Champs Killimor power to third title on the trot

Date Published: 14-Nov-2012

Killimor 2-12

Sarsfields 1-4

Eoghan Cormican at Duggan Park

A sublime second half performance – in which a peerless Killimor outfit outscored Sarsfields by 1-8 to 1-1 – saw Tommy Callagy’s charges achieve the three-in-a-row of County Senior camogie titles at Duggan Park last Sunday.

In what was a sedate final affair between the reigning queens, Killimor and Galway’s emerging camogie power, Sarsfields, the champions eventually wore down the resistance of their young pretenders to run out comfortable winners.

Three-in-a-row is a major achievement for any team and prior to throw-in the Killimor players and, indeed, management were certainly feeling the pressure to conform to general consensus that this was theirs to lose.

Brenda Hanney’s calf injury had obviously been exaggerated from within the camp, a psychological ploy at their opponents no doubt, and the starting 15 didn’t even stand sentry for the National Anthem, continuing their warm-up at the far end of the field.

In any event, the team who inflicted an 11 point hammering on the same opponents just last month, took an awful long time to break the Sarsfields resistance and the result looked in doubt when a Marie Cooney goal followed by a Niamh McGrath free reignited Sarsfields’ challenge and left just four points between the sides entering the final quarter.

But the Killimor players never lost their composure, continuing to dominate in midfield and they showed a tremendous work-rate in defence where Ann Marie Hayes and, in particular, Niamh Hanney excelled. Crucially, they scored 1-4 in the final period, holding a tiring Sarsfields outfit scoreless.

They also landed four scores in a row at a key juncture early in the second half and never lost control after Martina Conroy goaled on 28 minutes, moving Killimor 1-4 to 0-3 ahead at the end of a first-half in which a Sarsfields outfit with absolutely nothing to lose matched their opponent’s intensity from the outset.

With the Killimor trio of Martin Conroy (1-4), Susan Keane (1-3) and Clare Conroy (0-3) posession the power to inflict damage in attack, the real standout contributions from this victory were midfielders Ann Marie Starr and Player of the Match, Emer Haverty.

Bristling with energy and by no means shy in the tackle, the pair ruled midfield with an iron fist, having a hand in the majority of Killimor scores with Haverty chipping in with a point of her own early in the second half.

The winners’ defence also held their own underlined by the statistic that full-forward Marie Cooney was the only Sarsfields forward to score from play. No such problems for Killimor in that area and it was corner forward Susan Keane who broke the deadlock after three minutes.

Conroy (free) doubled Killimor’s advantage, but there were no indications that this would be a walk in the park as Gemma Flynn, Kate Gallagher and Orlaith McGrath typified Sarsfields desire to get up close and personal with Killimor.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.