Champions remain a class apart despite Westport’s best efforts
Westport's Sarah Mulroy tries to break past Kilkerrin-Clonberne's Caitlin Boyle.
They may be marginal but gains are being made. On Sunday, Westport scored two points more having conceded exactly the same as when beaten 1-17 to 1-8 by Kilkerrin-Clonberne at Swinford Amenity Park last year.
Of course, the Mayo champions were at home for this one so perhaps two points was the least of what the local support should have been worth. And it’s not as though they weren’t given something to shout about when Westport hit the seven-in-a-row Connacht champions for two goals inside the opening six minutes of this provincial semi-final at a packed St Patrick’s Park.
But Kilkerrin-Clonberne haven’t also won the last four All-Ireland titles against four different clubs from three different provinces by some quirk of fate. Whatever way you want to play, they’ll play it better.
The Galway girls are as slick as they come and hardly batted their eyelids at Westport’s whirlwind start. By the 23rd minute, and playing against the breeze, they had already wrestled the lead from their hosts and by half-time Kilkerrin-Clonberne were all of five points in front.
They were helped, for sure, by the departure of an injured Aoife Staunton, the scorer of Westport’s second goal, five minutes before the break, but when you consider that Kilkerrin-Clonberne managed to scored 1-7 from play against the breeze and Westport just two points, that tells you something about the gulf in class that still exists between the senior club champions of Galway and Mayo.
“We were looking forward to the challenge and unfortunately just came up a bit short, but we’ll be back,” assured Westport manager Pop Geraghty, adding that his players had been determined to impose themselves upon the game.
“We’re not out to just lose by a certain amount to any team, we want to win every game we’re in and that was the goal again today. We got a really good start, losing Aoife Staunton was a key moment – she’s a massive player for us – and that probably knocked the stuffing out of us a bit.
“[Kilkerrin-Clonberne] are extremely accurate and they punished us in certain areas,” he admitted.
The running power of Kilkerrin-Clonberne was something the Covies had struggled to contain in particular, with all three of the Galway side’s half-backs scoring by the 36th minute. The Ward sisters, Nicola and Louise, at centre-back and centre-forward, linked defence and attack almost telepathically, with the Divilly trio also dominant around the central diamond, while Chloe Miskell gave an exhibition of full-forward play.
“They celebrated like they’d won their All-Ireland so they’re definitely threatened, there’s a bit of insecurity there,” reckoned Pop Geraghty.
He might be right. But if Kilkerrin-Clomberne were feeling under threat, particularly after Westport’s lightning start, then their response was what you’d expect of an Alsatian backed into a corner. Ferocious.
The game was only ninety seconds old when a free earned by Aoife Staunton was kicked towards goal by Laura Moran and somehow ended up in the Kilkerrin-Clonberne net. And while Westport were fortunate not to concede one themselves at the other end, with goalkeeper Roisin Scott saving an effort by wing-back Niamh Divilly, they were soon four points ahead as midfielder Aoife Geraghty powered her way through and split the posts.
Nicola Ward ran from deep to fist over Kilkerrin-Clonberne’s opening point but that decision to take the safe option rather than go for goal looked like the wrong one, especially when Westport went down the other end and bagged their second goal, with Staunton burying to the net in the sixth minute for a 2-1 to 0-1 lead.
That, however, was their last score for almost 20 minutes which in the context of playing at home and with the wind at your back, was like handing Kilkerrin-Clonberne a wild card. As if they needed it.
Nor did Westport help themselves by persisting with a short kickout strategy that only invited a high press from the very best in the business.
Louise Ward and Chloe Miskell, two, had kicked points before captain Ward played a give-and-go and blasted an equalising goal past Scott around the quarter hour mark.
Olivia Divilly converted her first free of the match while sister Niamh opened her account from play and Miskell kicked her third, as the visitors flipped the game on its head and took a 1-7 to 2-1 advantage.
Laura Moran interrupted Kilkerrin-Clonberne when pointing a free but that was Westport’s only other score of a first-half that ended with the Divillys, Niamh from play and Olivia with two frees, raising the flags that sent their team into the dressing-room with a 1-10 to 2-2 lead.
