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Go Ahead Ireland Dublin LGFA Junior F Club Championship Final
Trinity Gaels 4-12 Ballyboden St Endas C 4-10
By Nigel McCarthy
A late goal in the dying minutes of the game from Lauren Plummer helped secure the Go-Ahead Ireland, Dublin LGFA Junior F Club Championship crown for Trinty Gaels after a pulsating final against Ballyboden St Endas C on Wednesday night in St Margarets GAA club.
The game was in the balance right to the final whistle and could easily have gone either way, but the Plummer goal and a point just before the full-time whistle from Player of the Match Niamh Cummins who finished with a personal tally of 3-06, secured the win for Trinity Gaels after a titanic battle with Ballyboden.
Ballyboden St Endas led at break by four points thanks to three first half goals scored by Grace Quinn with two and the other from the boot of Emma Daly. Trinity Gaels raised two green flags of their own in the first half from Niamh Cummins.
It was helter skelter in the second half and heading into the closing minutes of this highly entertaining final the teams were tied and it looked like the game might be heading to extra time.
Particularly as the ferocious pace and physicality of the contest was taking its toll and there were numerous stoppages as players from both sides went down with cramp.
With minutes remaining and four points in front, it looked like Trinity Gaels were home and hosed but back came Ballyboden St Endas and Emma Daly found the back of the net to leave just a point between the teams.
It was left to the impressive Niamh Cummins to pop over her sixth point of the game to put Trinty Gaels two points ahead and Ballyboden couldn’t secure the goal they needed in the dying seconds to snatch victory and the side from the Holy Trinity parish held on to claim the win and the title.
The game started at a ferocious pace and after a couple of attacks from both sides came to nothing, Trinity Gaels opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a point from Niamh Cummins.
The sides were level a minute, Ballyboden worked the ball down the right-hand side to Sarah O’Connell who stroked the ball over the bar.
Boden won the resultant kick-out and were unlucky not to register the game’s opening goal, first Grace Quinn seen her powerful effort crash back of the crossbar, Hollie Bolger recovered the rebound and let fly only for her effort to also hit the woodwork, Quinn was quickest to gather the rebound and popped the ball over the bar.
A Lauren Plummer point seconds later brought the sides level. Moments later Jasmine Kamton collected a loose ball about forty-five metres from goal, off loaded to Jessica Flanagan running through the centre at pace and Flanagan hand passed to Niamh Cummins who rattled the back of the net to give Trinity Gaels a three-point advantage.
Cáitlin Callan pulled one back for Ballyboden St Endas with a nice point. The southside outfit then tested the woodwork again, Ellen Dunleavy shot across the goal but her effort rebounded off the post, Hollie Bolger gathered the rebound and seen her effort strike the other post, Grace Quinn though was quickest to react and this time Quinn made no mistake and finished low to the net to give Ballyboden a slender one-point lead.
Aisling Gargan extended the lead to two with a fine point as the game reached the halfway mark of the first half.
But Trinity Gaels won the resultant kick-out, Lynn Byrne made a good run down the right wing, passed to Niamh Cummins who had made herself available down the right, Cummins cut in to the centre past her marker and blasted low to the left-hand corner of the net to give her side a one point lead.
With eleven minutes left in the half the lead changed hands again, Rebecca Latimer made an incisive run through the centre, hand passed to Ellen Dunleavy who popped the ball to Emma Daly running off her shoulder and the corner forwards shot rippled the back of the Trinty Gaels net.
Both sides then exchanged a pair of points each, Cáitlin Callan and Ellen Dunleavy for Ballyboden and Niamh Cummins and Lauren Plummer for Trinity Gaels.
With five minutes to go to the break Trinty Gaels made a mess of trying to play out from the back and presented the ball to an unmarked Grace Quinn, the corner forward gathered the loose ball, turned, took two strides forward and buried the ball past goalkeeper Niamh Byrne to give Ballyboden a five-point lead.
Niamh Cummins and Lauren Plummer reduced the lead to three with a point a piece, but an Emma Daly converted free just before the whistle insured Ballyboden went into the half-time break with a four-point advantage on a scoreline of 3-07 to 2-06.
Ballyboden extended their lead to six points early in the second half with two successful Emma Daly frees. A Lauren Plummer point in the forty first minute reduced the deficit to five.
Two minutes later the lead was back down to just two points, Trinity Gaels worked the ball down the right-hand side, the ball was switched to the centre to Lynn Byrne who hand passed to Niamh Cummins in front of goal and the ever clinical full forward once again finished with aplomb to the net.
With fifteen minutes left in this pulsating final a Niamh Cummins point left the bare minimum between the teams. Ballyboden who had gone twelve minutes without a score broke that barren spell with a converted free from Emma Daly.
But points from Jessica Flanagan and Ellie Connor brought the sides level as the game entered the final ten minutes.
Players really started to feel the pace and physical toll on their bodies and the play was broken up a number of times as players from both sides went down with cramp.
The game looked at this stage that it might be heading for extra-time, but Lynn Byrne went on a storming run through the centre, offloaded to Niamh Cummins who hit a splendid effort over the bar to give Trinty Gaels a one-point lead.
Then moments later Erica Graham gathered the ball just past the midfield area, Graham looked up and hit a high hanging ball towards Lauren Plummer, the tall figure of Plummer jumped into the air, caught the ball, turned and struck the back of the net with a rocket of a shot and suddenly there was four between the teams.
Time was almost up and Ballyboden needed a quick response and more importantly a goal and they didn’t disappoint, Aisling Gargan picked up a loose ball inside the Trinty Gaels half, found Ellen Dunleavy with an accurate pass and the full forward spotted Emma Daly in space and Daly drove forward and planted the ball to the net to leave a point between the teams and a grandstand finish was on the cards.
The action went down the other end of the field, Ballyboden defended resolutely to win back possession and tried to work the ball down the right wing, but Marianne O’Farrell overturned the ball, picked out Niamh Cummins who powered past three players and hit a booming shot over the bar to put two between the sides.
Ballyboden now needed a goal to snatch the win, but they couldn’t muster an opening and Trinity Gaels held on for a hard-fought victory and the Junior F Club Championship title.
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