CLONAKILTY or Kinsale will be crowned Cork LGFA senior B county champions on Sunday.
One thing is certain, we are guaranteed a West Cork winner no matter what the outcome of this senior B decider at MTU.
Kinsale and Clonakilty qualified for Sunday’s clash the hard way, and both clubs will be desperate to end their respective campaigns with silverware having missed out on the senior A championship knockout stages.
Kinsale finished fifth in Group 1, defeating Bride Rovers and drawing with Aghada before being drawn away to Mourneabbey in the senior B semi-finals. The West Cork team produced a marvellous display to defeat the reigning senior county champions 5-4 to 3-9 on their home pitch.
‘The start of this year’s championship did not go as we expected or wanted to,’ Kinsale captain Jenny Murphy said.
‘As the year progressed, everyone got together, reset, set out new goals and gave it our all for the last few championship matches. We are delighted to be in the final.
‘We were delighted to get over Mourneabbey as they are such a great team and have so many high quality players. We knew we had to deliver one of our best performances of the year. Thankfully, despite the terrible conditions, we came out on the right side of the result.’
Orla Finn’s return has been a timely boost with the former Cork senior netting two goals during the Mourneabbey victory, but this current Kinsale team’s greatest strengths are the emergence of a new core of young players and an even spread of scores amongst their forwards.
‘Kinsale is lucky to have so many talented young players coming through,’ Murphy explained. ‘Our U16s won a county title a couple of weeks ago. That has given our senior squad a boost and momentum. Reaching a senior B county final was one of our panel’s goals at the start of the year so now we just need to put our best foot forward and give it everything on the day.’
Clonakilty’s path to Sunday’s all-West Cork final saw the Brewery Town finish third, ahead of Kinsale, in Group 1 of the senior A championship. That included a 4-5 to 1-7 win over this weekend’s opponents before facing Castlehaven in last week’s senior B semi-final in Ahamilla.
A magnificent encounter ended 0-11 to 2-5 at the end of normal time and 0-14 to 2-8 after extra-time with Niamh O’Sullivan and Ellie McCarthy netting for the Haven. Thirty-metre free-kicks decided the outcome with Aisling Moloney and Siofra Pattwell converting to send Clonakilty through. Now, an even tougher challenge awaits the Brewery Town.
‘Kinsale knocked out Mourneabbey, the (county’s) best team over the last 12 years, so we know exactly what we are up against,’ Clonakilty manager David Aherne commented.
‘We met them in the group stage, a tough game and in this year’s West Cork final where they gave us a good beating. The players are under no illusions as to what we are up against in the final.’
Clonakilty’s manager’s sentiments are echoed by his captain, Meabh O’Donovan.
‘It is Kinsale again, we came up against them in the West Cork final where they got the better of us that time,’ O’Donovan said, a reference to their 2-15 to 2-7 loss in August.
‘We defeated them in the championship so it is going to be an interesting game. Everyone is looking forward to it, definitely going to be a big challenge.
‘The young girls on our panel are great and have really stepped up. We lost a few players heading off to Australia this year, that is just the way it goes, but everyone is excited about Sunday and facing Kinsale again. We can’t wait. We have never won a senior B title before so it would be brilliant for the club to win it.’
