Hill quash Joseph’s final aim

LAUREL HILL LIMERICK 0-12

ST JOSEPH’S COLLEGE 0-6

Daire Walsh – 28 February 2013 10:40 AM

DESPITE producing an extremely game performance throughout, St Joseph’s College ultimately came up short in Lucan Sarsfields GAA club last Saturday.

An impressive Laurel Hill Secondary School produced an emphatic second-half display to book their place in the All-Ireland Colleges Junior ‘A’ Camogie decider.

The Lucan senior team had also lost out to Roscrea of Tipperary in the penultimate stage of their All-Ireland Camogie competition the week beforehand, but given that the school had never won a camogie championship before this year, the 2012/13 season is destined to be remembered as an excellent year in Joseph’s.

The meeting between the Leinster and Munster representatives was played in extremely cold conditions, with snow falling at various intervals, but both sets of players were able to deal with it and in a tight opening period, midfielder Jessica Condron was leading the charge for Joseph’s.

With Orlaith Murphy and Laura O’Mahony contributing to the scoreboard when opportunities fell their way, they were posing plenty of problems for Laurel Hill, but the undoubted quality of the Limerick city outfit was becoming more and more evident as the half progressed, and despite some heroic play by Joseph’s Jenny Ryan, the visitors brought a narrow lead (0-5 to 0-4) into the second half.

Though this was a slender advantage, it gave Laurel Hill plenty of confidence on the resumption, and six terrific points without reply from the North Circular Road girls moved them into a very commanding position.

It was going to take a massive effort from Joseph’s to force their way into the reckoning, and to their credit, they continued to fight right up until the final whistle.

The industrious Murphy brought her tally up to 0-3, and O’Mahony finished the game with a brace, but despite the best efforts of David Kirwan’s charges, their Munster rivals had that little bit extra to secure their spot in the final.

This result will have come as a disappointment to Joseph’s, but they can take great pride from their performances in 2013, and they will hopefully reap plenty of benefits from these achievements in the years to come.