Camógs pick up impressive win in Westport

Camogie

Cavan 4-7

Mayo 1-6

The Cavan camógs continued their winning streak as they overcame newly-promoted Mayo in St Patrick’s Park in Westport.

Late addition to the starting side Aisling Collins opened the scoring with a goal from play in the opening two minutes of the game. The Mayo panel worked hard as a unit in the first quarter as they slotted over five points unanswered. The Connacht side had run Waterford to a point back on June 4 and hit the ground running again here.

At this stage, Cavan’s defence were feeling the pressure but with Rosie Crowe-McKeever dropping back to help settle things, Cavan started to get on top of the Mayo forwards.

The visitors’ solid full-back line, consisting of Crosserlough’s Áine Finnegan and Erinn Galligan and Denn’s Nomonde Majola, began to win their individual battles which was key in switching the momentum in favour of the away side.

The reliable Clodagh Keenaghan got her name on the scoreboard after persistent fouling from Mayo’s backs resulted in a free which she converted.

In the 18th minute of the game, late addition to the panel Áine Corcoran, a student in UUJ who is also a superb middle distance runner who has turned her attention to camogie of late, hit the onion bag with a superb goal from play.

Again, in the dying moments of the first half, Corcoran found herself in the perfect position to nab yet another goal for the Breffni women, leaving the score Cavan 3-2 to Mayo’s 0-5 at the break.

The hosts opened the scoring in the second half as they converted a free in the first five minutes of play. Both teams endured a long scoreless in the second half with missed opportunities and top-class defending from both sides but with the introduction of fresh legs in the Cavan team, they found the energy they needed to finish out the game.

Clodagh Keenaghan was again to the fore as she popped two scores over the bar, one coming from play and the second coming from a free in the 19th minute of the second half.

With inspiration from Cavan joint captain Joey Maguire, who landed a timely point, Cavan looked to keep the momentum going but Mayo were not going away easily and came roaring back into the contest with a goal with eight minutes remaining on the clock.

But Cavan have been finishing games strongly all year and they repeated the trick when sub Tina O’Reilly came off the bench to bag 1-1 in the closing minutes of the contest to seal a hard-earned 10-point win in the end.

Cavan now face Clare in round 4 of the Glen Dimplex Premier Junior Championship at home on Saturday July 2; venue and time to be confirmed.

Cavan: Jenny O’Rourke, Áine Finnegan, Erinn Galligan, Nomonde Majola, Aideen Coyle, Joey Maguire (0-1), Carmel Fay, Niamh Keenaghan, Hannah Fitzsimons, Eimear Brady, Clodagh Keenaghan (0-5), Aisling Collins (1-0), Rosie Crowe-McKeever, Shanise Fitzsimons, Áine Corcoran (2-0)

Subs: Tina O Reilly (1-1), Ciara Fitzpatrick, Lorraine ORourke