All-Ireland Ladies Senior Football Championship Final
Sun 30th Nov Seneschalstown 1-6 Donoughmore 2-16
All-Ireland club championships tend to produce the odd fairytale story, but there was no happy ending for Seneschalstown as they lost to Munster champions Donoughmore in the Ladies SFC final at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny on Sunday.
Donoughmore, who won the All-Ireland title in 2001, dominated from start to finish and displayed a level of skill and craft that the Meath side simply couldn’t live with.
All-Ireland Ladies Senior Football Championship Final
Sun 30th Nov Seneschalstown 1-6 Donoughmore 2-16
All-Ireland club championships tend to produce the odd fairytale story, but there was no happy ending for Seneschalstown as they lost to Munster champions Donoughmore in the Ladies SFC final at Nowlan Park, Kilkenny on Sunday.
Donoughmore, who won the All-Ireland title in 2001, dominated from start to finish and displayed a level of skill and craft that the Meath side simply couldn’t live with.
Despite Sunday’s whopping 13-point losing margin this was a year that had many magical moments for the Seneschalstown girls who made history by becoming the first team from Meath to win a Leinster title and reach an All-Ireland decider.
However, they were unable to find the type of form that had helped them to historic victories over Shelmaliers in the Leinster final and Knockbride in the All-Ireland semi-final.
The dry sunny weather made for perfect conditions at the neat Kilkenny ground, but it was the Cork side who showed their experience by settling quickly and popping over four unanswered points inside the opening 11 minutes.
From then it was clear that not only were underdogs Seneschalstown facing a massive challenge to win this game they were going to struggle to avoid a big defeat against a very talented team that moved the ball with lightning speed.
The Donoughmore attack looked particularly potent as they ran at the Seneschalstown defence in waves, creating scoring opportunities almost at will with Mary and Aisling O’Connor to the fore.
Seneschalstown battled admirably to hold back the tide and they kept in touching distance until the interval through sheer spirit and commitment. They also managed some well-worked scores.
The Cork champions led by 1-8 to 1-5 at the interval and the large contingent of Seneschalstown supporters had some hope at that stage that a shock victory could be achieved. However, after the break Donoughmore switched to top gear and pulled away with ease.
At times Seneschalstown forgot their nerves and showed why they had made such significant progress this year.
Their opening point after 13 minutes was one of the highlights of their game. The move started deep in their own half, involved Orla Sheridan, Grainne Nulty, Edel McGrane, Mary Sheridan, Adelle Carolan and ended with Fiona Mahon slotting over the bar from close range.
Mahon, who had scored 11 points in the All-Ireland semi-final, was Seneschalstown’s main threat and with a better supply of ball she would have inflicted further damage.
Not only did she score four of Seneschalstown’s points she also grabbed her team’s only goal in the 34th minute. It arrived when Mary Sheridan’s long ball broke to Mahon who flashed a shot high to the net.
The other Seneschalstown points came from Louise McKeever with Mary Sheridan firing over her team’s only second-half score nine minutes after the resumption.
Mahon was also involved in creating a clear-cut goal chance early in the game when she played a neat ball beyond the defence and into the path of Mary Sheridan, but the full-forward blasted wide.
The huge imbalance in the number of wides gives a good indication of how the teams fared in terms of possession with Donoughmore clocking up 12 wayward shots and Seneschalstown registering just two.
Apart from a very brief spell in the first-half the closest Seneschalstown came to gaining parity with the Munster champions was when they reduced the deficit to the three points at the break.
Donoughmore came out for the second-half and rifled over five unanswered points inside the opening six minutes.
After such a barrage of scores there was no way back for Seneschalstown and their fairytale run was over long before the final whistle heralded the end of a great adventure.
Donoughmore – T. Rodgers; E. Walsh, E. O’Sullivan, S. O’Connell; V. Sheehan, H. Kelliher, O. McSweeney; R. Buckley, J. Murphy (0-5); A. Barrett (0-1), A. O’Connor (2-0), A. Brennan; M. O’Connor (0-6), L. Murphy (0-2), S. Dunlea (0-1). Sub – C. O’Connell (0-1) for Brennan.
Seneschalstown – L. Byrne; E. Dillon, P. Sheridan, D. O’Carroll; D. Mangan, E. McGrane, O. Sheridan; G. Nulty, A. O’Connell; A. Carolan, F. Mahon (1-4), S. A. Carolan; E. O’Carroll, M. Sheridan (0-1), L. McKeever (0-1). Subs – C. Quinn for S. A. Carolan, S. Heary for D. O’Carroll, C. Finnegan for A. O’Connell, L. Carey for E. O’Carroll, S. Wogan for Dillon.
Referee – M. Duffy (Sligo).
Inevitably there was disappointment in the Seneschalstown camp after Sunday’s defeat by Donoughmore in the Ladies All-Ireland Club SFC final, writes Jimmy Geoghegan.
However, there were also reasons to be cheerful after an unforgettable voyage which included a historic Leinster title.
Seneschalstown manager Damien Sheridan was philosophical after the defeat and was understandably eager to focus on the achievements of his team.
“We have no complaints, Donoughmore are a class team full of good players and while our girls worked hard it wasn’t our day,” he said.
“But they can hold their heads up and be proud that they did succeed in getting to an All-Ireland final.
“It’s taken a huge effort to get to this stage. This is the first time that a Meath team has reached an All-Ireland final. We were breaking new ground for ladies football in Meath and I suppose breaking new ground is never easy.
The Seneschalstown boss felt that his team was not given the opportunity to settle by their more experienced opponents from Munster.
“We simply didn’t get a chance to settle down and score early on. We needed that just to settle the nerves and in the second-half we couldn’t break up their momentum.
” The players will be disappointed that they lost, but they’ll also be disappointed because they know themselves that they can play better. It’s a learning experience and hopefully they’ll have another go next year,” he concluded.
