This article is from page 86 of the 2011-11-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 86 JPG
Inagh 1-13 – An Rinn (Waterford) 1-02 at Bansha, County Tipperary
ONLY A fortnight after securing the county intermediate title, Inagh added a Munster Junior crown after a superior second half performance over Waterford side Ann Rinn on Saturday afternoon. Played in Bansha under strong winter sunshine, An Rinn from the Gaeltacht area of Waterford had the aid of a stiff breeze in the opening half, however it was Inagh’s Fiona Lafferty who opened the scoring with a pointed free inside the opening minute of play.
An Rinn’s response was both immediate and significant as having won possession of their own puckout, Deirdre ni Fhathaigh gathered possession out on the wing and dropped her shot into the Inagh square where Brid McCarthy batted it out but it was Lorraine ní Fhaoleán who got to the dropping sliotar first and sent her effort past McCarthy.
However, aided by the confidence from their county title win, Inagh didn’t panic and hit back with another point on the board after Patricia O’Loughlin sent a shot from midfield down the wing and Helen Hehir managed to draw the sliotar out from the ruck and put her shot over from an awkward angle.
Ni Fhathaigh pointed from a free to put the Waterford side back in front by two points and both sides were guilty of wides in the next few minutes, more from an inability to cope with the strong breeze than erratic shooting. Inagh ended that drought when Lafferty sent a long range free down to the square and it was Hehir who gathered and sent Inagh in front with her well struck goal. Lethal front pair, Lafferty and Hehir added three more points for Inagh while Fiona ni Mhuiríosa converted a free for Ann to give Inagh a four point lead at half-time at 1-6 to 1-2.
Now with the wind and sun to their advantage, the clare champions upped the tempo in the second half, with four points in three min- utes through Fiona Lafferty (3) and Patricia O’Loughlin (1) easing them into an eight point lead by the 40th minute. Inagh kept An Rinn scoreless in the second half, despite the best efforts of Eimear ni Fhionnalaigh and Líse ni Priondgrais but up against a strong Inagh backline of Jennifer Griffen, Siobhan Lafferty and Gillian Lafferty, An Rinn were continuously thwarted as they tried hard to get another goal on the board. Inagh kept kept up the pressure and with a further three points before the finish, strolled to a facile 11 point win. Munster Council Chairman Ea- mon Browne presented the trophy to captain Sinead O’Loughlin who will hope to lead her side to a third successive title as they enter the All-Ireland series in a fortnight’s time. First up for the Munster winners are the Connaught champions in the All-Ireland semi-final as they look to emulate Corofin by reaching the national junior decider.