Wexford 1-7 Kilkenny 1-6
Cruelty was the only word to describe it as Kilkenny’s ladies suffered an agonising defeat by the slimmest of margins in the National Camogie League Final last Saturday.
The game burst into life in the dying minutes as Kilkenny snatched a late lead when a goalmouth scramble saw the ball trickle into the Wexford net a minute into injury-time.
But Wexford responded immediately with a levelling point from team captain Una Leacy, followed swiftly by the winning effort from substitute Ursula Jacob to give the Slaneysiders a victory they just about deserved.
A low scoring game didn’t lack quality with the standard of defensive play particularly excellent, and the excitement levels were high with the tension visible throughout a close matched affair.
The Cats led 0-4 to 0-3 at the interval, with Wexford shooting seven wides (10 in total ) in the opening half. But it was the Model County who started the second-half with more vigour and direction.
Kilkenny’s goalkeeper Catriona Ryan made a valiant attempt to stop a searing shot from Kate Kelly after her terrific run through the Kilkenny defence but the momentum saw the sliotar hit the back of the net and Wexford were in the driving seat, 1-3 to 0-4.
Kilkenny responded with a superbly worked point finished off by Aoife Neary and the next 15 minutes were scoreless. Kate Kelly (free ) and Ursula Jacob pointed for the yellowbellies, as they appeared to gain supremacy but Kilkenny refused to relinquish, 1-5 to 0-5.
An Aoife Neary free narrowed the gap, before the James Stephens’ player squandered a goal opportunity in the 57th minute after great work from Katie Power and Michelle Quilty.
But she made amends as the game moved into injury-time, stepping up to take a ‘45 after Katie Power’s initial shot at goal was brilliantly stopped by Mags Darcy.
Neary lobbed the resulting ‘45 in around the goalmouth and after some frenetic action the bally trickled over the goal-line, with Marie Dargan appearing to get the final touch.
But Wexford were not to be denied and they responded with an excellent point from Una Leacy before a break in the play as Aoife Neary received treatment following a collision.
When play resumed both sides saw some possession but it was Ursula Jacob who popped up to be the match-winning heroine and the Kilkenny girls were left gutted at the death.
However, they can look back on a gallant performance and out of the 19 players that featured on Saturday, 10 are under-21, with Katriona Parrock the sole Wexford representative in a similar age bracket.
Both defences were superb, with Catherine Doherty and Jacqui Frisby in particular performing outstandingly for Kilkenny, while Marie Dargan also shone.
Attention now switches to the O’Duffy Cup campaign which begins on July 12.
Player of the match: Catherine Doherty(Kilkenny )
Teams:
KILKENNY: Catriona Ryan, Amy Butler, Catherine Doherty, Jacqui Frisby, Kate McDonald, Leanne Fennelly, Elaine Aylward, Keeva Fennelly, Denise Gaule (0-01 ), Anne Dalton (captain ) (0-1 free ), Katie Power, Marie Dargan(1-1 ), Michelle Quilty, Deirdre Delaney, Aoife Neary (0-03 - 0-2 frees )
Subs: Anna Farrell, Shelley Farrell, Collette Dormer, Edwina Keane, Collette Dormer,
WEXFORD: Mags Darcy, Claire O’Connor, Catherine O’Loughlin, Karen Atkinson, Noeleen Lambert, Mary Leacy, Deirdre Codd, Josie Dwyer, Caroline Murphy (0-01 ), Katriona Parrock, Michelle O’Leary, Kate Kelly (1-03 - points all frees ), Lenny Holohan, Una Leacy (0-01 ), Fiona Kavanagh
Sub: Ursula Jacob (0-02 )
REFREE: Alan Lagrue (Kildare )
