Joy for Donaghmoyne in goalless All-Ireland final

Donaghmoyne (Monaghan) 0-11 Mourneabbey (Cork) 0-8

There’s nothing like a game decided by a goalkeeper. When a stopper walks away with the fine cut-glass trophy for Player of the Match, as Donaghmoyne’s Linda Martin did here, it means that the day came damn close to going in the opposite direction to the one it ultimately picked. It means that there was drama and tension and chances - good chances - for the game to have been flipped on its head but for one player’s day of days.

Martin has had a phenomenal season for club and county and is the incumbent All Star goalkeeper. Here, she showed why, pulling off two jaw-dropping saves from Laura Fitzgerald and Bríd O’Sullivan in the first half and rushing from her line to smother another effort by Niamh O’Sullivan six minutes from full-time. Had any of the three passed her, it’s hard not to think Mourneabbey would be All-Ireland champions. Instead, they are runners-up for the second year in a row.

“The saves made a difference, I suppose,” said Martin afterwards. “We were unfortunate in that our first attack of the game ended with us hitting the crossbar so it was very important that we didn’t let in anything at the other end. I suppose they came at important times.

“That one at the end, it was just about getting your body in the way and hoping it hits you somewhere. Thank God, it came off my knee and one of our girls picked up the rebound. It was very tight at that point.”

No kidding. There was hardly anything between these two sides in a game where goal would have been worth at least a spoonful more than three points. The Monaghan champions were horribly wasteful in the first half, hitting the crossbar and spilling four wides before they managed to get a score on the board. On another day, they’d have paid dearly for it.

Mourneabbey would have had this boxed off and wrapped up with a shiny ribbon by half-time were it not for Martin. Her first save came on 11 minutes, an arcing dive to her left and a strong hand to turn Fitzgerald’s whipcrack shot around the post. A goal at that point would have put Mourneabbey four points ahead - as it was, Donaghmoyne never fell more than two behind.

With the sides level at 0-4 to 0-4 coming up to half-time, Mourneabbey centre-forward Bríd O’Sullivan skated through onto a tidy pass from Ciara O’Sullivan and only had Martin to beat. Nothing doing. Martin again stuck out her left hand, this time deflecting O’Sullivan’s shot over the bar.

Though it left the Cork side with a one-point half-time lead, Donaghmoyne went in much the happier. They hadn’t managed to get either Cora or Sharon Courtney into the game to any great extent and with their two best outfield players so quiet, they were never going to build a score. They’d have been sunk without their goalkeeper.

The second half was tense and physical, not helped by some fussy refereeing from Colm McManus. Donaghmoyne ended the game with two players in the sin-bin, Mourneabbey were enraged by the yellow card that took their corner-back Emma Coakley out of the action for 10 of the last 12 minutes.

It was to-and-fro stuff all the way through. A couple of monstrous frees from Cathriona McConnell put Donaghmoyne 0-7 to 0-6 ahead with 20 minutes to go, only for the same player to fluff three far handier ones in the space of five minutes when Mourneabbey were there for the taking.

Doireann O’Sullivan was heroic for the Munster champions all afternoon and her fourth point nine minutes from the hooter seemed to mark a full momentum shift by putting Mourneabbey 0-8 to 0-7 ahead. But Sandra McConnell hit back within a minute to leave the sides level heading into the closing stages.

It was the fifth times the sides had been level and we all knew that a goal would win it. Turns out, we were all wrong. It was another Martin save that won it. Niamh O’Sullivan snuck in unnoticed to see the whites of Martin’s eyes but couldn’t find a way past her on 53 minutes.

Within 90 seconds, Cathriona McConnell numdged Donaghmoyne ahead again with a free. With Mourneabbey’s hearts in their boots, two late soaring points from Hazel Kingham finished them off. Donaghmoyne, All-Ireland champions for the fourth time in 10 seasons.

Number one, thanks to their number one.

Donaghmoyne: Linda Martin; Fiona Courtney, Hazel Kingham (0-2), Niamh Lynch; Joanne Geoghegan, Sharon Courtney, Joanne Courtney; Eileen McElroy, Amanda Casey; Cathriona McConnell (0-5, all frees), Cora Courtney, Fiona Lafferty; Sandra McConnell (0-2), Niamh Callan, Rosemary Courtney (0-2). Subs: Gina Comiskey for Lynch, 41 mins; Roisin Finnegan for Sandra McConnell, 59 mins

Mourneabbey: Meabh O'Sullivan; Emma Coakley, Cathy Ann Stack, Aisling O'Sullivan; Katie Healy, Róisín O'Sullivan, Niamh O'Sullivan; Máire O'Callaghan, Ciara O'Sullivan (0-1); Sile O'Callaghan (0-1), Bríd O'Sullivan (0-2), Eimear Meaney; Eimear Harrington, Laura Fitzgerald, Doireann O'Sullivan (0-4, 0-2 frees). Subs: Sandra Conroy for Healy, 35 mins

Referee: Colm McManus (Meath)