Kilkerrin-Clonberne brush Burrishoole aside to maintain Connacht dominance

By Oisín McGovern

Connacht Ladies Senior Club Football Final

Burrishoole 0-4 Kilkerrin/Clonberne 1-15

Kilkerrin/Clonberne affirmed their status as the finest team in Connacht with a comprehensive defeat of Mayo champions Burrishoole this afternoon.

To win their fifth Connacht title in a row, the Galway women had to overcome a Burrishoole team that defended reasonably well but failed to score from play.

A 41st minute goal from full-forward Ailish Morrisey was the crucial score in a game that Kilkerrin Clonberne never looked like losing.

Despite playing in appalling wind and rain, the Connacht champions managed to hit four points in the opening ten minutes.

Burrishoole defended tigerishly in the deluge but only manged two points in the entire second half – two Maria Cannon frees.

Kilkerrin/Clonberne persevered patiently and rattled off four more scores before half-time to leave the score at 0-08 to 0-02.

The omens were ominous for Burrishoole from the first minute of the second half, when Caroline McManamon was forced to make a save from Galway panellist Lyndsey Noone.

Eva Noone and Ailish Morrisey pointed to put Kilkerrin/Clonberne eight points ahead as the game began to run away from Burrishoole.

The All-Ireland champions put the gap into double digits when Lyndsey Noone teed up Morrisey to bury a goal that effectively ended the game.

Burrishoole averted a massacre but were completely bereft of any clear attacking outlet.

The first-time Mayo senior champions added two more scores through Cannon (both frees) as Kilkerrin/Clonberne went on to shoot 1-07 in a clinical second-half display.

Kilkerrin/Clonberne: L Murphy; C Costello, S Gormally, C Dunleavey; K Mee, N Ward, H Noone; S Divilly, L Finnegan (0-01); O Divilly (0-01, 0-01,f) L