St: Caimin’s Community School, Shannon 0 – 4 Moyne Community School, Longford
The sun was certainly shining in Tullamore for the Longford ladies as they made little work of the mighty Munster legends St: Caimin’s Community School of Shannon:
Longford teacher’s Rose Hennigan and name sake Rose Keogh were on hand to supply the words of wisdom in this a massive game for the school: Moyne had the better of the opening exchanges with plenty of possession in the Shannon half:
With only two minutes gone, super striker Michelle Farrell had two quick attempts on goal with the brave Amy Heffernan equal in defence, providing the essential blocks on target for Shannon:
Donna Masterson’s effort was wide of the post six minutes in but seconds later Moyne were to register their opener: Michelle Farrell had a great run down the right wing and sent a fabulous through ball across the six yard box for Catriona Farrelly to tap in: 1/0 to Moyne:
St: Caimin’s responded with a shot from the impressive Sinead Tuohy, unfortunately the ball skimmed the side netting on 11 minutes:
Three minutes later, Farrell came on the attack again for Longford but she was closely marked by Ellie Collumb: With Farrell 18 yards out she managed to strike the ball with her right foot to smash the ball past keeper Niamh Murray leaving her with no change: 2/0 to Moyne:
With a quarter of an hour played, Farrell’s stinging shot had Murray worried between the posts but the keeper rose high to tap the ball over the bar for a wonderful save:
Aedin Mimnagh and Ellen Murphy linked well to set up Mandy Cassidy for her first attempt of the day: The Shannon net minder managed to get her finger tips to the ball to deflect it off the post and out for Aislinn Keogh to clear:
With four minutes remaining in the first half a poor kick out from Keogh resulted in possession for Moyne, Farrell the recipient with only one thing on her mind: Her first touch was superb controlling the pace of the ball and setting herself up for her second of the afternoon: A hat trick of goals for the Longford school:
St: Caimin’s managed to provide some threat on goal when Sinead Tuohy broke through defence and supplied Slaine Carey with her effort tailing right and wide:
The half time whistle blew with Moyne ahead 3/0:
St: Caimin’s Manager, Richard Grimes had a difficult task at the interval to try and lift the girl’s spirits as they faced an up high battle:
Shannon’s determination was evident as they fought for every ball in the second period: Their hard work was rewarded by a free kick with thirty five minutes played: Tuohy’s shot was blocked well by Brid Enright and the threat on goal was averted:
Five minutes later, Moyne were awarded a corner after good work from Michelle Masterson: Ellen Murphy whipped an excellent ball in for Ellie Collumb to connect with but Sinead Tuohy was in defence to end the Longford attack:
Moyne pressed forward at every opportunity with the remarkable Amy Heffernan ever present to deny the Leinster Champions:
Michelle Farrell secured the fourth goal of the game just over the hour mark thus ensuring an outstanding hat trick for the youngster: An inspiring run by Mandy Cassidy led her to supply the ball at the feet of Farrell for her to side step the keeper and roll the ball into the back of the Shannon net:
St: Caimin’s introduced Eimear Murray for Ali Quinlan on 66 minutes to curtail the barrage of Longford attacks:
Hennigan introduced Ailish Noonan for Emma Farrelly with five minutes remaining as Moyne held on for a well deserved victory:
Moyne will now face Loreto Convent, Letterkenny in this year’s UMBRO FAI Schools Minor All Ireland Final which will be scheduled for late April:
St: Caimin’s Community School: Niamh Murray, Aisling Keogh, Christine Collins, Sinead Tuohy, Amy Heffernan, Brid Enright, Ali Quinlan, Emily Childs, Slaine Carey, Aisling Hassett, Julianne Murray
Subs: Eimear Murray for Ali Quinlan (66), Tiotala Hanke, Rachael Scanlon, Vanessa Mann
Teacher: Richard Grimes
Moyne Community School: Laura Whelan, Karen McKeon, Michelle Masterson, Ellie Collumb, Aedin Mimnagh, Donna Masterson, Ellen Murphy, Emma Farrelly, Mandy Cassidy, Catriona Farrelly, Michelle Farrell
Subs: Ciara Keogh, Rebecca Maguire, Any Faughnan, Chloe Connell, Ailish Noonan for Emma Farrelly (75):
Teachers: Rose Hennigan & Rose Keogh
Referee: Adrian Martin