Knockmore lose Connacht LGFA final as Kilkerrin Clonberne march on
Knockmore put it up to the five-time All-Ireland champions Kilkerrin Clonberne in the Connacht LGFA Senior championship final in Tuam. But eventually, the Mayo LGFA champions lacked the killer instinct and composure to seriously trouble their Galway adversaries down the stretch.
CONNACHT LGFA SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL
Kilkerrin Clonberne 1-15
Knockmore 1-7
In Tuam
WHEN Shauna Howley buried the ball in the net a few minutes after the break, Knockmore were right in the mix. They were winning turnovers in the middle of the pitch, humming. And only briefly after the goal, captain Lara Sweeney followed up with an inspirational score, bringing the deficit down to only four points.
The sizeable support that had travelled from Mayo to Tuam on Sunday morning came alive, and surely Kilkerrin Clonberne felt the heat. So far, they had cruised to all dominant victories in the Galway championship, and also in the provincial semi-final. Knockmore were the first team this year’s championship to score a goal against this star studded team boasting numerous county players on the panel.
Howley said after the match, speaking to The Mayo News: “Our goal this year was to get back in and win a county final and, coming here today we weren't going to just take part, we wanted to come and really put it up there five times All-Ireland champions.”
But the hope in the Knockmore camp was short lived as the eight-in-a-row Connacht queens responded in style. They kicked it up a notch. And Nicola Ward pointed, followed by two excellent scores from Niamh Divilly, who was brilliant throughout.
The title defenders were then up by 1-13 to 1-5 with nine minutes to go and they got the win over the line without further drama.
The empire that’s called Kilkerrin Clonberne showed a few cracks, but it didn’t break. They managed to steady the ship. Experience was the key. The Galway giants were simply more composed over the sixty minutes. It’s their ninth consecutive Connacht title. The longest winning streak in the competition. A new record, as even the former kingpins Carnacon “only” managed to win eight-in-a-row.
Eva Noone was excellent. She is an elusive runner with the ball, her sidesteps are lethal. Noone contributed four points in total. Also outstanding was Olivia Divilly as she ended up with a 0-7 tally, including four frees.
The effort was 100 per cent put in from Knockmore. The return of half-back Nina McVann helped their fighting power. She wasn’t able to play in the semi-final against Roscommon champions Boyle last weekend. But she showed why Knockmore need her. McVann is fast, tigerish and relentless. A ball of energy pared with a fearlessness rarely seen.
Every player left everything on the pitch. Howley got a knock in the head, had to be blood subbed for a few minutes, but as the warrior she is, wasn’t fazed by that at all.
But all the heroics aside, in crucial moments they lacked killer instinct. For example early on in the first half, Amy O’Connor had a glorious goal scoring chance. But she didn’t control the ball properly, and took too long to get her shot away, which gave goalkeeper Lisa Murphy the time to close the angle on her and save the attempt with her leg.
This goal could have given Knockmore a huge boost of confidence and kept the Galway opposition on their toes a bit more.. Also on several occasions, the Mayo champions would work hard, win a turnover, only to kick the ball into the hands of an opposition player again. These mishaps sap the energy out of teams, if you put in so much effort with nothing to show for.
What also hurt Knockmore was the fact, that they conceded five consecutive frees in the first half, which handed Kilkerrin Clonberne a steady stream of scores with little work to put in.
On the plus side, each time Knockmore got to play long balls into their forwards, especially into Shauna Howley, who seemed always to make herself available in the right moment, the saffron and blue looked dangerous. Kilkerrin Clonberne are extremely physically strong and pacey in the center, but whoever gets high ball over the middle eight will be able to exploit some space.
It will fall to someone else to try stop the juggernaut from Galway in the All-Ireland series. Knockmore bow out with their heads held up high.
“They're a top class team,” Howley acknowledged: “I think they've 8 or 9 on the county panel, they've about 6 or 7 up for all-stars, can't take that away from them. We only have two on the county panel, so they're well set up, they're well drilled. They've got plenty of runners, they're well experienced. But I think today we just showed how much we can match them.”
A full match report will be carried in Tuesday’s Mayo News.