’Hare (1-2), 14 Michael Kennedy, 15 James Connolly (0-1). Subs: Eoghan Kyne,

Cork: 1 Darren O’Mahoney, 2 Denis McCarthy, 3 Gary Hanley, 4 Rory Stafford, 5 Eoin Dillon (0-1), 6 Alan Rafferty, 7 Eoin McHugh (0-1), 8 Aiden Walsh, 9 Gary Lowney, 10 Francie Cleary (0-1), 11 Jason Kelly, 12 Peter Hatzer (0-1), 13 Mickey Lenaghan (0-2), 14 Tom Hardwick, 15 Gerald McCarthy (0-2),15 Peter Hatzer (0-2).

Referee: John Fitzpatrick.

Man of the match: Graham Guilfoyle (Cavan).

Goals the Difference for Guards
Hoboken Guards 2-15  Shannon Gaels 0-14

A GOAL in each half of this exciting junior hurling contest were the difference as Hoboken took the points and kept their unbeaten streak moving along.

It was a very interesting game, however, in that the score amounts were even in the second half, with just the second goal helping to extend the advantage.

Hoboken had the first two points of the game with a long range effort from PJ Delaney, an excellent score.

Shannon Gaels replied with three points off the stick of Noel Connatty, who was clinical on the day from frees. In the theme of things the game went in waves, with the Guards grabbing their first goal from Mike Kennelly when he followed a Casserley point with a scrambled goal.

Adrian Purcell had three further points for the winners, while Connatty and Graeme McGuire replied at the other end with minors to leave the half time score 1-7 to 0-5.

Hoboken introduced Pat Egan and Mattie Coyne off the bench, and both were to have huge contributions in the second half. While Connatty had a point to open the half, Coyne followed a Purcell free with a brace to extend the lead.

Sean Brennan joined the attack for Shannon Gaels with a long range score 15 minutes in, and Connatty had his sixth point of the day immediately following.

Peader Hickey, who was a handful on the 40, had two points from distance, the first from a free, but again Hoboken reacted positively.

Egan had a minor and then followed with a goal to give his side a 2-13 to 0-9 lead. Shannon Gaels then had their most positive period of the game as they outscored their opponents 0-5 to 0-2 in the closing 10 minutes.

They punished numerous infractions in the Hoboken rearguard, with points from Connatty frees, and had some timely clearances at the back from Conor Butler and Sean Moore. Time ran out, however, with the side still needing a goal to create real damage.

Hoboken had stars in Shane Greally, PJ Delaney, Adrian Purcell and Mattie Coyne off the bench. The front men were scoring threats constantly.

Shannon Gaels had a lot of positives in defeat. Sean Moore caught a number of high balls into the square. Conor Butler, James Connolly in first of back to back games, and Eoghan Kyne all did well in the full back line. Rory McClosky was brilliant in the middle, while Noel Connatty was sublime from frees and in open play when given the chance.

Shannon Gaels: 1 Sean Moore, 2 Eoghan Kyne, 4 James Connolly, 5 Sean Brennan (0-1), 6 Eoghan O’Connor, 7 Caoimhghin O’Callaghan, 8 Rory McCluskey, 9 Paudie Kyne, 10 John Cantwell, 11 Peader Hickey (0-2), 12 Eamonn O’Donnell 13 Noel Connatty (0-10), 15 Graeme McGuire (0-1). Subs: John White Morgan, Conor Butler.

Hoboken: 1 Colm Reilly, 2 Noel Germaine, 4 Steve Riordan, 5 Sean O’Driscoll, 6 Shane Greally, 7 Brian Casserley (0-1), 8 Darren Coffey (0-1), PJ Delaney (0-1), 10 Adrian Purcell (0-5), 11 Colm Quirke, 12 David Cosgrave, 13 Mike Kennelly (1-1), Kalim O’Hare. Subs: Pat Egan (0-2), Mattie Coyne (0-5).

Man of the match: Noel Connatty (Shannon Gaels).