McGrath sisters to the fore again as Sarsfields retain senior club camogie title

Sarsfields (Galway) 2-14 Loughgiel Shamrocks (Antrim) 1-14

Sarsfields retained their AIB All-Ireland senior club camogie title after getting a severe test from Loughgiel in Croke Park on Saturday night. That makes it three titles in the past four years for the small Galway village with the McGrath sisters leading the charge.

Midfielder Niamh picked up the player of the match with four points, two from play, two from frees. Siobhán got Sarsfields off to the perfect start with a goal after just 33 seconds and added five frees over the course of the game, while two more sisters, Clodagh and Ciara, played their parts as their dad, former Galway hurler, Michael “Hopper” McGrath steered the ship from the sideline..

The only time they looked rattled was in the minutes after Maria Cooney’s injury when Loughgiel reeled in their lead of five points and went two ahead, playing some very sharp camogie.

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Their inside line of Róisín McCormick, Caitrín Dobbin and Annie Lynn found space during that time but were closed out during the second half. Amy Boyle and Lucia McNaughton drove them forward, but the Sarsfields defence preferred to concede frees during the second half, rather than be exposed as they had been just before the break.

In an obvious pre-planned move, Siobhán McGrath was left one on one from the throw-in, received the pass and buried the sliotar in the net after just 33 seconds. A few minutes later Sarsfields were five points up when McGrath and teenager Caoimhe Kelly added points.

However, Loughgiel fought their way back into the game with points from Mary McKillen, Róisín McCormick (the first of nine frees) and Lucia McNaughton.

Then came the injury to Cooney. McCormick pointed the resultant free and a couple of minutes later Dobbin raced clear to strike to the net. Annie Lynn pointed twice within a minute and suddenly the Ulster champions were two up.

There were eight minutes of injury-time added however and the Galway girls used them to haul themselves back to parity at the change of ends, 1-6 to 1-6.

Sarsfields hit another purple patch at the start of the second half to go five clear once more with Siobhán McGrath sending Rachel Murray in for the goal after 37 minutes.

However, a series of frees from McCormick dragged Loughgiel back level with five minutes of the scheduled 60 remaining.

The McGrath sisters then stepped up to find the winning scores for their team. Siobhán set Niamh up for the lead point and added a free. Niamh then found the target from a long-range free before Sarah Spellman picked off the insurance score.

McCormick brought her total to nine points with a late free, but Sarsfields used their experience to close out the victory by containing their opponents in added time.

SARSFIELDS: L Glynn; R Kelly, L Ward, K Gallagher; T Kenny, M Cooney, J Daly; Clodagh McGrath, N McGrath (capt) (0-4, two frees); K Donohue (0-1), R Murray (1-0), C Kenny; S Corcoran (0-1), S McGrath (1-5, five frees), C Kelly (0-2).

Subs: S Spellman (0-1) for M Cooney (24 mins), Ciara McGrath for C Kelly (60+2), C Cahalan for S Corcoran (60+4).

LOUGHGIEL: E Boyle; C Campbell, K Lynn, C McKillop; M Lynn, Ú McNaughton, S Doran; A Boyle, L McNaughton (0-1); C Laverty, M McKillen (0-1), A Connolly; C Dobbin (1-1), R McCormick (0-9, nine frees), A Lynn (0-2).

Subs: K McKillop for A Connolly (45 mins), C Boyle for C Campbell (49), C Higgins for C Laverty (60+2).

Referee: L Dempsey (Kilkenny).