Emma lights up the way to another final for the Saints

LFGA SFC s-f 

 St Conleth’s 3-9 

Sarsfields 2-10 

Sr Conleth’s will have a chance at avenging their last two Ladies Senior Football Championship final losses against Portlaoise after they overcame Sarsfields in a cracking encounter in Emo on Sunday evening.

As it was the second of the day’s double header the sides knew that whoever won would be facing current two-time champions Portlaoise and it was the 2021 champions St Conleth’s who they defeated in their two final victories.

Conditions were perfect for football as the sun broke out for the latter part of the evening and the teams didn’t fail to match the weather as they put on a brilliant show for the huge crowd that lined the fence.

St Conleth’s dominated the opening half, led by the magnificent Emma Lawlor who notched up 1-4 in the opening 30 minutes and they held a six point lead at half time, and looked good value for the lead.

Sarsfields refused to follow the script however and came out swinging in the second half, with a Ciara Burke goal seven minutes in setting up a titanic battle for the remainder of the game.

Momentum ebbed and flowed throughout the second half and a second goal from Burke got Sarsfields to within a point of their opponents late on, but St Conleth’s were able to dig deep and show why they’ve been in the last three finals.

The St Conleth’s full forward line of Lawlor, Eva Galvin and Aoibhe Byron was electric as they combined for all of their side’s 3-9, and remarkably ever score came from play.

Clare Conlon kicked Sarsfields into the lead with a free just three minutes in, but by the tenth they would find themselves two points behind thanks to a score from Byron followed by two exquisite efforts from Lawlor off the outside of her left boot in stylish fashion.

Sarsfields battled back to level pegging with two good efforts from play by Conlon and Lorna O’Sullivan before they were dealt a huge blow as Aileen O’Loughlin denied Aoife Kirrane with a great save but Lawlor followed up to finish the rebound and Byron added a point seconds later.

O’Sullivan responded for Sarsfields with a point, but the hits kept coming when Lawlor kicked a point and Eva Galvin won the resulting kickout before rounding a couple of defenders and finding the net off the post on her second attempt.

A tough two minutes culminated in another point for Lawlor and suddenly eight points separated the teams as St Conleth’s took full control of proceedings.

To their credit Sarsfields battled back strongly in the final five minutes of the half as they kicked three of four scores before the break, starting with a long range effort from Grainne Lalor, to which Galvin replied after a fine passing move by St Conleth’s.

Conlon slotted a free and O’Sullivan notched her third point of the half just before the break to make it 2-7 to 0-7 at half time.

The second half was somewhat slow to get going as St Conleth’s didn’t want to leave much space in behind to allow Sarsfields a few scores, but that tactic took a hit when Conlon had a free out wide but rather than go for her score she pinged the ball inside to Ciara Burke who swiveled and rattled the net on 37 minutes.

Seven minutes later saw the next score come via Conlon and it was certainly game on as Lawlor fired back with a wonderful effort.

Lawlor was again a thorn in the side of Sarsfields when she ran inside and played a one-two with Galvin before scoring her second goal of the game on 53 minutes.

Now six points down approaching the end Sarsfields got to work once again with a point each from Conlon and Burke who were both incredible in the second half and the duo paired up once again as Conlon fired a high ball across the field into Burke who clutched it from the clouds and buried it home once more very late on.

St Conleth’s now had a one point lead to protect and they did so with some excellent ball retention and patience before taking their opportunity via Eva Galvin who kicked an excellent score off the rebound of a saved Lawlor shot to secure the win for St Conleth’s.

SCORERS:

St Conleth’s: Emma Lawlor 2-5, Eva Galvin 1-2, Aoibhe Byron 0-2.

Sarsfields: Ciara Burke 2-1, Clare Conlon (0-2fs) and Lorna O’Sullivan 0-4 each, Grainne Lalor 0-1.

ST CONLETH’S: Claire O’Connell; Aine Haberlin, Ruanne Hunt, Nicole Byrne; Fiona Dempsey, Mary Cotter, Aoife Cummins; Aimee Kelly, Aoife Kirrane; Claire Fox, Alanna Havill, Marie Byrne; Aoibhe Byron, Emma Lawlor, Eva Galvin.

Subs: Naomi Luttrell for Fox (37m), Shifra Havill for Byron (37m), Becky Fenlon for Haberlin (42m), Aoibhe Hoary for Kelly (54m).

SARSFIELDS: Aileen O’Loughlin; Aoife Hughes, Jenny McEvoy, Caoimhe Fitzpatrick; Ava Lawlor, Laura-Marie Maher, Julie Anne Bennett; Grainne Lalor, Aerin Ryle; Caoimhe O’Brien Maher, Ciara Burke, Lauren Kearney; Clare Conlon, Amy Ring, Lorna O’Sullivan.

Subs: Amy Loughman for O’Brien Maher (24m), Lucy Conroy for Kearney (46m), Ciara O’Neill for Hughes (52m), Ita Conroy for Fitzpatrick (55m).

Referee: Kevin Phelan (Barrowhouse)