Ulster storm to victory to become Inter-provincial Champions in Port Laois!!

Final

Ulster 3-16 Munster 1-10

Ulster were worthy Champions with two fantastic performances against two strong teams! No matter what was thrown at them the Ulster girls worked hard as a team!! The Ulster defence soaked up all the pressure against a strong wind and when playing with the wind in the second half of both games they were clinical in attack!!

Both games were very much influenced by making the most of the wind advantage and on both occasions Leinster followed by Munster were unable to do this, not due to bad performances or misfiring but more so due to an Ulster team which had nothing else on their mind but victory!! In both games Down star Niamh Mallon was unstoppable, with very few wides she was only restricted by the woodwork or some excellent goalkeeping. Niamh would be first to admit that had it not been for the performance of her team-mates she wouldn’t have had so many scoring opportunities.

Ulster started both games against a ferocious wind and went down by four points in the first few minutes before getting to grips with the game but from then the defence soaked up all the pressure while the forwards managed to keep the deficit to a few points up to half-time. In the second half of both games Ulster took full advantage of the wind to reduce the deficit and take the lead. In the first game against Leinster midway through the second half there was very little separating the teams but Ulster were able to dig deep to come out on top with a four point victory in what was the hardest game of the day.

In the final it was clear that both teams were tired as there were a number of rucks, with the ball stuck on the ground between six or seven players but Ulster soaked up everything Munster had in the first half to come in at half-time with only a two point deficit. The second half started with both teams giving their all but in the end with the wind advantage and confidence it would have taken a small miracle for Munster to stop Ulster from taking the Inter-provincial crown.

 

Ulster v Leinster: 

 

Ulster v Munster: