Claregalway ladies crown great season in champion style

Claregalway 1-9

Thomas Davis    0-9

TO sum this up: Thomas Davis were a quality side but Claregalway were, quite simply, an outstanding one. No argument. The All-Ireland intermediate ladies club football championship title rests where it deservedly belongs.

In the end, Ciara Newell’s crucial 12th minute penalty was the material difference between these two skilful outfits although Claregalway, on the number of chances they created and the amount of possession they had, probably could have won this contest by a more defining margin than one score.

Then again, Thomas Davis could point to the loss of two players to the sin bin for ten minute periods at key junctures in the tie as being pivotal to the outcome and, undoubtedly, those 10-minute absences, particularly of Davis goalkeeper Louise Curran, had a major bearing. In all, they conceded 1-5 over the combined 20 minutes.

Although Claregalway opened brightly with a Michelle Dunleavy free, it was Thomas Davis who got into their stride far quicker and in the opening 10 minutes looked as if they were going to overrun their Galway opponents who, even at this early stage, had pulled 12 of their players back into their own half.

By the ninth minute, Thomas Davis had seized the lead following points from their midfield duo of Olwen Carey and Miriam Liston and they looked primed to blitz Claregalway into oblivion. That’s how much pressure Martin Costello’s charges were under. They needed a leader.

Up stepped 16-year-old wing-back and Player of the Match Megan Glynn, who belying her tender years, grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and, ball in hand, singlehandedly forced Thomas Davis – as she would do throughout the afternoon – back into their own half.

Glynn subsequently off-loaded on this particular occasion to left half forward Charlotte Cooney who was hauled to the ground inside the penalty area by Davis goalkeeper Louise Curran – a discretion for which she received ten minutes in the sin bin.

To compound Thomas Davis woes, Ciara Newell dispatched the placed ball with aplomb beyond stand-in keeper and veteran full-forward Christina Collins McGinty and, suddenly, from being in a position of dominance, the Dublin and Leinster champions found themselves on the back foot.