*Teresa Collins tears past Carla McKenna. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
CLARE’S ladies footballers have ended their two year stint in Division 3 after securing league promotion by routing Antrim.
Clare 10-7
Antrim 0-7
Venue: Gurteen
St Patrick’s Day saw Clare’s ladies footballers parade their way past Antrim with ease to secure promotion and a place in the National League final.
In a terribly one-sided contest, Wayne Freeman’s charges put Antrim to the sword early with a convincing display that saw them record a thirty point hammering.
Such an outcome comes as a surprise considering only four points separated them when they met in the All-Ireland semi-finals last season.
Captain Caoimhe Harvey goaled for Clare inside the opening three minutes of the contest, their first scoring being a major was a sign if any that the hosts meant business. Two pointed efforts from Fidelma Marrinan followed before Teresa Collins left a bullet of a shot in the back of the net on nine minutes.
Corner forward Aoife Taggart opened Antrim’s account on fourteen minutes before Clare replied with a Marrinan point and another goal from Collins, this one seeing Caoimhe Harvey win an opposing kickout and offload a quick pass to Marrinan to feed the on-rushing wing forward.
Louise Griffin had the assist for Clare’s fourth goal when Katie Mullen hit the target on nineteen minutes.
An excellent score from Marrinan 45m out managed to impress the home support before Aisling Reidy opened her account with a white flag.
Within a four minute spell, Marrinan added two goals, one from play and another a penalty to see Clare lead 7-5 0-2 as the half-time whistle sounded.
Antrim would hardly have complained if referee Barry Redmond suggested the sides call it quits at this juncture but play continued on the restart and the visitors to their credit didn’t down tools.
Once again Clare’s first score of the half was a green flag, this time it was Ailish Considine who got the finish, Marrinan raided for two more majors by the third quarter as Freeman and his management emptied the bench.
Such was the magnitude of the goal tally that the scoreboard in Gurteen was not able to function properly with the final score reading 0-7 0-7 instead of the 10-7 0-7.
A trip to Down awaits next weekend for Clare in what will be a chance to experiment with their line-up ahead of the league final. They will take few lessons from this encounter but can take plenty of belief that their panel is in a stronger position last year as the county bids to collect some silverware.
Teresa Collins was excellent, her hat-trick was worthy of plaudits but so too was the amount of turnovers won by the Burren Gaels attacker. Others to impress for the winners included Aisling Reidy, Fidelma Marrinan, Rebecca Doohan, Caoimhe Harvey and Roisin Considine.
Scorers Clare: F Marrinan (4-4 1f), T Collins (3-0), A Considine (1-0), K Mullen (1-0), C Harvey (1-0), A Reidy (0-2), C McCarthy (0-1)
Scorers Antrim: A Taggart (0-4 1f), L Dahunsi (0-1), E Murphy (0-1), C Brown (0-1).
Clare:
1: Amy Lenihan (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
4: Áine Keane (St Joseph’s Miltown)
3: Siofra Ní Chonaill (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
2: Rebecca Doohan (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
5: Roisin Considine (Liscannor)
6: Joanna Doohan (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
21: Louise Griffin (Fergus Rovers)
9: Sinead Considine (Liscannor)
11: Aisling Reidy (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield)
10: Teresa Collins (Burren Gaels)
8: Caoimhe Harvey (West Clare Gaels)
12: Amy Sexton (Kilmurry Ibrickane)
15: Fidelma Marrinan (West Clare Gaels)
14: Ailish Considine (Kilmihil)
13: Katie Mullen (Kilmihil)
Subs:
30: Ciara McCarthy (Kilmurry Ibrickane) for Harvey (35)
17: Grainne Harvey (West Clare Gaels) for S Considine (35)
26: Aisling Costelloe (Fergus Rovers) for Mullen (43)
20: Hannah Doyle (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield) for Griffin (43)
22: Orla Devitt (Éire Óg) for Keane (43)
18: Emer Hynes (Clooney/Quin) for R Doohan (48)
23: Laura Griffey (Burren Gaels) for R Considine (48)
Antrim:
16: Emma Kelly (Naomh Pól)
4: Niamh McArdle (Naomh Eoin)
3: Emma Ferran (Naomh Bird)
2: Gemma McGroarty (Naomh Pól)
18: Caoimhe Finnucane (Naomh Éanna)
6: Ciara Brown (Naomh Pól)
5: Carla McKenna (Sarsfield)
8: Ana Mulholland (Glenavy)
9: Lara Dahunsi (Naomh Pól)
13: Blaithin Ní Cahail (Gort na Mona)
10: Caitlín Taggart (Aldergrove)
17: Áine Kelly (Aldergrove)
11: Teresa Mellon (Naomh Bird)
14: Eimilie Rogers-Duffy (Naomh Pol)
15: Aoife Taggart (Aldergrove)
Subs:
22: Ellie Murphy (Naomh Bird) for Kelly (39)
19: Luisne Adams (Naomh Eoin) for McKenna (43)
21: Áine Sheehan (Naomh Gall) for Ní Cahail (56)
Referee: Barry Redmond (Wexford)
