Salthill-Knocknacarra (Galway) 1-7 Naomh Abán (Cork) 0-4
Alyssa Manley’s goal in the final minute of normal time settled this contest as Salthill-Knocknacarra were crowned currentaccount.ie LGFA All-Ireland junior club football champions at Fethard Town Park.
After building up a six-point interval lead, Cork’s Naomh Abán, despite going to 14 players after Róisín Corkery’s second yellow card, got back to within three points before Salthill-Knocknacarra’s winning goal.
A late change of venue meant a 90-minute delay but that didn’t affect the Galway champions who opened through Kate Thompson’s point inside two minutes.
Inside Gaelic Games: The weekly GAA newsletter from The Irish Times
Football previews: Kerry and Donegal look to impress again as Galway face testing Roscommon visit
Expect the unexpected as the glorious Munster hurling championship gets under way
‘There was a transformation that day’: Clare’s 1995 Sliding Doors encounter with Cork
Corkery picked up her first sinbin trip soon afterwards before Siobhán Divilly won a free which Laura Kelly converted for a second Salthill-Knocknacarra point.
Lauren O’Donnell converted their third on 12 minutes as they also allowed some opportunities to slip. However, Donal O’Connell’s team continued applying pressure and doubled their advantage by the break.
Thompson got the next two points, the first from play thanks to a Manley assist; the second from a free after Divilly was fouled.
Naomh Abán had three first-half wides but never seriously threatened their opponents’ goals and conceded another score before the break as Manley provided Kelly who shot just over the bar.
The Cork champions needed to be more assertive upon the restart and started perfectly with Lydia McDonagh and Corkery supplying Eimear Murphy for a point. However, they wouldn’t add again until the final quarter and lost Corkery on 42 minutes.
However, Grace Murphy and McDonagh got two points inside a minute to reduce the deficit to 0-6 to 0-3 on 48 minutes but a couple of other chances went abegging.
Salthill-Knocknacarra got their seventh point through Kelly but Grace Murphy responded leaving it 0-7 to 0-4.
A goal was needed by Noel McDonagh’s team but it went the other way. Thompson and O’Donnell were the heroes for Manley to finish to the net putting six between them.
Naomh Abán tried to find a saving score in five minutes of added time but it wasn’t to be. Salthill-Knocknacarra held on to secure All-Ireland silverware to finish the year.
SALTHILL-KNOCKNACARRA: L Carroll; A Mullen, E Madden, O De Bairead; S Donnellan, Z Rather, R Reddington; S Divilly, A Finnerty; L Kelly (0-3, one free), L O’Donnell (0-1), K Thompson (0-3, one free); D O’Connell, A Manley (1-0), A Nash.
Subs: D Brennan for Reddington (58 mins); A Kelly for Divilly, M Mulligan for Madden (both 60).
NAOMH ABÁN: L Hughes; U Twohig, M Dineen, A Creedon; E Kelly, R Corkery, ME Kelleher; A McDonagh, G Lucey; A Hoare, E Murphy (0-1), C Phelan; G Murphy (0-2, one free), L McDonagh (0-1), A Maher.
Subs: J Kelly for Maher (35 mins), C Murphy for Phelan (50).
Referee: S Mulvihill (Kerry).