A start to the second-half like they had enjoyed to the first would have been the dream for Westport but what happened within three minutes of the restart instead was that Olivia Divilly, from a free, and Aisling Madden fired over points for the Connacht champions. If there was any small consolation it was that Madden hadn’t lifted the net off its hooks, as the goal really had been at the midfielder’s mercy after a fine flowing move involving Eva Noone, Siobhan Divilly and Louise Ward.
Laura Moran swung an excellent point over her right shoulder and nailed a difficult free in reply to a Hannah Noone point, but two more third quarter frees by Moran didn’t hit the target which meant that when substitute Aine Shaughnessy and Chloe Miskell each hit a point apiece, Kilkerrin-Clonberne had now increased their lead to its biggest yet, eight points.
Ava Lambert, the first-half replacement for Aoife Staunton, linked up with Geraghty to set-up Christina MacEvilly for a point, and the fourth quarter began with an exchange of frees between Eva Noone and Laura Moran before came the home team’s best opportunity to drag themselves back into contention. It was also their best move of the game.
Experienced substitute Noirín Moran, who was only on the pitch, sparked a 50th minute raid that saw Saoirse Lally and Ava Lambert tear a hole through the middle of the Kilkerrin-Clonberne defence. Aoife Geraghty had the first shot at Lisa Murphy’s goal and when that was blocked, Lally was on hand for the second attempt but Murphy was off her line quickly to smother and the loose ball was cleared.
Another pointed free by Laura Moran did reduce Westport’s arrears to six points with seven minutes of regulation time still to play, however, the visitors shut up shop and weren’t to concede again – but did add the game’s final score when Olivia Divilly struck her fifth point, and first from play, to send her side safely through to an eleventh Connacht final in twelve seasons.
“We’ve made marginal gains, we lost by nine last year, seven this year, so we’ll keep plugging away and we’ll keep coming back,” said a defiant Pop Geraghty afterwards.
“First and foremost, there’s a huge talent pool in the club. There’s a huge amount coming, at minor, under-16, under-14, so we’ve a really bright future. We’ve a young team here so I’ve no fear.
“Knockmore could have been here, they pushed us in the county final and I’ve no doubt they would have put up a similar performance as we did, so the future in Westport and overall in Mayo football is really bright,” assured the Westport manager.
“We’re looking forward to getting back to the drawing board for next year and taking the learnings and rocking on again.” Scorers – Kilkerrin-Clonberne: Olivia Divilly 0-5 (4f), Louise Ward 1-1, Chloe Miskell 0-4, Niamh Divilly 0-2, Nicola Ward, Hannah Noone, Aine Shaughnessy and Eva Noone (f) 0-1 each.
Westport: Laura Moran 1-5 (1-0f, 4f), Aoife Staunton 1-0, Aoife Geraghty and Christina MacEvilly 0-1 each.
Westport: Roisin Scott; Janette O’Malley, Nicola O’Malley, Saoirse Lally; Sarah Mulroy, Sorcha McCarney, Sherin El Masry; Saoirse Kelly, Aoife Geraghty; Fionnuala McLaughlin, Aoife Staunton, Aoife Kennedy; Christina MacEvilly, Saoirse Ludden, Laura Moran. Subs: Ava Lambert (for Staunton 25, inj), Larissa Kelly (for J O’Malley ht), Noirín Moran (for El Masry 47), Rebecca O’Malley (for Mulroy 53), Saoirse Byrne (for MacEvilly 58).
Kilkerrin-Clonberne: Lisa Murphy; Lisa Finnegan, Sarah Gormally, Katelyn Mee; Hannah Noone, Nicola Ward, Niamh Divilly; Siobhan Divilly, Aisling Madden; Olivia Divilly, Louise Ward, Lynsey Noone; Eva Noone, Chloe Miskell, Caitlín Boyle. Subs: Aine Shaughnessy (for Boyle ht), Chloe Costello (for Mee 47), Eadoin Hynes and Nicole Miskell (for Shaughnessy and C Miskell 58).
REF: Gus Chapman (Sligo)
