POST-MATCH REACTION
Siobhan Was Exceptional At The End – GT Troy
By Daire Walsh
THEY may have ultimately fallen short in their quest for a Division Two knockout spot, but Kildare camogie manager GT Troy was nonetheless proud of his side’s performance against Westmeath at Hawkfield on Saturday.
Thanks to goals from Emma Kielty, Leah Sutton and Deirbhile Byrne, the Lilywhites secured a 3-10 to 0-17 victory at the expense of Westmeath. While netminder Tanya Johnson also saved a late penalty, a slightly inferior score difference denies them a place in the next phase of the National League.
“They fought their corner fairly well and showed they had loads of fight in them. We got off to a good start again with our goal. I suppose we got awful lucky, only Tanya saved a penalty at the very end there. That’s the third one in three weeks she’s after doing. We kind of got the rub of the green there, but we came out the right side of it,” Troy acknowledged.
When the game was in the melting pot towards the end of the contest, Johnstownbridge’s Siobhan Hurley was one player who really stood up to be counted. A surviving member of the Kildare side that won the All-Ireland Premier Junior Camogie Championship in 2013, she hit a fourth point in stoppage-time to put the seal on the Lilywhites’ win.
“We had seen in the first half how she [Hurley] was winning the battle there under the high ball. We targeted her for the high ball, and Dee Byrne and Ciara [Egan] in the corner for the low balls. Siobhan was exceptional there at the very end,” Troy added.
“She dragged the whole team up there a good few yards and then just had the composure to slot it over. Whereas others might try and pass it off, she took it herself.”