CAMOGIE: ALL-IRELAND JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
KILDARE 1-12 ROSCOMMON 3-6
KILDARE’S camogie players produced a stirring second half comeback to earn a draw against Ros-common in Clane last Saturday afternoon.
Tom O’Mahony’s team found themselves nine points behind at one stage in the second half but thanks to the sharp shooting of Susie O’Carroll they managed to crawl their way back into the game.
“I’m delighted with the second half performance, I definitely would have taken the draw at half time. We seemed to panic when the first goal went in and they got a bit of a run on us and we looked very nervous,” said O’Mahony afterwards.
Kildare went through a crazy spell in the first half when they conceded three goals in five minutes. Firstly, Niamh Coyle’s harmless long ball into the square somehow made it’s way past Tanya Johnson. That goal seemed to unsettle the Kildare girls while giving Roscommon a great boost and girls like Annette McGeeney, a cousin of Kildare senior football manager Kieran, began to cause the Kildare defence some real problems.
Hopkins added two frees to put Roscommon ahead and they drove home that advantage when McGeeney lashed the sliotar past Johnson in the 18th minute.
McGeeney was involved a minute later when setting up Elaine Daly for Roscommon’s third goal and at this stage, it seemed like Roscommon might run away with the game, leading by 3-5 to 0-4 at half-time.
With Kildare’s scoring sensation Susie O’Carroll in great form, hitting ten points, it helped Kildare launch a stirring second half comeback.
Kildare could even have snatched the win the late in the last action of the game. Substitute Karen Lynch could have won a free within scoring range when she appeared to be bundled over. Ciara Tallon pounced on the loose sliotar only to see her goalbound shot brilliantly kept out by Paula Daly.
Tom O’Mahony swapped Regina Gorman and Ciara Tallon at half-time and this move proved to be an inspired one as she began to win some ball for Kildare.
O’Carroll hit five points on the trot but Kildare still needed to find a way past Daly if they were going to get themselves back into the game and that is exactly what Ciara Tallon did in the 54th minute when her powerful shot gave Daly no chance.
All the drama was at the other end in the closing moments and Tallon smashed a shot that looked destined for the net only for Daly to get her hurl up at the last second to make the block. Clare Doran was following up but she couldn’t quite get her hurl in the right position to make a proper contact.
Kildare now travel to Westmeath next weekend for their third group game and O’Mahony will be looking for an improvement in the level of performance.
“We’ll have to have a bit of a look at things during the week because if Westmeath got that sort of advantage on us, it would be very hard to overturn because they are a slick enough outfit,” he said.
KILDARE: Tanya Johnson; Niamh Breen, Amy O’Hara, Paula Keatley; Gillian O’Hurley, Mel Treacy, Aoife Trant; Carol Nolan, Clodagh Flanagan; Clodagh Farrell, Ciara Tallon (.-.), Susie O’Carroll (.- .., .fs, . ..;, Clare Doran, Regina Gorman (.-.), Cliodhna McSweeney (.-.). Subs: Niamh Boland for Treacy, ..; Karen Lynch for McSweeney, ...
ROSCOMMON: Paula Daly; Marie Glennon, Niamh Connolly, Patricia Lennon; Catriona Morris, Donna Kelly, Catherine Rogerson; Niamh Coyle (.-.), Grainne Egan; Elaine Daly (.-.), Annette McGeeney ( Kelly Hopkins (.-., .fs . ..); Claire Curley, Cait Kenny, Sinead O’Brien. Subs: Catriona Regan for E Daly, ..; Gertie Dowd for Curley, ..; Fiona Connell for O’Brien, ...
REFEREE: Conall Coulter, Down.