Banagher College well beaten by superior Thurles side
BANAGHER College's dreams of All-Ireland glory were crushed by a superior Presentation College, Thurles side at Toomevara on Saturday last.
All-Ireland Colleges 'C' Final
Presentation College, Thurles 3-18
Banagher College 1-1
SCORERS:
Presentation, Thurles: Cait Devane (0-8, 0-3 frees, 0-1 '45'), Sarah Fryday (1-4), Marianne Murphy (1-1), Michaela Graham (1-0), Andrea Loughnane (0-3), Cliona O'Dwyer (0-2).
Banagher College: Helen Dolan (1-0, free), Alva Egan (0-1).
WIDES:
Presentation, Thurles 17 (13 1st half); Banagher College 2 (2 1st half).
Pat Donegan reports
The Thurles side played a brand of camogie that was far superior to anything the Banagher girls had encountered during the six matches on their march to the final and the Thurles girls ran out convincing winners.
Playing in the 'C' grade, Thurles would not have been out of place in the 'A' grade, never mind the 'B' grade and it was clear from the early stages of this final that the handicapper had erred grievously when placing Thurles in the 'C' grade.
Indeed, a measure of Thurles' misplacement in this competition is that their closest winning margin on their way to the final was one of fourteen points during their Munster campaign!
Thurles' attack revolved around the superb play of centre half forward Cait Devane, whose movement and stickwork was simply in a different stratosphere. Her half forward colleagues Andrea Loughnane and Sarah Fryday also caused much difficulty for the Banagher defence while closer to goal, Cliona O'Dwyer and Michaela Graham were a constant threat.
The Banagher girls' first touch was actually quite good and they sought to move the ball as quickly as possible to the attack. The full forward line of Helen Dolan, Alva Egan and Rhona Lynch looked dangerous when the ball went in, but in truth the Banagher side were under so much pressure outfield that the attack rarely saw sustained possession and when the attacks broke down Thurles moved swiftly downfield and on the attack again.
The Banagher defence were under constant pressure under the onslaught, though Sle Dolan, Sorcha McGarry, Niamh Larkin and Colette Cleary battled hard to keep the Thurles girls out, Michelle Dolan won some good possession in midfield and Niamh Mooney brought off some good saves in goals.
Thurles set their stall out early on, winning the toss and electing to play downhill. Thurles took an early lead through two pointed frees scored by Cait Devane and they received a major boost with their opening goal, Michaela Graham finishing to the net when she collected a long ball from Emma Carey.
Banagher responded by going on the attack and had a goal chance which wasn't converted and was subsequently cleared by the Thurles defence.
The Banagher girls could have done with the boost of a score which their efforts deserved, but Thurles went on a scoring onslaught which yielded a further ten points before the break, a spree which was punctuated by Helen Dolan's goal from a free 25 metres out in the nineteenth minute of the half.
The Banagher girls did much better in the second half and some more determined tackling meant the Thurles scoring rate was much reduced though but Thurles' first score of the second half was a goal scored by Sarah Fryday when she pounced on a loose ball in the square.
Banagher finally got off the mark when Alva Egan scored a good point when she got on the end of a good move but despite further scoring chances Banagher were unable to add to their tally.
There was no shame in defeat to such a fine Thurles side that had many players with real star quality and about whom we will surely much more of in the future on the inter-county scene.
PRESENTATION, THURLES: Elaine Devane; Claire Walsh, Shauna Brett, Bernie Bergin; Emily O'Brien, Rosemarie Hanafin, Eithne Moran (capt.); Emma Carey, Clodagh Quirke; Sarah Fryday, Cait Devane, Andrea Loughnane; Cliona O'Dwyer, Michaela Graham, Beatrice Canovas.
Subs: Karen Bohan for B Bergin (46 mins), Marianne Murphy for B Canovas (49 mins), Kora Kerrane for C Quirke (52 mins), ine Symons for A Loughnane (55 mins).
BANAGHER COLLEGE: Niamh Mooney; Sorcha McGarry, Sle Dolan, Niamh Larkin; Clare Keenaghan, Aoife Brady, Colette Cleary; Claire Camon, Michelle Dolan; Tracy Lyons, Jennifer Flannery (capt.), Leanne Kelly; Helen Dolan, Alva Egan, Rhona Lynch.
Subs: Clodagh Cahill for C Keenaghan (15 mins), Aoife Dolan for R Lynch (half time), Laura Mahon for N Larkin (55 mins).
REFEREE: Mike O'Kelly, Cork.
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Saturday 04 February 2012
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