Ballyconnell NS won their second Cumann na mBunscol title in a row on Monday night in Fenagh Centre of Excellence in a hard-fought battle against Newtown-Dunleckney, champions in 2015 and 2016.

 

Ballyconnell started the game well with Sarah Keogh opening the scoring early on. Newtown though, responded well and had a number of attacks which were repelled by a combination of stern defence and excellent goalkeeping from Sarah Kane, who twice thwarted Newtown forwards, once from close range and the other after a shot from distance which she just got a hand to, tipping the ball around her left hand post. 

Newtown did equalise shortly afterwards from a close-in free. That was to be their last score of the first half as Ballyconnell tightened their grip on the game; Anna McNally, Jean Mernagh and Niamh Kennedy to the fore. 

Sarah Keogh tapped over a close-range free after being fouled and then midfielder and co-captain, Emily McCarthy scored a lovely point from long range to give Ballyconnell a two-point cushion at the break.

 

Trainers Ms Dolan and Jack Bowes provided the words of wisdom at half-time as the Ballyconnell Girls found themselves just one half away from victory. 

They would have to work hard for that victory. Newtown played with plenty of heart and showed good handling skills in damp conditions. However, try as they might they could not breach the Coolkenno defence with Sophie Donoghue and Amierose Cushe showing great bravery to stop certain Newtown scores.

 

This heroism was rewarded when Sarah Keogh won a ball (to which she had no right) close to the Newtown goal before smashing home to give Ballyconnell a five-point advantage with less than ten minutes remaining. 

Newtown though, were getting more sensible in their attacks and hit two points in quick succession to bring it back to a three-point game with 5 minutes to go. 

Then, the key moment of the match. Newtown’s dynamic number 7 bore down on Sarah Kane’s goal and an equaliser seemed inevitable but somehow Ballyconnell’s goalkeeper stopped the goal-bound effort and Ballyconnell survived. Sarah had to receive some attention after injuring herself in the act of saving the shot. Around this time, Ballyconnell also lost Faye McCrath to a finger injury. 

After a brief stoppage in play, Ballyconnell attacked and again it was Sarah Keogh who proved her accuracy with her third point of the game. This gave Ballyconnell some breathing space. It was co-captain Emily McCarthy who sealed the victory with a goal from long range to make it 2-4 to 0-3 with time just up. There was still time however, for Newtown to conjure up two more goal chances, one which was blocked by Megan Weekes, the other by Amierose Cushe. Newtown did get the last score of the game from a free but by then they had given up trying to get through the exceptional Ballyconnell defence. 

 

Shortly afterwards, the final whistle sounded and Ballyconnell NS girls were Cumann na mBunscol 2B Champions for 2019! Carlow Cumann na mBunscol secretary Seán Hannafin presented the trophy to delighted co-captains Anna McNally and Emily McCarthy. Both girls made a nice speech thanking their coaches for all their help over the course of the competition before many, many photos were taken. There were some rumours that the girls would receive no homework on Tuesday night. Their teachers were unavailable for comment. 

Ballyconnell NS: Sarah Kane, Amierose Cushe, Sophie Donoghue, Eshaal Faiz, Caitlin Byrne, Jean Mernagh, Emily McCarthy (1-1), Faye McCrath, Anna McNally, Sarah Keogh (1-3), Abi Hutton, Niamh Kennedy, Órlaith Donoghue, Megan Weekes, Nicole Carroll, Ashlee Nolan