Knockbride make history in Croke Park

AIB All-Ireland intermediate final

Knockbride (Cavan) 3-10 Caltra Cuans (Galway) 0-4

By Daire Walsh

SARA H McCabe, Gia McCabe and Katie Rogers were amongst the goals at Croke Park as Knockbride became the first team from Cavan to win an AIB All-Ireland intermediate club championship title with a convincing triumph over Galway’s Caltra Cuans.

Following an initially tentative start, Knockbride came storming into life with a breakthrough goal on six minutes. After Abbi Connor was fouled inside the square at the end of a fast-paced attacking move, Knockbride skipper Sarah McCabe stepped forward to drill home the resulting penalty.

This major provided the Ulster champions with a major confidence boost and with Aoife Nulty and Connor (free) splitting the uprights in quick succession, Ciaran Galligan’s charges were five points clear before the clock had reached 10 minutes.

The Breffni County side continued to take the game to their western counterparts and their chances of success were significantly bolstered when a looping shot from player of the match Gia McCabe floated into the Caltra net for a 19th minute goal.

Connor increased her tally with a second pointed free moments later and this helped to propel Knockbride towards a 2-3 to 0-0 interval cushion.

This lead was extended on the resumption with another expertly-taken point from Connor, but the Cavan outfit did miss a golden opportunity to raise another green flag when Sarah McCabe fired wide off her second penalty in the 37th minute.

Knockbride nevertheless maintained a tight grip on proceedings with a fourth Connor point, before 2010 All-Ireland junior champions Caltra finally opened their account on 43 minutes when marauding wing-back Caoimhe Ni Cheallaigh superbly found the target with the outside of her right foot.

Yet instead of sparking a revival from the Galway and Connacht champions, this served as the catalyst for Knockbride to reinforce their authority. Supplementing points from substitute Ellie Reilly (two), Connor and Gia McCabe, full-forward Katie Rogers bagged a third goal for the Breffni women with just over 13 minutes remaining.

While the instrumental Sarah Noone kicked a fine point of her own for Caltra, Connor’s dead-ball accuracy ensured Knockbride responded immediately at the opposite end.

The hard-working Noone did contribute a brace of points for Caltra as the final whistle approached, but this couldn’t deny Knockbride an historic victory at GAA headquarters.

Scorers

Knockbride: A Connor 0-6 (5f), G McCabe 1-1, S McCabe 1-0 (pen), K Rogers 1-0, E Reilly 0-2, A Nulty 0-1.
Caltra Cuans: S Noone 0-3, C Ni Cheallaigh 0-1.

KNOCKBRIDE: K Mulvey; A Rogers, A Lynch, N Rogers; E Lynch, S O’Reilly, N Smith; T Rogers, KM Reilly; G McCabe, S McCabe; A Nulty; R Davey, K Rogers, A Connor.
Subs: E Reilly for Davey (37), G Smith for Lynch (51), D Donohoe for Nulty (53), A Reilly for Rogers (54), J Clarke for Connor (56).

CALTRA CUANS: T Loughnane; C McCabe, N Conway, H Cullinane; A Murray, S Noone, C Ni Cheallaigh; E Bleahene, A Fitzpatrick; R Bleahene, S Murray, C Mullins; C Murray, E Reaney, L Naughton.
Subs: M Kelly for Conway (6-13, blood), M Kelly for Mullins (21), E Naughton for Murray (48), D Kelly for R Bleahene (54), O Hannon for Murray, A Quinn for McCabe (both 56).

Referee: Kevin Phelan (Laois).