Super-sub Maeve O'Neill powers Carlow to first Division 4 title

Substitute Maeve O'Neill struck a 55th-minute goal at Grant Heating St Brendan’s Park in Birr on Saturday to help Carlow towards a first ever Lidl National Football League Division 4 title.

Thanks to the presence of Storm Kathleen on these shores, Limerick played with the aid of a gale-force breeze in the opening half of this contest. It took the Treaty women a little while to get up and running, but unanswered scores from wing-back Meadhbh MacNamara, dead-ball specialist Deborah Murphy and Iris Kennelly ultimately gave them a three-point lead on the first-quarter mark.

Although the likes of Aoife Carroll and skipper Ruth Bermingham were performing well in defence, Carlow were struggling to create attacking opportunities when playing against the elements.

Yet the Barrowsiders were able to keep Limerick on their toes with extended spells of possession football and they finally opened their account on 25 minutes as Bennekerry/Tinryland star Cliodhna Ni She split the posts with a close-range free.

This significantly boosted the spirits of their travelling supporters and having managed to keep their Munster counterparts scoreless for 18 minutes, Ed Burke’s side were just two points adrift, 0-03 to 0-01, at the interval.

A wind advantage now in their favour, Carlow levelled matters within three minutes of the restart thanks to a brace of successful frees by the dependable Ni She.

Momentum now appeared to be with the Leinster outfit and even though Limerick attempted to batten down the hatches, Roisin Bailey and Rachel Sawyer knocked over quickfire points from play to give Carlow a 0-05 to 0-03 platform on the stroke of 40 minutes.

However, Limerick reduced the deficit to the bare minimum with a second point from Kennelly moments