Heartbreak For Tyrone Camogie Team

Sunday 05.05.2013

Club

The Tyrone senior camogs lost out in the final of the National camogie league at Cusack Park, Mullingar on Saturday in agonising fashion. Tyrone went into the game with some of their key players absent and if the most of the reports were to be believed they were given little hope.
It was a warm and sunny day but there was a strong breeze to contend with and Tyrone chose to play with the assistance of the elements in the first half. Carlow were unbeaten in the league thus far and their confidence was sky high. Tyrone had come off two back to back wins but were in no mood to let Carlow dominate.
Tyrone began the game at a fierce pace and within the first minute Caoimhe Rafferty bagged a goal. Carlow had a short period of five minutes where they dominated but they could only register on their wide count as Tyrone pressed them for every ball. The frustration was starting to show on the Carlow team as Tyrone battled hard all over the park. Tyrone goal keeper Kelley-Anne Fay was brilliant at times and Carlow could not find a way through.
Captain Julie Lagan, Niamh Gavin and Aine Donnelly made sure that Carlow were not allowed time or space to dominate possession. The Tyrone midfield of Shauna Jordan and Aisling Corr set up Niamh McNulty on 15 minutes to score an excellent point. There was another spell of dominance by Tyrone but no scores resulted. Carlow were then awarded a free on the 20 minute mark and it was from this that they got their first point of the game.
Tyrone had a few frees of their own but the wind made accuracy difficult before Ailing Corr extended the lead with a point. Carlow were finding
Tyrone’s approach hard to cope with and when Emma McAliskey picked out McNulty with a long diagonal ball which ended up in the back of the net the favourites were clearly rattled.
The next passage of play saw McAliskey pass to Maria Jordan who in turn laid it on Oonagh O’Neill to slot over the bar from the tightest of angles. The clock was showing 30 minutes when the ball fell kindly to the Carlow forward and resulted in a morale boosting and ultimately hugely important goal. The half time score was Tyrone 2-3 Carlow 1-1.
The strong breeze continued to blow for the start of the second half and Tyrone knew they would be up against it. However it was not until the 10th minute that Carlow registered their first point of the half from a free. Tyrone again showed great courage and self belief and produced some passages of brilliance in defence with Aileen Fox, Siobhan Hughes and Jane Canavan particularly prominent.
Corr hit an excellent point against the wind but Carlow responded immediately with one of their own. That score left two points in the game and some superb play by McAliskey kept Carlow out of the Tyrone danger area.
The game was five minutes into extra time when Carlow were awarded a free that they dropped into the penalty area and for the first time in the game they took the lead with a goal. The whistle blew almost immediately afterwards and that left the final score board reading Tyrone 2-4 Carlow 2-6.
While it was heartbreak for the Tyrone girls they can take some comfort from the huge part they played in a well contested game which was worthy of any National final. Tyrone can be proud and feel very unlucky not to have lifted the title. Congratulations to Carlow who were last year’s beaten finalists.

Final Score Tyrone 2-4 Carlow 2-6
Tyrone Scorers Niamh McNulty 1:1, Caoimhe Rafferty 1:0 Aisling Corr 0:2 Oonagh O’Neill 0:1