St Jude’s cruise into All-Ireland semi-final with convincing Tir na nÓg win

St Jude’s comfortably booked their place in the last-four of All-Ireland ladies football junior club championship with an emphatic 9-18 to 0-5 quarter-final victory at the expense of Tir na nÓg, Newcastle at St Margaret’s GAA this afternoon.

In addition to a combined tally of 2-9 from inside forwards Ellie Young (1-6) and Lisa Morris (1-3), substitute Laura Martina, team captain Aoife Keyes and Cliodhna Nicoletti bagged two goals apiece for the rampant Templeogue side.

Dublin camogie skipper Hannah Hegarty also put in a strong shift at midfield and St Jude’s can now look forward to a semi-final date with Carrickmacross of Monaghan in a fortnight’s time.

Despite ultimately being on the receiving end of a chastening defeat, it was Tir na nÓg who initially opened the scoring through a Niamh Barrett free.

However, Jude’s soon settled with points from Morris, Aisling Gannon and Young before Keyes fired to the bottom right-hand corner of the net on 12 minutes.

Leading 1-5 to 0-2 at the first half water break, the Tymon Park outfit bagged their second goal courtesy of a clinical Nicoletti strike in the 20th-minute.

The dynamic duo of Young and Morris subsequently added points to ensure Jude’s brought a commanding 2-7 to 0-4 cushion into the interval.

Their tails now up, Jeff Kane’s charges continued to dictate the flow of the action on the resumption. After Niamh Kerr floated a ball into the danger zone in the opening minute of the second half, Keyes was on hand to palm home.

The towering centre-fielder may have been denied a hat-trick by a square ball just shy of the third-quarter mark, but Young and Morris rattled the net either side of this disallowed effort.

5-13 to 0-4 in front at the commencement of the second water break, the Dublin and Leinster champions were in no mood to ease off. In the space of just three minutes, Martina registered an impressive 1-2 to bolster her claims for a starting berth.

She followed up with her second goal (and her side’s seventh) on 55 minutes to cap an exceptional cameo appearance, in advance of Barrett finally opening Tir na nÓg’s second half account with another pointed free on the stroke of 60 minutes.

Jude’s were determined to have the final say, however, and stoppage-time majors from Caoimhe O’Brien and Nicoletti ensured they did exactly that.

Having accrued two pieces of silverware in the closing months of 2021, the Wellington Lane brigade will be eager to add a national title to their list of honours.