Kilkenny Rivercourt Hotel Junior All County League Final

Sunday 24 September in Glenmore GAA

Piltown 2-06 Tullogher Camogie Club 0-13

by Jason O’Brien, Piltown PRO

We took to the field for this long awaited final against Tullogher on a morning that even the flags didn’t want to go out in. A hello to club and county stalwart Sheila on the gate, a wet, windy morning with horizontal rain blowing from right to left as we stood in the stand awaiting the two teams to emerge for their ‘warm up’, nothing except a mug a’tae could do that job today!

They went through their routines , naming of the team, team pic, some more deep heat , ‘Kay have you any tissues’ , a few drills, stretches, and both teams were ready.

The ball was in and away we went, Piltown chose to play with the wind in the first half, towards the goal on our left.

Conditions were really poor with a driving wind, driving rain, wet pitch and wet sliotar, it would be testament to the determination of both sides to serve up any kind of game in that !

But they did. As early as the 3rd minute ,when Ciara Dunne went down the right wing and put her shot between the posts. She replicated that score three minutes later as the strong wind was hampering Tullogher’s attempts to clear the ball and it was aiding Piltown’s as the battle was between the two half back lines. But Tullogher were getting to grip with the elements as they attacked twice and scored two points to level the game by the 13th minute.

Our two O’Shea’s, Aoife and Rachel , were to the fore in the midfield battle and when the ball broke to Alice Talbot just outside the Tullogher 45, she struck a long hopeful pass, that turned into a shot and turned into a goal as the lengthy drive from our tenacious midfielder deceived the Tullogher goalkeeper and into the net.

Tullogher were calm though as they got the next two points , to narrow the lead back to one point, when as she was mentioned already, Aoife O’Shea broke forward and struck off her right and put the ball over the bar in the 24th minute. Chloe Holden got on the score sheet with a coolly taken free in the 28th minute, that was cancelled out by the fifth Tullogher point of the half just before Alice Talbot stood over a 45 after a Nicola Phelan shot was deflected wide by a defender, she was probably aware of what happened with her previous long range effort, Alice struck it perfectly towards goal , and again, into the net.

Half time score Piltown 2-04 Tullogher 0-05.

Would it be enough? That was the talk in the stand at half time as the two teams trotted into the dry sanctuary of the Pairc na Ratha dressing rooms.

And we were definitely questioning would it be enough when Tullogher rattled over a 45 and 3 frees – two of them that would be judged as soft – in the opening ten minutes of the half as the wind, the rain and the temperature on the field all intensified and the game swung in their favour. Piltown couldn’t buy a score or a free as they battled to stay ahead as Tullogher went through the gears and made full use of the the yellow warning rated wind that aided them.

We eventually did score as Leah Cooney put a ball over the bar to stem the tide a bit in the 44th minute and we were still two ahead.

Tullogher kept coming, their attacks were as relentless as the wind and rain in the faces of Marie Beth, Chloe, Katelynn, and Sophie and despite battling themselves to a standstill, Tullogher were now on top and they could smell blood, they scored points in the 46, 51, and 52nd minutes to put them one ahead with time ticking down. But up stepped Edel Long to cap a marvellous display of tackling, passing and work, to claim her point to level the scores in the 55th minute.

Tullogher came again and got the match leading point in the 57th minute , Piltown got two frees as the time slipped into stoppage time, but the distance and the wind ruined any hope of an equalising score and extra time.

Full time score

Piltown 2-06 Tullogher 0-13

Piltown Scorers – Alice Talbot 2-0, Ciara Dunne 0-2, Chloe Holden, Leah Cooney, Edel Long, Aoife O’Shea 0-1 each

Tullogher Scorers – No names