Sport

Pearse's experience counts in the end

A determined Pearse's side of Galway collected their third All-Ireland title when they beat Michael Davitt's of Swatragh, Derry…

Mon Dec 04 2000 - 00:00

A determined Pearse's side of Galway collected their third All-Ireland title when they beat Michael Davitt's of Swatragh, Derry in Cusack Park, Mullingar yesterday.

Pearse's opened the scoring in the fifth minute with a Sharon Glynn free and, with six minutes to go in the first half, she found the back of the net from a 45 to put her side 1-7 to 0-3 ahead at the break - the Swatragh scores coming from Bernie O'Loughlin, Grainne Maguire and Clare McNicholl.

Played in front of a crowd of almost 1,500, Pearse's had two second-half points from Sharon Glynn and player of the match Carmel Hannon before Swatragh's Grainne Maguire crashed the ball to the back of the net from a 45 in the 12th minute to leave it 1-3 to 1-9.

However, the sheer determination of Pearse's began to come through and, with seven minutes left, Ann Forde got her side's second goal to seal the issue.

READ MORE

Swatragh, who were seeking their first All-Ireland title, had been dealt a cruel blow earlier in the week when top player Paula McAtamney broke her foot in an accident. Her place was taken by Aideen Mullan.

Pearses: L Curry; A Divilly, A Ward, P Burke; M Haverty, T Laheen, M Harkin; M Glynn, V Sweeney; C Hannon (0-2), A Hillery (0-1), O Kilkenny (0-2); S Ward (0-1), S Glynn (1-4) A Ford (1-1). Sub: L Lally for S Ward.

Swatragh: M McAtamney; A McGuckian, C Scullin, J McKeagney; N O'Hagan, G Maguire (1-1), P McKenna; A O'Loughlin, B O'Loughlin (0-1); A Mullan, A Tohill, M O'Kane; C McNicholl (0-1), O Mullan, D O'Doherty. Subs: B McGuckian for A Mullan; M Kirkpatrick for N O'Hagan.

Referee: Aine Derham (Dublin).

Derry champions Slaughtneil proved that experience counts in the first-round Ulster minor football game at Shaw's Road, Belfast. It is Slaughneil's third year in a row in the tournament and Buncrana, making their debut, ended on the wrong side of a 1-11 to 1-9 scoreline.

A final attack by Buncrana saw a shot from Condy Doherty fly over the bar when a goal would have won the match.

Scorers: Slaughtneil (J Kelly 1-5, three frees, Paul Bradley 0-4, three frees; B McGuigan, G Logue 0-1 each), Buncrana (O Doherty 0-5, four frees; M Cutliff 1-0; Colm Doherty 0-2, Condy Doherty, S Boucher-Hayes 0-1 each).

Adapting themselves better to the heavy ground, Clare produced a solid performance to score a seven-point win, 0-11 to 0-4, over London in yesterday's McGrath Football Cup Final at Ruislip.