A LAST MINUTE penalty save from Amy Casey won the Ladies’ County Junior Football Championship for Buncrana against Naomh Conaill this afternoon.
Buncrana 1-10 Naomh Conaill 2-6
It was tough on Hughie Molloy’s team, who had fought their way back from 1-8 to 1-0 down and with Aoife McDonnell’s influence growing, it looked as though the cup was about to be adorned with blue and white ribbons.
But Casey dived down to her right and stopped the penalty from Nicola Gallagher and Buncrana held on by the skin of their teeth.
Here’s the penalty save from Casey …
It was perhaps fitting the better team, certainly for longer spells of the game, held on. But Naomh Conaill can certainly take heart from their own display. Twelve months ago it was Buncrana who went down in the final, having lost to Carndonagh.
At half-time at Hibernian Park in Burt this afternoon, it was the team managed by Lawrence Hegarty and Brian Stokes who were 0-5 to 1-0 in front.
Their forwards – Paula McGrory, Natasha Craig and Michaela Mullan – had all scribbled their name on the scoreboard and Ella McLaughlin posted two scores late in the half, as well as coming with a hair’s breath of adding a goal.
A goal was the sum total of Naomh Conaill’s first half workings and it came on 13 minutes when a free from  McDonnell got caught in the wind but arrived in the hands of Gallagher, who hooked it past Casey in the Buncrana goal.
At the start of the second period, the crossfield wind was going to be of use to the Glenties team, it seemed. However, this was the stage in the match where Buncrana really made their hay.
Three successive points, in the first three minutes of the half, set the tone, with Mairéad Walsh, McGrory and Mullan all on the mark. Then, on 35 minutes, substitute Niamh Connolly struck home a rebound from close range after McGrory’s shot had been parried by Siobhan McDevitt in the Naomh Conaill goal.
That made it 1-8 to 1-0 and it was a long road back for Naomh Conaill.
But they made an excellent fist of it. Their wheels of motion started turning when Gráinne McLoone bundled home a goal after Ellie MacInnes was initially thwarted by Casey on 37 minutes, before a point from play followed from Patti Mannering.
Naomh Conaill were chipping away but when McDonnell grasped control of the game, their arrears were nullified. The former Donegal captain kicked five successive points – four of which came from play – to being her side level at 2-6 to 1-9 with only two minutes left.
Buncrana looked all at sea having been hemmed in but did manufacture a point with a minute to go when Craig, who had gone off with a knock before being reintroduced, pointed from a free to edge them in front again.
Naomh Conaill pressed and pressed, looking to find a way and were awarded a penalty when Casey was adjudged to have fouled Lorraine Molloy with an outstretched leg. However, Casey made up for that concession with a dramatic save in a dramatic final.
Buncrara: Amy Casey; Gemma McDaid, Danielle Loughrey, Louise Devlin; Caroline Gallagher, Kirsty Grant, Lauren Hegarty; Deirdre Grant, Doreen McGee; Louise Reid, Máiread Walsh (0-1), Michaela Mullan (0-2); Natasha Craig (0-2, 2f), Paula McGrory (0-3, 1f), Ella McLaughlin (0-2). Subs: Niamh Connolly for Craig (1-0, 26), Craig for McLaughlin (48), Michelle Brown for Connolly (55).
Naomh Conaill: Siobhan McDevitt; Arlene Gallagher, Megan Byrne, Rose Agnew; Gemma Byrne, Patricia Mannering (0-1), Harrietta Bonner; Fiona Molloy, Ailisha Ward; Fionnuala Harkin, Aoife McDonnell (0-5, 4f), Gráinne McLoone (1-0); Nicola Gallagher (1-0), Lorraine Molloy, Breena McDonnell. Subs: Ellie MacInnes for Harkin (half-time), Joanne Gallagher for B McDonnell (38), Niamh Agnew for McLoone (50).
Here’s Buncrana’s ladies getting the celebrations underway …
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