Down Senior Camogie Championship final Portaferry 1-3 Clonduff 1-13
CLONDUFF controlled Saturday’s Down senior camogie final against Portaferry from start to finish to collect their 10th title.
All of those titles have come since 2007 and all of them have featured Fionnuala Carr, her sister Sara Louise, Paula O’Hagan and Orla Gribben.
Sara Louise was the only one of the four not to get on the score-board this time, with the other three contributing 1-12 out of the 1-13 total.
Their leadership was once more crucial to Clonduff gaining control in a game that 2021 champions Portaferry never got to grips with.
Niamh Mallon pointed a free in the second minute, but in general play she was well marshalled by Erin Rafferty, who picked up the player-of-the-match award.
There were sweepers employed at both ends of the field and, while Saoirse Sands had a good game in the role, her team missed her drives into the forward line.
Paula O’Hagan replied to Mallon’s early free with her only score from open play and in the eighth minute Orla Gribben drilled home the first goal shortly after Sara Louise Graffin had rattled a shot off the crossbar. From that point, the game was spiralling out of Portaferry’s control.
Fionnula Carr, from a free, and then from a sideline, helped Clonduff extend their lead to 1-5 to 0-1 before Mallon sent Niamh Savage through for a neat finish past Cassie Fitzpatrick in the 19th minute.
Clonduff, however, finished the half strongly with two frees from O’Hagan and a flash point from Gribben to go in 1-8 to 1-1 up at the break.
O’Hagan extended that lead from three frees in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. It was the 45th minute before Saoirse Sands got forward for a point in reply and the game more or less petered out over the final quarter with a number of wides at both ends.
Winners of two All-Ireland intermediate titles in the past five seasons, their journey now takes a different route. They will take on Antrim champions Loughgiel on November 3 in the Ulster senior semi-final.
Scorers
Portaferry N Savage 1-0; N Mallon 0-2f; S Sands 0-1
Clonduff P O’Hagan 0-7 (0-6f); O Gribben 1-2; F Carr 0-3 (0-1f, 0-1 sideline); C Byrne 0-1
