O'Donovan Rossa seal Munster final berth after thrilling defeat of Scartaglen
Laura O'Mahony, O'Donovan Rossa and Cork, scored 1-1 for her club. Pic: Dan Linehan
O’Donovan Rossa will contest the 2024 Munster intermediate championship decider following a nail-biting semi-final defeat of Scartaglen in Skibbereen on Saturday.
Having won this year’s county intermediate title, the O’Donovan Rossa juggernaut shows little sign of slowing down. Not content with claiming 2023 All-Ireland, provincial and county junior titles, O’Donovan Rossa are one step from winning back-to-back Munster trophies.
The Skibbereen club was pushed to the brink by Scartaglen on an afternoon a huge attendance was treated to a terrific contest.
“I thought Scartaglen were outstanding but, first and foremost, I thought it was a cracking game,” O’Donovan Rossa manager James O’Donovan said.
“We had a great start but just took our foot off the gas a touch and they roared back into it scoring 1-5 without reply. It is great to get over the line with a one-point win.”
The game exploded into life with Laura O’Mahony’s first-minute goal kickstarting an unanswered 1-4 for the hosts. All that inside the opening 5 minutes before Scartaglen settled.
Julie Ann Barrett’s goal brought the visitors to life before five points without reply had the Kerry side ahead.
O’Donovan Rossa’s Kate O’Donovan palmed an Éabha O’Donovan free to the net soon after as the Skibbereen club changed ends 2-5 to 1-6 ahead.
The second period was as exciting and open a contest as the first. Following a flurry of scores, Scartaglen’s Shaun Tangney converted a penalty after 38 minutes.
Kate O’Donovan equalised and the tide looked to be turning Rossa’s way when Aoife Dunlea was sent to the sinbin for 10 minutes. O’Donovan Rossa took full advantage but not in the manner they would have envisaged.
Fionnuala O’Driscoll and Éabha O’Donovan’s (free) long-distance point attempts ended up in the back of the Scartaglen net.
Despite those setbacks, led by Kerry senior Aishling O’Connell, the visitors roared back when Shauna Tangney’s second converted penalty and an Emma Kerin point levelled matters, 4-8 to 3-11, close to the end.
Amid a frenzied atmosphere, Rossa’s Fionnuala O’Driscoll showed her class by nervelessly splitting the posts. There was still time for Shauna Tangney to take the semi-final to extra-time but her late free floated wide.
So, a second consecutive Munster final beckons for O’Donovan Rossa.
F O’Driscoll 1-3, È O’Donovan 1-2 (1-1 frees), K O’Donovan 1-2, L O’Mahony 1-1, M O’Neill 0-1.
S Tangney 2-1 (2-0 pens, 0-1 free), J A Barrett 1-1, E Kerin 0-3, A Dunlea 0-2, L Boyle, A Brosnan, K Kerins, A O’Connell 0-1 each.
E Hayes; M Donnellan, A Whooley, A Tobin; F Leonard, S Hurley, L Harte; L O’Mahony (captain), T Murphy; J Beechinor, K O’Donovan, E McCarthy; É O’Donovan, F O’Driscoll, M O’Neill.
E Byrne for S Hurley (44), A O’Driscoll for J Beechinor (50), S Farrell for T Murphy (58).
E O’Callaghan; T Kerin, J Brosnan, R O’Sullivan; K Sugrue, A O’Connell, K Kerins; A Dunlea (captain), J Lawlor; A Brosnan, D Dunlea, E Kerin; J A Barrett, L Boyle, S Tangney:
M Rahilly for J A Barrett (50), C O’Connor for K Kerins (52), F Nelligan Maguire for A Brosnan (55).
Patrick Smith (Waterford).
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