Late goal from Feely seals victory for Enda’s
By Daire Walsh
A LATE goal from Shauna Feely at the National Games Development Centre in Abbotstown on Sunday helped Ballyboden St Enda’s to secure the Dublin Minor Camogie Division One Championship crown on a score of 3-12 to 1-15 against Lucan Sarsfields.
Having found themselves 10 points adrift at one stage in the action, Lucan displayed tremendous character to get back on level terms. ‘Boden were coming under intense pressure, but Feely shook the net to determine the outcome of the contest in dramatic fashion.
Lucan were hoping to make it a perfect weekend for minor camogie in the club, following their ‘B’ side’s impressive 3-7 to 2-6 win over Commercials in the Division Five Championship decider at Abbotstown on Friday. It began brightly for Ollie Mahon’s charges with two unanswered points, before ‘Boden eventually gained a foothold in the play.
Squeezed in between points from Ella McNair and Aine Rafter, Ruby Hynes bagged a close-range goal for Cathal Fitzgerald’s Firhouse Road side. Despite responding with their third point of the game, ‘Boden rattled off 1-5 without reply to move into a double figure lead on the stroke of 20 minutes.
Leonie Power (two), Rafter, McNair and Hynes raise white flags in this spell to perfectly compliment a goal from Hannah Byrne at the end of a subsequent attack. McNair, Power and Feely also split the posts in the closing stages of the opening period, but Lucan did grow in confidence the longer the action wore on.
Along with a host of her club-mates – including Hannah Gibbs and Cliodhna Ní Bhuachalla – Sinead Daly was part of this year’s Dublin minor camogie panel. She was to finish this game with a personal haul of 10 points and her dead-ball prowess helped to ensure Lucan had cut their deficit to seven (2-10 to 0-9) by the interval.
Daly’s talents extend well beyond free-taking, however, as she contributed four points from general play in this top-tier showcase. 0-3 without reply on the resumption bolstered Lucan’s prospects and while Feely and McNair (free) points saw ‘Boden re-establishing their authority, their opponents were building serious momentum.
In addition to Daly’s superb tally, Gibbs (two), Aoibheann Stokes (two) and Sophie McIntyre also raised white flags. Lucan’s deficit was then wiped out inside second-half stoppage-time when a long-distance Gibbs free drifted all the way into the net.
This looked like being a hammer blow for ‘Boden – who were close to conceding a goal moments earlier when custodian Enya Kennedy turned away a fierce Stokes strike – but they kept their composure in time for Byrne to release Feely for a clinical finish in the dying embers of the play.