Camogie Senior 2 Cup

Daire Walsh

FORMER Dublin captain Louise O’Hara produced a star performance at Farnham Drive last Tuesday as Erin’s Isle got the better of Faughs Celtic in the Dublin Camogie Senior 2 Cup.

On level terms with the southsiders on 56 minutes, Isles fired over three late points to eventually claim the spoils in a tight contest.

While Ruby Wood rounded off the scoring with a brace of placed-ball efforts, O’Hara had struck her third of the day just before that to edge the hosts back into the ascendancy.

An All-Star in 2006, O’Hara (who is also part of the Isles management team) pulled the strings at centre half-back and helped her side to secure a fifth win from seven games in this year’s competition.

A 4-4 to 1-9 victory over Cuala on the same night ensured Ballinteer St John’s were crowned Senior 2 Cup champions, but Isles achieved a very respectable second-place finish.

Although it had stopped raining at the Finglas venue just in time for throw-in, Isles did have a strong wind behind them during the opening period. Nonetheless, it was Faughs who initially edged in front courtesy of Saoirse Mallin’s second-minute point.

In response, Isles got up and running with three unanswered scores from the dynamic Wood – one free, one ‘45’ and one from play.

Faughs were posing a threat in attack, however, and they rattled the opposition net on five minutes.

After being released on goal by full-forward Holly Finnegan, Mallin clinically fired to the bottom left-hand corner.

The Templeogue-based outfit were trying to keep their title hopes alive, but Isles once again got a stranglehold on the action.

Adding to a Kelly McGrath point, Caoimhe O’Toole raised a green flag on the stroke of 10 minutes with a pulled finish at a left-hand angle.

Finnegan was close to grabbing a three-pointer of her own moments later, but an Isabelle Costello ‘45’ did provide them with some solace.

The industrious Finnegan forced another fine stop out of Isles netminder Chelsea Smith, but the Faughs defence was coming under intense pressure as the play progressed.

Following a sharp turn on the halfway line on 19 minutes, the evergreen O’Hara superbly dissected the uprights to move Isles three points clear.

She went on to double her tally with an outstanding strike on the right wing, while Wood and wing-back Molly Brown also found the target to give the home team a convincing 1-8 to 1-2 interval buffer.

Faughs weren’t out of the reckoning just yet, though, and a strong start to the second half brought them roaring back into contention.

Just six minutes after the resumption, a Finnegan shot – after she had held off a number of defensive challenges – deflected off the stick of an Isles defender on its way into the net.

Matching the scoring exploits of her opposite number O’Hara, Faughs’ defensive lynchpin Catherine Costello stepped forward to contribute two successive points.

Both of these efforts were from frees, but the upshot was that the visitors were now just a point adrift.

Tommy O’Mahoney’s charges did lose attacker Maeve McWilliams to a second yellow card on the third-quarter mark, but a Heidi Eggen point restored parity in her absence.

Even though 26 second-half minutes had passed without Isles adding to the scoreboard, they kept their composure when the game was in the melting pot.

The inspirational O’Hara made no mistake when she picked up possession 40 metres from the target.

Wood added another two-point salvo in stoppage-time and, despite the best endeavours of Faughs, it was Erin’s Isle who emerged on top in the end.

Match file

Scorers – Erin’s Isle: R Wood 0-6 (3 ’45, 2f); C O’Toole 1-0; L O’Hara 0-3; M Brown, K McGrath 0-1 each. Faughs Celtic: S Mallin 1-1; H Finnegan 1-0; C Costello 0-2 (2f); I Costello (’45’), H Eggen 0-1 each.

ERIN’S ISLE: C Smith; E Quinn, C Poole, A Wilson; L Patterson, L O’Hara, M Brown; K McEvoy, A Comerford; R Wood, A Trawally, C O’Toole; E Clerkin, G McCluskey, K McGrath. Subs: L Quinn for Trawally, L Devoy for Comerford (both h-t), K McManus for Wilson (49), K Shanahan for O’Toole (52), M King for Clerkin (55).

FAUGHS CELTIC: C Evoy; J Murphy, M Lewis, J O’Sullivan; A Finnegan, C Costello, A Connolly; A McCabe, M Rock; I Costello, S Mallin, O Rush; M McWilliams, H Finnegan, H Eggen. Subs: C Barry for Rock (53).

MENTORS – Erin’s Isle: F Brown, C Devoy, D Dunning, L O’Hara. Faughs Celtic: T O’Mahony, C Nolan, N Breen.

REFEREE: T Carton (Naomh Fionnbarra).

WIDES – Erin’s Isle: 9 (7+2). Faughs Celtic: 6 (2+4).

CONDITIONS: Dry and windy throughout.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Louise O’Hara (Erin’s Isle).