Éire Óg grab goals galore against Knockananna to win opening Junior camogie championship clash

Knockananna 0-14

Éire Óg Greystones got the goals to beat Knockananna 6-6 to 14 points in the opening round of the Junior camogie championship last week.

The opening exchanges were quite even as the ball was going from one side to another fairly quickly, but after a goalmouth scramble, Éire Óg full forward Amy Kavanagh opened the scoring with a cracking finish to the back of the net.

Knockananna’s full-forward, Aine D’Arcy, got the next two scores before Éire Óg Greystones centre-forward Grainne Megannety got her side’s second goal.

D’Arcy would score another point, but this was undone again by an Éire Óg goal, this time from corner-forward Angela O’Leary.

In the final 10 minutes of the half Megannety would get a point and so would her teammates Kate Fennessy and Ciara Patrick while Knockananna’s only response was a free from centre-forward Niamh Byrne.

Erin Moules made a cracking save for Knockananna just before half-time to leave the scoreline at 3-3 to 0-4 points.

The opening five minutes of the second half had some great moments including a second goal for O’Leary, points for Ciara Patrick and Niamh Byrne as well as a fantastic save from Ellie O’Neill to deny Knockananna a goal.

Knockananna may have been behind by a considerable margin but in the next 10 minutes they would score four of the next six points, two each for D’Arcy and Byrne.

However, any sign of a comeback was quenched as Clodagh Kinesewitz fired home a goal and followed it up five minutes later with another, which came from a long ball she caught and powered through to finish by batting into the back of the net.

Knockananna scored the final three points of the match to put a bit of respect on the scoreline, one from midfielder Alice Mulhall and two from Byrne.

Éire Óg’s brilliance of finding the net will make them a tough opponent for anyone to face but Knockananna can walk away here with their heads held high as they never gave up.

Éire Óg Greystones: Ellie O’Neill; Sarah Hayes, Helen O’Driscoll, Elleanor O’Malley; Ciara Patrick (0-2, 1f), Siobhán Darcy; Lucy Daly, Isobel O’Sullivan, Florence Fogarty (0-1); Grainne Megannety (1-1), Clodagh Kinesewitz (2-0); Angela O’Leary (2-0), Amy Kavanagh (1-1), Kate Fennessy (0-1). Subs: Michelle LeMay for A. Kavanagh (43) for Maya Maguire for H. O’Driscoll (46), Grace Carey for F. Fogarty (51), Alison Finnerty for C. Kinesewitz (57).

Knockananna: Erin Moules; Kayla Tighe, Tara McDonald, Melissa Gilbert; Zoe Katus, Grace Mulhall; Ciara Byrne, Aisling Fleming, Alice Mulhall (0-1); Deirdre Lancaster, Niamh Byrne (0-7, 3f); Mary Woodroofe, Aine Darcy (0-6, 1f), Amy Roche.

Referee: Ger Delaney (Ballyboden St. Enda’s)