West is Best
St John’s 2-12 Bredagh 1-5
By Brona McIntyre
The second game of the double header saw Antrim Intermediate champions St John’s take on Down Intermediate champions Bredagh in the Ulster Junior championship final in Clann Eireann in County Armagh. Both teams took to the field and St John’s opted to play down hill first.
A wide each from free takers was exchanged before Maedhbh Laverty pointed from play for the west Belfast team. From the puc out Neimhe Hazard tries to find Catherine Rocks but Una Simpson rose the highest to block the ball down before hitting the ball into Debbie Boyd, who takes a shot but couldn’t get the score.
Niamh Adams wins the puc out and took off on a flying run down the side in which no one could catch her, she takes a shot but in slippy conditions the ball doesn’t connect properly with the hurl and her shot goes to the outside of the post. Aishling Jackson opened up her scoring account with two frees in quick succession both converted from within 45 metres.
Monica McKay looked set to cause a threat to St John’s after receiving a ball from Aislinn McFarland but good defending by Helen Wilson and Eimhear Costello forced her to hit the ball wide. Maedhbh Laverty and Caoimhe Crossey battled for possession before Laverty came out with the ball and took off on a solo run down the field. Using good team work Laverty passed the ball to Aishling Jackson allowing Jackson to convert another point.
Monica McKay opened Bredagh’s scoring with a point from a well taken free from 30 metres out after Helen Wilson fouled Martina Doyle. Bredagh were quick to continue to put the pressure on and Catriona McDonald took a low shot at goal but Sinead Lagan reacted well before pulling the ball to the wing. In Lagan’s attempt at clearing the ball, it spun up and hit St John’s captain Helen Wilson. After a few minutes of stoppage play continues with a Maedhbh Laverty point from play, the midfielder caused all sorts of problems for the Bredagh team.
Straight from the puc out Neimhe Hazard miss hit the ball and it fell perfectly to Aishling Jackson and she pointed effortlessly. Eimhear Costello overturned Bredagh possession and played a crossfield ball to Nicole Kane. Kane worked hard to win the ball before hitting into the opposite corner to Debbie Boyd. Boyd had one thing on her mind as she raced towards goal. But strong defending by Bredagh captain Christine Smith stopped Boyd going any further. Pat Walsh granted the free to Boyd and Aishling Jackson pointed.
The on form Aishling Jackson pointed from play before setting Debbie Boyd up for the first goal of the match. With an absolute genius pass, Jackson flicked the ball over her shoulder to Debbie Boyd who was free in the middle. Boyd made sure this time around as she smashed the ball to the back of the net.
Bredagh responded in the only way possible by getting a score of their own as a high ball in from Monica McKay finished off in the back of the net. Although unsure if the ball took a deflection of not the umpires reached for the green flag and Bredagh had cancelled out Debbie Boyd’s goal.
Una Simpson called for a short puc out from Sinead Lagan, Simpson won the ball and played the ball low to Debbie Boyd. Boyd took a single tap on her hurl before striking the ball between the uprights.
Aislinn McFarland was to be the last scorer of the half though as she pointed from play after a good individual effort crept over the cross bar leaving the half time score St John’s 1-9 Bredagh 1-2 with everything to play for in the second half.
The second half began with both teams showing great team work, St John’s forwards looked very dangerous but good defending by Bredagh forced The Johnnie’s to play the ball back out the field and Maedhbh Laverty stepped up and pointed from play for the Belfast outfit.
Aishling Jackson scored yet again from the placed ball as the free was awarded after Carrie Anne Fitzsimmons made a run towards goal and was pulled to the ground. At the other end of the field Bredagh’s Nuala Carville was making a darting run towards Sinead Lagan in goals but Sarah Jane McGuigan was on hand, to stop the threat.
Carville however was awarded a free and Monica McKay stepped up to the abll. With a good high effort dropping into the square it was anyone’s to claim. But it was St John’s Eimear Greive who came storming out of defence with the ball, in spite of this she fouled the ball and Bredagh were rightly awarded the free, free taker for Bredagh Aislinn McFarland converted the ball between the posts with ease.
A quick puc out from Sinead Lagan found Una Simpson, who couldn’t have placed the ball better into Debbie Boyd. Debbie raced out infornt of Emma Holland to win the ball. Shuffling her feet she got passed Holland and made a b-line for the goals. However with Holland hot on Boyd’s heels and Clar LeVelley giving a helping hand they prevented Debbie Boyd from getting her goal. Referee Pat Walsh blew his whistle and awarded the 21 yard free, Aishling Jackson kept her cool to smash it to the net past four Bredagh defenders.
Bredagh had their own chance at goal as Olivia Boyle took a great shot but was unlucky for it to first bounce off the crossbar and as Boyle tried again on the rebound it crept just to the wrong side of the post.
With the second half mid way through there was a lull in the scoring as both teams defenders played tremendous camogie to limit the scores. Breadgh keeper Neimhe Hazard pulled off a point blank save to stop St John’s getting their third three pointer over the hour.
Hazard saved the ball and then cleared out to Monica McKay who linked up well with Olivia Boyle before a quick handpass off to Catherine Rocks. However Rocks lost her footing in the mucky conditions and St John’s Una Simpson was hand to over turn the possession.
Simpson played a long ball into corner forward Debbie Boyd. Boyd knew she was in too tight of an angle to shoot so she played the ball back out to team mate Niamh Adams. Niamh was being tightly marked and Molly McMullan did just enough to force Adams shot to go wide.
