Rebecca Flanagan of Lucan Sarsfields in action against Holly Kennedy of Ballyboden in the semis
Enda’s into camogie final as Jude’s miss out
THE Senior 1 Camogie Semi Finals took place over the weekend with St Jude’s taking on St Vincent’s while Ballyboden St Enda’s played Lucan Sarsfields.
Sarsfields found themselves as somewhat unlikely candidates to reach the semi final after losing two of their games in the group stage of the championship.
While in Group 1 St Judes proved themselves to be the most dominant team by beating all challengers, the rest of the teams in the group were in the rather unusual scenario of losing one of their remaining two fixtures.
This resulted in a situation where Lucan Sarsfields, Kilmacud Crokes and Na Fianna all found themselves with one win and two losses in the group stage.
Sarsfields were beaten by of course Judes but also Crokes however thanks to their high scoring record and the highly competitive games they had with their opposition they managed to accrue a totally even points difference tally of 0.
This put them ahead of Crokes and Na Fianna who were both in negative numbers and ensured them of a place in the Semi Final.
Boden on the other hand cruised to their position in the Semi Final and never really looked troubled throughout the group stage of the championship.
They picked up victories over St Vincents, St Oliver Plunketts/Eoghan Rua and Cuala.
They blitzed through their opponents and finished the group phase with a scoring difference of +30. Led by Hannah Leddy and Martha O’Donoghue they marched their way to the semi final with serious expectations behind them.
It would be Sarsfields though who emerged victorious in UCD as the two teams engaged in a closely contested match.
Boden would actually be a point ahead going into half time however it would be the third quarter of the game that proved to be the most decisive and give Lucan a lead that they would manage to hold on to until the end of the match.
In the end it would be Sarsfields who would earn themselves a place in the final winning the game by four points with a scoreline of 1-15 to 0-14.
They will be joined in the final by St VIncents who managed to defeat Naomh Jude by a single point with a last minute point earning them a 1-14 to 1-13 victory at Billings Park UCD.
Managed by Joe McManus Judes made easy work of their group and almost in parallel to Ballyboden in Group 2 would have had momentum in their favour coming up against a St Vincent’s side who finished in second place in their group campaign.
With the likes of intercounty players Caoimhe French, Aishling, Niamh and Claire Gannon littered throughout the squad along with high scoring forwards up front such as Sinead Nolan, Judes would have been confident of securing the win and their place in the Senior 1 Camogie final after a string of impressive performances, ultimately though they were unable to impose their will the way they had managed in previous games and would be undone by a talented and robust St Vincent’s line up.
In the Senior 2 Championship Faughs GAA reached the final after a close victory on Sunday morning.
They hosted Ballinteer St John’s and won via a three point margin with a 0-13 to 0-10 final scoreline. They will play Castleknock in the Senior 2 final this coming Sunday.
