First half goals set Naomh Bríd on their way
Caoimhe Coady from St Mullins tries to tap the ball away from Eibhe Lawler from Naomh Brid.
Naomh Bríd saw off the challenge of their South Carlow rivals with two goals in the first half putting distance in the sides. The early stages of this senior camogie championship semi-final at The Training Centre on Saturday were close with Rachel Sawyer and Leah Ryan exchanging points. An Anna Murphy free nudged St Mullins in front at the Fenagh end of the ground.
The Naomh Bríd reply was emphatic and Eibhe Lawler took a pass from Niamh Bambrick to score the first goal. Lawler added a point to leave three between them on 22 minutes.
When a Sawyer effort eluded the St Mullins keeper, it gave the green and whites a mountain to climb. They did hit back with an Amy Doyle three-pointer and two Caoimhe Coady points, one from a free, gave St Mullins hope coming to the interval. Lawler’s late point in the half saw Naomh Bríd going in 2-5 to 1-4 at the break.
The second half was death by a thousand cuts for St Mullins. Aibha Kiernan’s early point when she took a Caoimhe O’Neill pass to fire over was a real momentum builder for last year’s beaten finalists. Lawler added the next four points out of five with Sawyer also finding the posts.
With the game gone from St Mullins they did persist. Tara O’Byrne in the Naomh Bríd goal made a good catch under her crossbar while Coady went for goal from a 20 metre free. Once again, the defence won that mini exchange.
In the end, Naomh Bríd made it through to another decider where once again Myshall will be looking to continue their unbeaten run.
After the game, Naomh Bríd mention Adrian O’Neill praised the new wave of player coming through their ranks. When you see players such as Emma Brennan, Lisa McAssey, Keeva Collins and Niamh Forde not starting and only coming into the game in the second half, you would have to say Naomh Bríd’s youth section is delivering.
Yes, these four all made their entrance but had to watch out the first half and some of the second before they got a chance to ply their trade.
“Players are getting a chance which is great. There are a few dominant positions in there where players are very good and they can’t be knocked off unless they get a bad injury. There is places to play for in the team the whole time,” explained O’Neill.
The Naomh Bríd mentor says they went all out to get in a good second half performance and they got it.
"In the first half we had been starting out games strong and were not finishing them out strong. Today, it changed around a bit and it suited us.” O’Neill is happy with the strength in depth in the team.
“St Mullins are a good team. Some young players coming through which is great to see. I think we had the stronger panel and it showed today.”
