Leader Peters drives Etchen’s girls to victory

Cumann na mBunscol Westmeath girls' football Division 1 final: St Etchen’s NS, Kinnegad 2-11, St Kenny NS, Kilpatrick 3-5 (after extra-time)

It was one of those finals that nobody deserved to lose. In the end however, some outstanding leadership from co-captain Erin Peters got St Etchen’s NS, Kinnegad over the line against a game St Kenny NS, Kilpatrick side in this Division 1 girls’ football final on Tuesday.

Peters, with fellow forward Ruby Higgins, shot 1-4 in the first half, with Peters teeing up the 1-1 scored by Higgins. With 13 minutes gone, the girls in red were seven points up (2-4 to 1-0) after a fortuitous lobbed free from Seamim Shaw, and looked on course for the win.

But St Kenny NS had a star of their own in captain Evie Kilmurray, who almost singlehandedly kept the Kilpatrick school in it throughout. She scored her own lobbed goal from a free after 10 minutes, and hit the net after a scramble four minutes before the break to keep St Kenny NS in contention. It was 2-4 to 2-0 at the break.

Higgins rattled the crossbar after the restart, but a further goal from Kilmurray narrowed the gap further. Meanwhile, some gutsy play from Lucy Kilmurray led to a free which the skipper pointed on 35 minutes, reducing the arrears to the minimum.

Kinnegad had the best of the closing minutes, with Peters wonderfully converting a ‘35’, while her fellow captain, Iseult Coyne, looked to have won it at the death. But in a dramatic finale, two fantastic, late solo scores from St Kenny’s Evie Kilmurray, either side of Coyne’s point, forced extra-time. Kilmurray finished the game having scored all of Kilpatrick’s 3-5.

After a scoreless first half of extra-time, St Etchen’s closed out the game on top when Peters (0-2) and Higgins conjured some fine points to ensure a three-point win, and the retention of the title won in 2019.

At full-time, Derek Butler, chairman of Westmeath Cumann na mBunscol, presented the cup to St Etchen’s NS captains Erin Peters and Iseult Coyne.

Scorers – St Etchen’s NS: R Higgins 1-4 (0-2f), E Peters 0-6 (1f, 1 ‘35’), S Shaw 1-0f, I Coyne 0-1. St Kenny NS: E Kilmurray 3-5 (2-3f).

St Etchen’s NS, Kinnegad panel: Zoe Matear, Elizabeth Odunjo, Méabh Fogarty, Amy Kerr, Aoife Longe, Iseult Coyne (joint capt.), Angeline Fox, Seamim Shaw, Kiera O’Sullivan, Ruby Higgins, Erin Peters (joint capt.), Zara Scanlan, Roseline Inneh, Carlie Kinsella, Alana Spollen, Zoe Fagan, Amber O’Connor, Lola Adewale, Miya Mazilu, Sophie Kavanagh, Ellie May, Róise McManus, Abbie Muldoon, Phoebe Burbridge, Ava Rose Murphy, Orla Ruby, Sarah Spollen, Caoimhe O’Grady, Lauren Ryan, Jessica Doherty, Aoibheann Gaughan.

St Kenny NS, Kilpatrick panel: Lucy Hickey, Saoirse Clinton, Rachel Molloy, Anna Byrne, Hanorah Glennon, Evie Kilmurray (capt.), Sarah Doherty, Hui Fen Bartley, Elle Sherlock, Lucy Kilmurray, Béibhinn O’Reilly, Caitlín Donoghue, Anna Keenaghan, Caoimhe Kiernan, Mia Brennan, Aisling Kilmurray, Rachel Wheeler, Molly Thornton-Sleator, Kate Thornton-Sleator, Lucy Fay, Aisling Cole, Lucy Carey, Daisy-Mae Kelly, Isobel Keena, Jane Byrne, Molly Kelly, Sarah Gallagher.

Ref: Paul O’Malley (Killucan).

Player of the match: Erin Peters (St Etchen’s NS, Kinnegad).