Five-star O’Connor downs Kilmovee Shamrocks
Knockmore's Hannah Reape looks to pass the ball to teammate Lara Sweeney (wearing 14). Picture: SJ Walsh Photography
Both teams were successful in their opening games, but Knockmore were the side who continued to look impervious as they cast aside Kilmovee Shamrocks with a 17-point victory.
A deadly forward duo of Clodagh Keane and Amy O’Connor emerged as the dominant factor in securing the win as O’Connor managed a haul of five goals.
Three of those were inside the first ten minutes of the contest, with her first coming as she ran off the shoulder of Keane to fire past Elaine Duffy in the Kilmovee goal three minutes in. A minute later she would double her tally, rounding Duffy this time to finish, with Hannah Reape adding the first point for Knockmore from midfield moments later. O’Connor would have her hat-trick not too long after, being on hand to fire in the rebound from Clodagh Keane’s goal-bound effort.
Ending the visitors 14-minute wait for a score was Lisa Cafferky, with a clinical counter seeing her rifle for a goal but coming away with a point. Momentum began to shift midway through the half, a loose ball then falling in the path of dangerous wing-forward Shauna Golden, who fired over off her left boot. Just after the twenty-minute mark, Sinead Cafferky stepped up to slot home a penalty won on another breakout of their defence.
Knockmore captain Sarah Mulvihill regained some control as she carried the ball from midfield into a dangerous central area, sending a shot over the bar to put Knockmore back on track at the end of the half.
Lara Sweeney then sent over an easy free for the hosts from a Katelyn Regan foul, but the latter replied with a great point down Kilmovee’s right flank as she beat her marker and fired over on the move.
After the restart, Kilmovee started quickest with Lisa Cafferky’s point on the turn coming from Golden’s free that dropped short. Knockmore would begin to show the class that brought them their twelve-point win against Burrishoole in the last round, as Sarah Mulvihill was amongst the goals off the work of the unstoppable Keane.
Keane fielded another high ball in and went one-on-one with the keeper but found her captain across the face of goal for the easy finish.
A Sweeney free followed and Reape’s laced point on the run from midfield had Knockmore in the ascendancy. After another Sweeney free from a tight angle, they had their fifth goal, with no marks being given for guessing the architect. Once more, Keane would find O’Connor, who powerfully drove home the ball from point blank range for her fourth goal, and Knockmore’s fifth.
Golden nailed a couple of central frees in reply, but the home side were firing on all cylinders now. O’Connor skipped through two challenges with some great footwork before delivering her first point from close in, and she would combine with Keane for a final time to grab her fifth goal as the game entered its last ten minutes.
Kilmovee’s final score happened five minutes from full-time, Sinead Cafferky’s second penalty beat substitute netminder Anne Murphy, which Knockmore would reply to with another scoring burst. Sarah Dempsey had plenty of space to tap over her point just right of goal, and after playing creator for so long, Clodagh Keane hit a double salvo of points before the marauding run of corner-back Nina McVann cutting in from the left saw her curl over a lovely score.
With this result, Knockmore will remain top of Group B, while Kilmovee will need to see off Burrishoole to progress to the next stage.
