Following on from Carnacon’s success in last weekend’s senior club final, Mayo are looking to pick up their second All Ireland club title in the space of seven days in the ladies’ game. This time it will be the pride of Mayo who will be looking to take home the honours when Knockmore take on Clare and Munster champions Kilmichil in Tuam Stadium at 2pm tomorrow (Saturday November 29 ). The Knockmore ladies who claimed their first adult county championship in over 30 years this year when they defeated Westport in the final, have had some tough battles along the way to the this stage, where 60 minutes stand between them and destiny. The Mayo championship saw them see off Tourmakeady and St Brigids before the final against Westport, a game that saw them turn around a half time deficit to claim the championship.
Once the Mayo title was taken care of it was on to the Connacht competition and the season went into overdrive with games coming thick and fast. They could have made their exit in the preliminary round of the provincial championship, but a late goal from Sharon Hughes got them out of jail and set them on their way. The Sligo champions St Michael’s were their opponents in the Connacht final, before Four Roads from Roscommon were defeated to claim the Connacht title, a game where they were able to cut loose in the second half and see out the game as 15-point winners. Ulster champions Truagh made the trip to north Mayo for the All Ireland semi-final and once again the Knockmore girls weren’t found wanting and on Saturday against the Munster champions they have the chance to write their names into the history books of the “town of the backs”.
Top of the tree again
Carnacon cemented their place as the top side in ladies’ club football last weekend when they put together back-to-back senior ladies’ club titles thanks to a five-point win over the Cork and Munster standard bearers Inch Rovers in Tullamore. As is often the case in sport defending a title is harder than winning it, and last weekend Carnacon were forced to call on all their reserves of energy and experience to claim their third All Ireland title in six years. Last weekend’s game was always going to be a tough encounter against an Inch Rovers side who were as star studded as the Mayo ladies’. Despite putting everything into their defensive work in the first half when they played into a strong wind they went into the dressing room in arrears by six points, the kind of deficit that could kill off most teams, but Carnacon have proved in the past they are no ordinary team. They were even further behind just after the restart of the second half when Inch put what seemed the proverbial mile between the sides when they crashed home their second goal.
But the mile was reined in inch by inch with Cora Staunton pulling the strings up front on the point-scoring side and a goal from Natasha Beegan closed the gap to just two points with a quarter of the game left to play and from then on it was all Carnacon. Claire Egan and player of the game Fiona McHale combined to send in Joan Hallinan to finish to the net and put Carnacon in front for the first time. From then to the end Cora Staunton kept the scoreboard ticking over with points from a variety of angles with placed balls all over the pitch till the hooter sounded, leaving Carnacon 2-11 to 2-6 winners and allowing captain Michelle McGing to raise aloft the Dolores Tyrell Cup for the second year in a row and set bonfires burning all over central Mayo in expetcance of their homecoming.
With Knockmore looking to make it two out of two in All Ireland finals on successive weekends tomorrow, a year that got off to the worst possible start for ladies’ football in Mayo could have a very successful ending at least in terms of silverware.
