James Stephens hold their nerve to edge Rower in Minor B Camogie Final
James Stephens 2-7 Rower Inistioge 2-6
James Stephens claimed the Minor Roinn B championship title by the narrowest of margins after edging past the Rower-Inistioge in Gowran.
Inspired by the excellent Emily Lauhoff the city girls took the spoils but this was very much a team effort from both sides in a match that kept the huge crowd on the edge of their seats on Saturday afternoon.
A noticeable feature of the match from the opening minutes was the hard-fought and tenacious tackling by both sides - it limited the amount of scoring chances, but made for an intense contest.
At the end of a frenetic opening five minutes, the Rower girls received a huge boost when a Fauve Walsh shot from close range found the net, but James Stephens quickly settled to the task and rattled over three unanswered points from Laura Leahy (one free) to draw level by the 13th minute.
Both defences led by Lucy Lennon and Emily Lauhoff for James Stephens and Eimear Cotterall and Ellen Spellman for the Rower girls were largely on top while further afield Lucy Coomey (JS) and Muireann Kenny (RI) were showing very well. This led to relatively low scoring from both sides and the half-time score of 1-2 (RI) to 0-5 (JS) was a fair reflection of the very close fought nature of this contest.
The second half saw the game open up a bit more on the scoring front. James Stephens made a fast start with 1-1, the goal coming from Mia Dunne, inside the opening three minutes to go 1-6 to 1-2 in front.
They were rocked moments later with a kicked effort to the net by Eve Rice for Rower Inistioge but they continued to press again for the next 10 minutes and had stretched their lead out to 2-7 to 2-2 by the 42nd minute thanks in part to a goal from Sorcha Larkin.
Remarkably they failed to score for the rest of their contest although their defence proved to be very resilient to the increased pressure from the Rower girls as the match progressed.
The Rower were in bother by the three-quarter mark but with their own defence now starting to shut down the James Stephens attack, they proceeded to turn the momentum of the match and points from play from Meadbh Kenny and two frees from Muireann Kenny helped reduce the margin to two points.
A further Rower point from Muireann Kenny brought the match to a one point game and extra time looked a distinct possibility; however the James Stephens girls led by Emily Lauhoff remained defiant to the end and huge celebrations followed when referee Paul Hunston sounded the full-time whistle, bringing a fitting end to a hugely competitive Minor B championship.
James Stephens: Saoirse Egan, Aoibh Lawlor, Lucy Lennon, Alice Quinn, Caoimhe Egan, Emily Lauhoff, Daisy Coomey, Ria Quinn, Lucy Coomey, Niamh Moore, Maura Barton, Laura Leahy, Katie Murphy, Mia Dunne, Sorcha Larkin.
Subs: Emma Larkin, Aoileann Cantwell, Ellie Larkin, Roisin O’Shea, Hannah Devine, Hannah Purcell, Freya Doyle, Ali McDonald.
Rower-Inistioge: Heidi Culleton, Carolann Lawler, Eimear Cotterell, Izzy Morrissey, Lauren Kelly, Lauren Kelly, Ellen Spellman, Muireann Kenny, Hilary Muldowney, Ciara Bolger, Chloe Lyng. Meabh Kenny, Fauvre Walsh, Laoise Kehoe (C), Niamh Doyle.
Subs: Eve Rice, Meabh Kehoe, Aoibhe Murphy, Sophie Bolger, Isabelle Delaney, Kathlyn O'Keeffe, Katie Doyle, Olivia Muldowney.
Referee: Paul Hunston.