Brave St Louis suffer final defeat

ST Louis Grammar School’s bid for All Ireland glory came to an end at Trim, County Meath, on Saturday when they were beaten 4-10 to 3-3 by a very good Grennan College team in the final of the All Ireland Colleges Senior B Camogie championship.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Mar 2011, 12:42 BST

Though they led early in the game, and were still in contention at half time, the Ballymena girls struggled to live with the Kilkenny side in the second-half as Kilkenny Senior panellist Kelly Hamilton led the charge with a brilliant individual display.

St Louis got off to a great start and a well taken goal by corner-forward Chloe Bartley put them into a 1-0 to 0-1 lead with by the eighth minute. However goals in quick succession from Niamh Donnelly and Aine Lannon gave Grennan a 2-2 to 1-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

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A goal and a point from Anna Kelly put St Louis back in the hunt, and they were desperately unlucky when what looked a perfectly good goal from team captain Aimee McAtamney was ruled out for over-carrying.

To make matters worse Grennan’s Kelly Hamilton got away with over-carrying herself before picking up a loose ball close to the St Louis goal and firing to the net to give her team a 3-2 to 2-1 half-time lead.

With the breeze behind them in the second-half the Kilkenny girls stepped up a gear during the third quarter, and when Hamilton fired over four frees and Niamh Donnelly lobbed home her second goal St Louis had a mountain to climb.

To their credit they did battle on bravely and a late goal from substitute Rioghnach McNaughton brought a deserved reward. However Grennan College always had the upper hand as St Louis great adventure came to an end.

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Defeat in an All Ireland final for the second-year in succession - they lost the U16 B final last season - is hard to take, but when the pain of Saturday’s loss wears off Christine Doherty, Helen McToal and their team can look back with pride on what they have achieved, and look forward with some confidence to next year’s campaign.

Grennan College : N Bolger, S Whelan, M hayes, C Gantley, N Quigley, J Cullen, J Carroll, R O’Carroll, M Farrell, S Carroll capt., K Hamilton 1-6, 0-6 frees, L Walsh, E Donnelly 0- 2, A Lannon 1-0, N Donnelly 2-0. Subs: K Walsh for L Walsh, H Gantley for E Donnelly.

St Louis: N McCloskey, N McQuillan, L Elliott, K Bradley, M Lynn, S Woulahan, E McGarry, N Doherty, S Devlin, K Duffin, A McAtamney capt 0-2 frees, C Drain, C McIntyre, A Kelly 1- 1, C Bartley 1-0. Subs: R McNaughton 1-0 for C McIntyre, A Kearney for M Lynn.

Referee: Paul Beecher (Dublin)

Related topics:Ireland