*Rachel Minogue in action for Scariff/Ogonnelloe. Photograph: Gerard O’Neill
SCARIFF/OGONNELLOE’s unbeaten record in Munster has been hailed as “phenomenal” by wing-back Rachel Minogue.
A second senior provincial crown was secured by the East Clare side on Saturday when they overcame Drom & Inch in dramatic fashion, just like their 2019 win over the same opposition. It adds to their roll of honour which also includes Munster junior titles from 2013 and 2016.
Rachel Minogue may not have been there for the Junior success but has played a starring role in their senior achievements, her father Pat serving as the coach for the 2019 win. “We obviously love Munster, hopefully we can push on for the All-Ireland series, we are motivated for that. We’ll enjoy tonight and the next few days but we aspirations further afield,” she outlined.
Having gone from leading by three points to trailing by a single score with sixty one minutes on the clock, Scariff/Ogonnelloe had joint captain Mairead Scanlan to thank for clawing victory from the jaws of defeat with her last-gasp goal seeing them to glory.
“It was phenomenal, fair play to Drom & Inch, they threw everything at us, we knew they would but I don’t know if anyone envisaged it coming down to literally the last puck of the ball. It’s a shit way for Drom & Inch to lose but that’s sport, somebody has to win and somebody has to lose. It was a phenomenal effort from all of our players and from all our management, the two parishes and all of Clare got behind us so a huge thank you to everyone who supported us so far,” Rachel reflected.
Such was the manner in which Drom & Inch threw everything at their Clare opponents was that Rachel fell victim to a wild high pull from Miriam Campion in front of the stand at Mallow which prompted Diarmuid Kirwan to issue a yellow card to the wing-forward. “I can’t feel it at the minute but I don’t really care,” Minogue said of the injury which didn’t keep her on the ground for too long.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, the trainee solicitor highlighted the character that Scariff/Ogonnelloe have continued to bring to the fore. “We easily could have rued the day because we had so many chances but that is a testament to Drom & Inch and the team they are, thank God for Scan’s (Mairead Scanlan) goal, it was phenomenal but you would expect nothing else, we will never die on the pitch but in the last few minutes you might have thought we would from an objective standpoint but we’ve a never say die mentality”.
