NIAMH Cotter will add a splash of West Cork colour to the AIB All-Ireland senior club championship decider at Croke Park this month.
The Glengarriff woman was the star of the show as her adopted club, Kilmacud Crokes, defeated Castleisland Desmonds by 5-11 to 1-5 in last weekend’s semi-final – Cotter was named player-of-the-match after racking up 2-4 in the Dublin champions’ convincing 18-point win.
The former West Cork footballer, who also lined out for the county team, swapped home for the capital in 2020 when studying a Masters in European Law at UCD. West Cork’s loss has been Kilmacud’s gain, as Cotter has shown the form that took her onto the inter-county stage with the Rebels.
Niamh Cotter receives the AIB Player of the Match award from Sadbh Sutton, representing AIB.
Her haul of 2-4 against a stunned Desmonds team from Kerry inspired Kilmacud to their first All-Ireland club final, having lost the semi-finals in the previous two seasons. Cotter struck a penalty early in the second half and scored her second goal on the third-quarter mark.
Kilmacud Crokes manager Paddy O’Donoghue felt Cotter’s penalty was the turning point: ‘Once we got the penalty then, we got the breathing space and we relaxed after that. We played some great football in the second half.’
Next up are four-in-a-row chasing Kilkerrin-Clonberne in the decider at Croke Park on December 14th.
There will also be West Cork involvement in the AIB All-Ireland Ladies Junior Club final, as Limerick champions Mungret St Paul’s will take on Donegal’s Na Dúnaigh. Former Bantry Blues footballer Niamh Crowley, Carol Bateman from Rosscarbery and Siadbh Redmond from Skibbereen are all on the Mungret panel. Goalkeeper Bateman scored one of three frees in the shoot-out needed to decide their semi-final against Coolera/Strandhill, which had finished level after extra-time; the Limerick team won 3-1 on frees after extra-time.
