Defeat for Mayo champions Knockmore in Connacht LGFA senior final

Reigning senior ladies club champions Kilkerrin-Clonberne retained their Connacht crown following a comprehensive 2-15 to 1-7 victory over a young Knockmore side in Swinford Amenity Park this afternoon, writes Cian McNicholas.

It was always going to be a huge mountain to climb for Knockmore when they found out that they were going to be facing the current All-Ireland club champions, who are gunning for a third successive title.

A sucker-punch first-half goal from Kilkerrin-Clonberne’s Hannah Noone saw the first real gap begin to appear between the teams.

Knockmore could certainly take a huge deal of credit from their first-half performance, where they caused the resolute Kilkerrin-Clonberne defence a lot of problems.

The Galway side’s sheer class really and truly shone through in the second half, however.

Their attacking pace going forward became increasingly impossible to handle from a Knockmore point of view and when Olvia Divilly hit a rocket of a shot into the Knockmore net to extend the side’s lead to a bruising 11 points, there was no way back for the Mayo champions.

“They are All-Ireland champions for a reason," said Knockmore's Shauna Howley following the full-time whistle.

"Their game management...they played it well, they dragged us out and tipped away a few scores. It’s a standard that we saw today that we need to hit ourselves.”

*See Tuesday's print edition for a full report on the game.