Royals pull away late on to deny Westmeath girls

Meath 2-8, Westmeath 1-5

It was a defeat for the Westmeath U16 Camogie team on their opening weekend of the Leinster Division B campaign as they fell short to fierce rivals Meath, at a sunny but crisp Dunganny last Sunday afternoon. The Lake County can be proud of a stubborn performance away from home, but the Royals managed to pull away in the last ten minutes of the match at last to come out of the battle victorious.

The opening half was a competitive battle, full of rucks, turnovers and fantastic effort from both teams, best showcased in defence. Westmeath did start the better of the two counties; Ruth Hynes received Jennifer O’Neill’s hand-pass to score in the second minute from distance, while Katie McDonnell got the spoils following a fierce ruck four minutes later to give Westmeath the advantage. Meath responded well, and though it took until Ellen Murray’s 50 metre free to get them off the mark in the 17th minute. Fortune would favour them four minutes later; Murray set up Faye Govern charging through the centre of the opposing defence to score. Soon after Ruby Grehan provided Méabh Cunningham the opportunity to find the net to leave a goal between them.

Momentum kept shifting though, as moments after Kayla Kennedy found the target with a free in the 25th minute, Jennifer O’Neill’s effort was batted down by Aoibheann Byrne to the onrushing Emily Nolan, who pulled on the sliotar which was fired into the Meath net. The Royals would nudge in front at half-time though, and they would leave it late: Faye Govern’s high-ball was broken down by Ellen Murray in the square, who made no mistake in front of the Westmeath goal a minute into added-time to give Meath a 2-2 to 1-3 interval lead.

Lake County resistance

Meath announced a statement of intent after Saoirse Meagher’s point 30 seconds into the second-half, while Ellen Murray accurately pushed the hosts four ahead by the 35th minute. Ruth Hynes was rewarded for her turnover in response three minutes later, the half-forward one of the ones continuing the fight. Then in the 51st minute, Meath produced a scoring spree with three points in four minutes to rock the visiting side. The Royals have Faye Govern and substitute Chloe Horan to thank, before Jennifer O’Neill’s free a minute into added-time ended Westmeath’s scoring, despite a couple of goal chances not going their way.

Meath finished with a flourish, when Saoirse Meagher pointed from a quick counter-attack seconds before the full-time whistle was blown.

Meath scorers: Ellen Murray 1-2 (0-1free), Méabh Cunningham 1-0, Faye Govern 0-3, Saoirse Meagher 0-2, Chloe Horan 0-1.

Westmeath scorers: Emily Nolan 1-0, Ruth Hynes 0-2, Katie McDonnell, Kayla Kennedy (0-1free) and Jennifer O’Neill (0-1free) 0-1 each.

Meath: Aoibheann Byrne; Grace Hogan, Sarah Heffernan, Seamim Shaw; Aoife Dunne, Aoibhinn Ward, Holly Reilly; Lauren Donegan, Clodagh Maher; Eve McCormack, Faye Govern, Ellen Murray; Méabh Cunningham, Saoirse Meagher, Ruby Grehan. Subs: Aoife Dyer for Aoibheann Byrne, Lucy McKenna for Clodagh Maher, Grace O’Toole for Aoife Dunne, Rose Grehan for Grace Hogan and Emma O’Connor for Méabh Cunningham (half-time), Chloe Horan for Ruby Grehan and Sadhbh Barron for Holly Reilly (38), Ava Beth Wallace for Eve McCormack (52).

Westmeath: Lily Tyrrell; Katie Savage, Rachel McDonnell, Anna Reilly; Aine Brennan, Emma Wiseman, Grace Murtagh; Katie McDonnell, Eleanor Corcoran; Ruth Hynes, Kayla Kennedy, Kateryna Zinchenko; Emily Spollen, Jennifer O’Neill, Emily Nolan. Subs: Carolann Downes for Katie Savage and Jessica Smyth for Emily Spollen (half-time), Evie Kilmurray for Emily Nolan (38), Aoibhinn Brady for Kateryna Zinchenko (49).

Referee: Kieran Groome (Offaly).