Camross brush Naas aside and cruise into the Leinster final
Sarah Anne Fitzgerald (Camross) pointing with this shot against Naas on Saturday Photo: Denis Byrne
CAMROSS advanced to the final of the Leinster Intermediate Camogie Championship final with an emphatic victory over Naas in Derrynaseera on Saturday afternoon, scoring no less than six goals in the process.
Na Fianna of Meath now await Camross in the final this Sunday at 1pm in the SETU Campus, Carlow.
The Laois champions welcomed their Kildare counterparts to Camross on a sunny Saturday afternoon in the newly refurbished surroundings, though the visitors struggled to settle as the hosts dominated from the off.
Though Camross found the net six times in the process of winning by 15 points, it was their backs who stole the show as they forced Naas to battle and fight every single one of their 12 scores.
The sides came through their respective quarter-finals in much differing fashions as Camross defeated Westmeath champions with a routine 3-10 to 1-13 victory, whereas Naas endured a sage when they travelled to Wicklow to face Knockananna.
That game ended a draw at full-time which saw extra time of two 10 minute halves, which also ended in a draw forcing a further two five minutes halves and incredibly, the sides couldn’t be split then either an Naas eventually took victory after a shootout of 45s.
Six days of preparation after such a battle was never ideal coming into a fixture against a physical and powerful Camross side, and it was that physicality that ultimately proved to be the difference.
Naas had some lively forwards, but they were no match for the likes of Mairead Burke, Aisling Burke and player of the match Donnagh Mortimer who were all outstanding at the back for Camross and left little change for the opposing forwards.
The strength at the back allowed the likes of Andrea Scully and Aimee Collier to take advantage of quick breaks up the field and get balls into Kirsten Keenan and Erin Walsh on the inside forward line.
Another top performer on the day for Camross was the talismanic Sarah Anne Fitzgerald who followed up her fantastic quarter-final performance with another excellent display as she galloped up and down the field from start to finish.
Naas did get the first score on the board through the energetic Rebecca McDermott, aided by a slight breeze that blew behind her, though Camross quickly replied after a trademark speeding run from Andrea Scully.
Kirsten Keenan and Aimee Collier both battled for scores from play either side of a Sarah Anne Fitzgerald free to send Camross ahead by three with six minutes gone.
It took nine minutes for the next score to come as the sides worked had in the middle of the field to stamp their authority on the game, aided by the free flowing nature of referee Gavin Donegan.
Naas got four of the next five scores with two frees from McDermott along with brilliant efforts from play by Caoimhe Maher and Aoife Stynes, but crucially for Camross in the midst of those scores Kirsten Keenan latched onto a ball and turned to drive it home into the net.
Despite being the dominant side for much of the half the hosts led by just two as Stynes and Fitzgerald traded points but things would turn bad for Naas before the safety of half time.
A long ball was pumped into the heart of the Camross defence and as usual excellently fielded by Donnagh Mortimer before finding its way into the grasp of Erin Walsh who tore into space before finishing neatly and Camross made it three goals when Leah Daly took off on a run before finding Keenan who netted her second before the break to make it 3-5 to 0-6.
Grainne Delaney opened the second half with a point and Camross continued to dominate proceedings after the break.
Fitgerald slotted a free after Keenan was fouled and soon found herself in for a quick brace of goals.
The first came off the back of another dazzling run by Walsh and the second came just seconds later after a great move by Andrea Scully and that effectively meant it was game over with 20 minutes still to play on the clock.
The sides traded a brace of scores with McDermott on the double for Naas in reply to Fitzgerald and Scully for the hosts.
There was still time for a cherry on top for Camross however when Aimee Collier found herself in possession to rattle net from close range to make it six goals for Camross, which truly was no reflection on the performance of Naas goalie Roisin Roche who had a great game and denied many Camross attempts.
To their credit Naas saw out the game with four points in a row through two each for McDermott and Maher, but it wasn’t to be as their season came to an abrupt stop.
Sarah Anne Fitzgerald 2-4 (0-4fs), Kirsten Keenan 2-1, Aimee Collier 1-1, Erin Walsh 1-0, Grainne Delaney 0-2, Andrea Scully 0-1.
Rebecca McDermott 0-7 (0-6fs), Caoimhe Maher 0-3, Aoife Stynes 0-2.
Niamh Dollard; Mairead Burke, Aisling Burke, Fiona Scully; Aoife Collier, Donnagh Mortimer, Ella Cuddy; Luisne Delaney, Aimee Collier; Leah Daly, Grainne Delaney, Andrea Scully; Erin Walsh, Sarah Anne Fitzgerald, Kirsten Keenan.
Aoife Daly for Delaney (47m), Tara Lowry for Scully (51m), Sile Burke for Fitzgerald (54m), Sara Cuddy for Keenan (58m), Ava Guilfoyle for M Burke (58m), Muireann Bennett for Daly (58m), Chloe O’Riordan for F Scully (58m).
Roisin Roche; Aoife Keane, Aine Conway, Fahsai Ni Chonchradha; Kate Murphy, Niamh Hegarty, Aoife McCarthy; Orlaith Delany, Sara Carroll; Aoife McDermott, Ciara Ryan, Aoife Stynes; Rebecca McDermott, Caoimhe Maher, Aoibhin Delany.
Millie Kelleher for McCarthy (43m), Sophie Hazzard for Delany (48m), Rachel Byrne for Ni Chonchradha (51m), Grainne Dowling for Orlaith Delaney (53m).
Gavin Donegan (Dublin)
