*Photograph: Ruthie Griffin.
TRUAGH/CLONLARA were overpowered by Cork champions, St Finbarr’s to exit the Munster senior camogie championship.
St Finbarr’s 4-10
Truagh/Clonlara 1-12
Venue: MTU Arena, Cork
In what was the battle of the last two All-Ireland finalists, it was the Barrs that had the upperhand and emerged as deserving victors.
Conditions were windy and blustery with Orlaith Cahalane proving her worth as one of the top inside forwards in the country when scoring a hat-trick for the Leesiders.
Nicole Olden raided for the first goal of the game with just three minutes played, getting the opening score of the game when pulling on a sideline cut from Sorcha McCartan.
By the end of the first quarter, Truagh/Clonlara trailed 1-5 0-3, two Roisin Begley scores and one from Hannah Horgan keeping the South-East Clare side five adrift.
Cahalane struck two of her goals inside the opening half to give the hosts a commanding 3-7 0-4 lead by the interval.
With the first seven scores on the restart, Truagh/Clonlara clawed into the deficit, they gained further belief when Áine O’Loughlin raided for goal to make it a one score game.
However, the hat-trick was sealed at the other end to secure the victory for Barrs and end Clare’s involvement in the provincial campaign.
Truagh/Clonlara coach, Eoin Powell admitted they left themselves with so much to doo when trailing by twelve points at the interval. “We knew at half time and we had been in that position before but one too many times, they are a serious outfit, we missed one or two goal chances in the first half, we needed those and they took theirs and we got punished for it. You can never question the commitment and effort of our girls, they brought it back to a goal, it was a trojan effort but it was a step too far, we emptied the tank to bring it back in, another day, another hop of the ball you will get them goals”.
“Momentum is a funny thing, once you have it on your side it is about how long you can keep it going. We tried to draw on the Inagh/Kilnamona comeback at half time, we know they have that in them, it was maybe a step too far,” he added.
Overall claiming the McMahon Cup marks a positive year, the Broadford man noted. “If you told us at the start of the year that we’d climb the top of the mountain in Clare and win back the McMahon Cup we would have bitten your arm off for it, it is nothing gained, nothing lost, we’re happy to be champions of Clare”.
Scorers for St Finbarr’s: O Cahalane 3-2, K Wall, S McCartan 0-4 each, N Olden 1-0.
Scorers Truagh/Clonlara: R Begley 0-6 f, A O’Loughlin 1-1, E Kelly 0-2, H Horgan, L Foley (f), N Ryan 0-1 each.
St FINBARR’S: C Hurley; S Punch, A Egan, K Cahalane; M Cahalane, G O’Connor, A O’Neill; L O’Donovan, A Shannon; N Olden, E Wigginton Barrett, C Golden; K Wall, O Cahalane, S McCartan.
Subs: E Hurley for E Wigginton Barrett (46), I Keegan for K Cahalane (52 inj), A Byrne for C Golden (60).
TRUAGH-CLONLARA: S Cullen; N Powell, M Powell, T Morris; E Horgan, L Foley, A Marren; M Caulfield, E Begley; J Egan, R Begley, H Horgan; E Kelly, N Ryan, Á O’Loughlin.
Sub: L Hawes for E Kelly (55).
Referee: Donnacha O’Callaghan, Limerick.
