MIDLETON 1-8
DOHENYS 1-6
GER MCCARTHY REPORTS
MIDLETON ended Dohenys Cork LGFA junior A county championship hopes for another year in Cloughduv last Saturday afternoon. The East Cork club inflicted a third consecutive county final defeat on a Dohenys team that contributed much to an entertaining and sometimes hard-hitting junior A decider.
Midleton’s defensive shape, tackling tenacity and ability to see out challenging periods whilst being down to fourteen and thirteen players were the biggest factors in the Magpies’ win. Though they played their hearts out, one point from open play during the first half and four in total prior to the final whistle was never going to be enough to win a county final for a battling Dunmanway.
Melissa Duggan and Eirinn O’Donovan ran their hearts out in midfield. Defenders Ciara Aherne and Margaret Collins got forward whenever possible whilst also closely guarding Midleton’s dangerous half-forward line. Ava O’Donovan nervelessly converted a penalty and kicked two superb points. Noelle McCarthy, Rachel McCarthy and Mairead Crowley also battled hard in what was ultimately a losing effort.
Having lost to West Cork rivals O’Donovan Rossa (2023) and Castlehaven (2021) in their two previous junior A county final visits, the Dunmanway club has little choice but to regroup and go again in 2025. As for Midleton, intermediate football awaits next year. Before that, an upcoming Munster LGFA junior A championship campaign is just reward for a team in which Sadhbh Beausang, Cork senior Ava McAuliffe, Lucy Cashman, Lucy Wallace, Molly Beausang and Abby Quirke starred.
Sadhbh Beausang opened the scoring with a terrific point after 3 minutes. Numerous Dohenys forays into their opponents’ half proved fruitless thanks to Kate O’Sullivan, Lucy Wallace and Sorcha Cronin’s defensive efforts. It took the West Cork club a full 15 minutes to register their first point, a Mairead Crowley free bringing parity to the score. Then, after 18 minutes, a high ball into the Dohenys square was gathered by Lucy Cashman who shrugged off a defender and fired into the net.
Molly Beausang’s point made it 1-2 to 0-1 but four wides stymied Midleton’s chances of opening a bigger gap. Sadhbh Beasuang was proving a handful for the Dunmanway club’s defence and added two more points (one free) to move six clear heading towards the interval. Ava O’Donovan fired over a cracker and Mairead Crowley converted another free to
give Dohenys hope despite trailing 1-4 to 0-3 at the break.
Midleton continued to set the pace at the beginning of the second half as consecutive Beasuang (two) and Lucy Wallace scores made it 1-7 to 0-3. Creditably, with the outcome appearing all but decided with 19 minutes to go, Dohenys roused themselves and staged a gutsy comeback. Midleton full-back Deirdre Corcoran brought down a Dohenys forward in the square and instantly received a yellow card. Ava O’Donovan fired in the resulting penalty prior to Rachel McCarthy making it a one-score game, 1-7 to 1-4.
Magpies captain, Abby Quirke, had a goal disallowed before a second yellow card, this time for Ava McAuliffe, temporarily reduced the East Cork side down to 13 players. Roared on by their supporters, Rachel McCarthy’s second score left two in it but, once back to their full complement, Midleton quickly restored their three-point advantage thanks to a fine Sadhbh Beausang effort.
A late flurry of Dohenys attacks saw Ava O’Donovan split the posts and bring the Dohenys faithful to their feet before a third Midleton yellow card was issued. Though they through the kitchen sink at their opponents, Dohenys could not find an injury-time winning goal. Midleton held on to deservedly win the junior A county championship and will play in the intermediate grade next year.
‘It is absolutely unbelievable,’ Midleton manager Paddy Corcoran admitted. ‘We said to the girls before the match that if we ended up with fifteen players on the pitch then we would win the game. That didn’t exactly work out! We had three girls sin-binned. In fairness to Dohenys, they pushed us to the pin of our collars.’
Scorers
Midleton: S Beausang 0-6 (2f), L Cashman 1-0, M Beausang and L
Wallace 0-1 each.
Dohenys: A O’Donovan 1-2 (pen), M Crowley (2f), R McCarthy 0-2 each.
MIDLETON: R Power; C Kearney, D Corcoran, M Kelly; K O’Sullivan, M Beausang, S Cronin; L Wallace, A Quirke (captain); A McAuliffe, S Beausang, L Cashman, M Wallace, R Quirke, L Kenneally.
Substitutes: J Keegan O’Connell for R Quirke (48), A McCarthy for L Kenneally (60),
L Daly for L Cashman (61).
DOHENYS: K Corcoran; A Blewitt, A Hayes, Michelle Duggan (captain); C Aherne, A Duggan, M Collins; Melissa Duggan, E O’Donovan; A O’Donovan, N O’Mahony, L Crowley; H McCarthy, M Crowley, R McCarthy.
Substitutes: K A Buttimer for R McCarthy (54), G O’Mahony for K Crowley (55).
Referee: Justin Murphy (Grange LGFA).
