Composed Claremorris ladies book All-Ireland final spot

Claremorris . . ....5-4

Lavey (Derry) ....2-11

by Aiden Henry

CLAREMORRIS ladies junior Gaelic footballers qualified for the All-Ireland club championship final following their hard earned two-point victory over Derry and Ulster champions Lavey in the semi-final which was played in front of a huge crown in Claremorris.

In what was a very exciting and entertaining throughout, the Claremorris side had to call on all their reserves to withstand a late onslaught from the Derry side in the final stages of this nerve-racking enjoyable encounter.

This victory for Claremorris leaves them just 60 minutes away from winning the ultimate, the All-Ireland title. Standing in their way in the decider will be Cork and Munster champions, O’Donovan Rossa, who defeated Wexford and Leinster opponents, Gusserane by 2-12 to 0-6 in Skibbereen on Saturday. This final is down for decision on Sunday, December 17, in Parnell Park, Dublin.

Claremorris laid the foundation for this great victory in the opening six minutes where they raced into an eight-point lead.

After Bree Hession opened their account from play inside the first 30 seconds, this was followed two minutes with a great goal from Nina Wallace.

Rebecca Kean followed up with a point from a free before Wallace was on the end of another great Claremorris move to crash the ball to the net for the second time.

Playing in an All-Ireland semi-final in front of a huge home support, it was the kind of start that Claremorris could have only dreamed of.

As the opening quarter progressed, despite Lavey outscoring Claremorris by 0-3 to 0-1, Claremorris have killed off the Derry side.

They created four great goal chances but just failed to take them.

As a result, it kept Lavey in the game and by the 23rd minute the Claremorris lead was cut to three points.

However, Claremorris finished the half in style. Hession kicked a fine point from before midfielder Alana Fitzpatrick picked out team captain, Laura Kelly with an inch perfect pass who in turn hit a thundering shot to the back of the net.

This left Claremorris in a very strong position as the two sides trotted off for the interval lead as they led by seven points, 3-4 to 0-6.

On the resumption Claremorris failed to make the most of some early good scoring chances to extend their lead.

They were made to pay for this as Lavey hit them for 2-1 in the space of five minutes. As a result, by the 38th minute the Derry side were back on level terms.

To make matters worse for Claremorris they were reduced to 14 players after Sarah Dee was sin-binned for 10 minutes.

However, just when it seemed Clarermorris were on the rack they hit back in devastating style by scoring two goals in a three-minute spell.

The first of these goals came after Brid Hession raced through the Lavey defence before hitting a thundering shot into the roof of the net.

Three minutes later it was Ashleagh Sammon who finish brilliantly after a great Claremorris upfield movement.

The Claremorris lead was now back out to six points, and it looked as if they had finally killed off the Lavey chances.

But Lavey had didn’t ideas and as they have shown all year they never give up until the final whistle and this was no exception.

They landed four unanswered points to cut the deficit to two by the 59th minute.

And in those final moments they threw everything at Claremorris to get the goal that would have turned the game in their favour.

But Claremorris stood firm and kept them out until the final whistle sounded.

In the end, it was a fully deserved victory for Claremorris, and it would be a brave person to say they won’t go all the way now.

Claremorris: C. Keane, S. Dee, E. Maguire, A. Cummins, A. Cummins, S. McNulty, S. Hughes, A. Fitzpatrick, J. Regan, M. Cawley, R. Kean (0-2), B. Hession (1-2), A. Sammon (1-0), N. Wallace (2-0), L. Kelly (1-0).

Subs used: S. Kelly, K. O’Brien, A. Cummins, D. Horkan, I. Phillips. for Regan (57)

Lavey: N McKenna, C. Diamond, L. Scullion, M. Mullholland, A. Mullholland, A. Rafferty, C. Lynn, S. McGill (1-1), M. Rafferty (0-1), E. Toher, S. Rafferty, C. Toner (0-1), A. Shaw (1-3), C. Collins (0-5), N. McBride (1-0).

Subs used: B. Kelly, E. Murphy.

Referee: P. McCaughey (Westmeath).