The long awaited senior club camogie championship started on Saturday 16th June. Follow the progress of the local girls.
St Ibars took on St Martins in the first round of the championship. After a disappointing run in last years championship, St Ibars entered this championship determined to get off to a winning start. After a hard training campaign to-date under the new management team of Denis Kelly, Paudie MacMahon and Simon Donohue, St Ibars are hoping that this year will see them back in a county final. The senior championship is divided into two groups with the winner’s of each group playing the runner’s up in the other group.
St Ibars are in Group 1 with St Martins, Ferns and Rathnure. Group 2 consists of Oulairt the Ballagh, Monageer/Boolavogue, Duffry Rovers and Glynn/Barntown.
After a very close contest when St Ibars and St Martins met in the league a few weeks ago, this game was always going to be a tough and hard fought one. St Ibars started the brightest and straight away Kate Kelly opened the scoring with a point from a free. Then the local girls netted with their first goal of the night with an excellent score from Deirdre MacMahon. Kate Kelly then went on a solo run and laid off a great pass to Brigid Curran, who made no mistake is putting the ball over the cross bar. Kate Kelly was on the score board again with another free and this was followed up with another point from Mag Kelly. At this point in the game St Martins had two points on the board. Kate and Mag Kelly added points each but St Martins added 1-1 too. Then St Ibars were awarded a penalty. This was saved but resulted in another penalty being awarded. Kate Kelly had no mistake second time round and blasted an unstoppable shot to the St Martisn net. Kate added another point from a free and St Martins added two more point before half time, thus leaving the score at the break St Ibars 2-7, St Martins 1-6. St Ibars started the second half where the left off and added four consecutive points from Kate Kelly(2), Michelle Hearne and Emma Carroll. During this spell St Martins added just one point from a free. Kate Kelly put over another free and this was followed with another point from Deirdre MacMahon. Kate Kelly had the last score for St Ibars and the final score was St Ibars 2-14, St Martins 1-8.
This was truly a hard fought game and one played with great determination and pride by the local girls. The whole team gave a great team performance and where was some excellent passages of support play throughout. The defence was solid throughout and the St Martins forwards found it extremely difficult to break through. The mid-fielders worked hard and kept a constant supply of ball to the forward line. On the night the forwards proved too skilful for the St Martins defence and showed some excellent scoring ability.
The second round of the senior championship saw St Ibars take on Rathnure in Hollymount on Monday 25th June. Rathnure started the best of the two teams and the first score was a goal for them. Rathnure added 7 points in the first half of the game to leave their score 1-7 at the break. St Ibars started the slower with the first score coming from Brigid Curran, a point from play. Kate Kelly added another point from a free. The next score for the St Ibars came after a free from Kate Kelly was flicked into the net by Deirdre MacMahon. The game opened up then and St Ibars started to apply pressure on the Rathnure defence. Kate Kelly put over another free. Then another free awarded to St Ibars saw Kate Kelly drive the ball to the back of the Rathnure net. At the call of half time the scoreline read, Rathnure 1-7, St Ibars 2-3.
The second half scoring was opened with a point from Kate Kelly, from a free. The game was closely fought from here in and the scores were very scare. Two teams exchanged points, with Kate Kelly putting over the St Ibars point. The local girls showed great determination and heart to get back in touch with the visitors after a slow start. The game ended level on a score line of Rathnire 1-8, St Ibars 2-5.