Aislinn McFarland comes into her own half forward line to take a free for Bredagh, as she goes for the score Una Simpson is quick to react to the mis-hit free and once again over turns the ball for St John’s. Second time around Aislinn McFarland this time called to the 30metre line and with nothing to lose she shot for the jugular but Johnnie’s captain Helen Wilson blocked the ball and cleared to the wing. Monica McKay collected the loose ball for the Down champions and pointed from play.
In the final ten minutes Helen Wilson played a captain’s role and rallied her troops to force Bredagh to hit several wides from play. Bredagh also kept St John’s scoreless in the last minutes and Neimhe Hazard pulled off another fantastic save at the end to avoid Debbie Boyd getting a three pointer to finish the match leaving St John’s victorious with a score line of 2-10 to 1-5.
A good team performance in not so good conditions, these conditions can not be helped at this time of year though and St John’s kept their nerve and they will now go into the All Ireland series representing both Antrim and Ulster against the Munster champions on November 10th.
Player Ratings:
St John’s
Sinead Lagan – Had very little to do over the hour could not be blamed for the goal as it took a deflection. Puc outs were good and delivered accurate passes to team mates.
Claire McGivern – Little to do as ball seemed to be played on opposite wing for large parts of the game. Although prevented a goal chance in the second half when she got involved in a goal mouth scramble.
Danielle Clarke – Played a superb game in full back, very strong and protected Sinead Lagan well. Her catching was good and dealt well with high balls.
Eimear Grieves – Played full back the last day but moved to the corner this week. She worked well and had great speed to carry the ball out of the danger zone.
Una Simpson – Star player, had an excellent 60 minutes putting everything into the game. Her accurate passing into Debbie Boyd was great to watch and her ability under a high ball was never questioned.
Helen Wilson – Played a captain’s role in constantly leading by example in the second half especially her catching and clearing was superb and her ability to read the play was tremendous.
Eimhear Costello – Was a little hot tempered during the game and got involved in silly stuff. When she calmed down she played good camogie and had no need to be getting involved in other incidents.
Sarah Jane McGuigan – Sarah Jane picked up the task of marking Nuala Carville in the corner. She did a magnificient man marking job and stopped Carville having much impact on the game.
Maedhbh Laverty – Constantly wanted to get involved and this was evident as she was involved in a lot of tackling. She was great at gaining possession when the ball was tied up in a rut and even pushed forward to get a couple of points from play.
Niamh Adams – Worked hard and took off on some great runs but was unable to get a score for the Johnnies. Won a lot of dirty battles and came out strong in tackles.
Aishling Jackson – Led her young forward line as she was a constant thorn for Bredagh, played a superb first half, but was quieter in the second half. Although she scored 1-09 herself she set up a lot of good moves for her team also.
Nicole Kane – Worked well with Eimhear Costello to get the ball into the full forward line and set Debbie Boyd up for many of her chances at goal.
Debbie Boyd – The small but dangerous Boyd will be giving the Bredagh full back line night mares. Every time she got the ball she had one thing on her mind, if she didn’t get it she was being given the free. She linked up well with Una Simpson to gain a lot of possession.
Carrie Anne Fitzsimmons – Had a tough battle with Christina Smith but worked tirelessly and opened up the full forward line to give space to her team mates.
Sarah Vaughan – Was unable to get away with herself as she didn’t quite adapt to the bad conditions. Vaughan likes a quick paced game and due to the muck and rain this was not the case. However she worked hard and held a lot of possession for St John’s.
Bredagh
Neimhe Hazard – Pulled off some great saves and stopped the game having an even bigger score difference. Had one poor puc out but other than that Hazard had a good performance between the posts.
Clar LeVelley – Worked hard and did a good job of marking Sarah Vaughan. Vaughan is normally a nippy corner forward by LeVelley held her very well and stopped the corner forward from scoring.
Christina Smith – Strong in at full back could do nothing about the two goals as she was left with the ultimatum of go or stay and either option would have been wrong for different reasons. She kept St John’s full forward scoreless.
Emma Holland – Struggled to keep up with the on form Debbie Boyd. Tried hard to contain her but couldn’t keep up with her quick burst of speed. Although she kept Debbie Boyd to only to only three scores throughout the hour.
Molly McMullan – Worked well and marked Nicole Kane. She matched Kane for speed and didn’t allow Kane to have much of an impact throughout the whole game.
Aislinn McFarland – A lot was asked of her in the game as she was the go to woman for all the frees. She put in a huge effort and was unlucky to be in the losing team.
Claire Grant – Had the tough task of marking Niamh Adams. Grant can be proud of her performance though as she kept the young player scoreless and Adams is normally a regular on the score sheet.
Caoimhe Crossey – Ran tirelessly with Maedhbh Laverty in the middle of the park. Laverty won the battle between the two but Crossey never gave up and fought for every ball with Laverty.
Olivia Boyle – Was dangerous for Bredagh and constantly ran at the St John’s defence giving them problems to deal with.
Catherine Rocks – Tried very hard for Bredagh and was unlucky not to get on the scoresheet. Looked very dangerous when she gained possession within the danger zone.
Martina Doyle – The usual play maker didn’t get away with herself due to being well marshalled by Helen Wilson. Doyle did create some good passes but could not be her usual threat.
Monica McKay – Was a real danger and gave Eimhear Costello a tough 60 minutes. Always looked like she was going to do something when she gained possession.
Catherine McDonald – Battled hard but due to tight marking McDonald was unable to get away with herself and struggled to win possession ahead of Eimear Grieve
Rosie Watson – Looked dangerous on the edge of the square and had a real battle with Danielle Clarke, couldn’t get the space she wanted to get a shot in at goal.
Nuala Carville – Looked dangerous early on but when Sarah Jane McGuigan moved onto her her impact became less. Small but quick and could have casued problems.
