East Cork Journal IMOKILLY PEOPLE


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Cork 2-11 Donegal 0-11


The majestic long-range shooting of Doireann O’Sullivan – plus goals from Orla Finn and sub Saoirse Noonan – saw Cork back into the TG4 Senior All-Ireland Final af- ter a year’s absence at the expense of Donegal at Dr Hyde Park last Saturday afternoon. A first-half goal from


Orla Finn put Cork in con- trol, and despite a Geral- dine McLaughlin-inspired comeback, Donegal could never get close enough to the Munster champions and former minor star Saoirse Noonan’s sixth goal of the championship off the bench wrapped up the win for Ephie Fitzger- ald’s side. There was a couple of


late changes before throw- in from Donegal manag- er Maxi Curran and he sprung Kate Keaney and Olive McCafferty from the bench, handing the duo defensive roles in front of their full-back line. What


that meant was that Don- egal


played with three


forwards: Karen Guthrie, Yvonne Bonner and Ger- aldine McLaughlin, but the trio were often left iso- lated up front, and their teammates


struggled to


transfer defence into at- tack as a result against a seasoned Cork defence. Faced with an ultra-de-


fensive set-up, Cork full- back Roisin Phelan and Emma Spillane spent a lot of the opening half on the front foot as they launched attack after


attack for


Ephie Fitzgerald’s side. Eimear Scally opened the scoring for Cork after three minutes following a Libby Coppinger


interception,


and Orla Finn tapped over a free moments later. De- spite struggling up front, Donegal still managed to keep in touch and after McLaughlin pointed over her shoulder on ten min- utes, the pick of the for- wards on display, Guthrie, settled her side with an ex-


cellent score – her first of four by the interval. The crucial score of the


half went Cork’s way 12 minutes


from the break


though, and Orla Finn was on hand to flick to the empty net following a driving run from Cork skipper Ciara O’Sullivan. Guthrie a free


responded with for Donegal, but


Doireann O’Sullivan and Orla Finn replied for Cork to give the Munster girls a 1-5 to 0-4 lead five minutes from half-time. A couple of uncharacteristic wides from Yvonne Bonner and McLaughlin meant Don- egal struggled to close the gap, but Guthrie’s point from a great goal chance just before the break – she couldn’t keep her shot down – meant they only trailed 1-6 to 0-5 at the in- terval. With the Donegal de-


fensive line well set, Cork started to shoot from range and Doireann O’Sullivan was the first to score for the


11-time champions,


although Katy Herron and Geraldine McLaugh- lin (twice) saw Donegal pull to within a goal by the 40th


minute. There was


certainly more intensity to Donegal’s play after


the


break and Cork struggled to gain clean possession up front, but a couple of frees from super-sub Sao- irse Noonan kept them two scores clear in the final quarter with Noonan also on hand to finish to the net for Cork’s second goal and with Doireann O’Sullivan landing another


point late on, Cork booked their final spot with those two goals the


between the sides at the finish. Scorers – Cork: O’Finn 1-3 (3f), S Noonan 1-3 (3f), D O’Sullivan 0-3, E Scally 0-2.


Donegal: G McLaughlin 0-5 (2f), K Guthrie 0-4 (1f), K Herron 0-1, Y Bonner 0-1.


Cork: M O’Brien; R


Phelan, E Meaney, M Duggan; S Kelly, A Hutch- ings, M O’Callaghan; D O’Sullivan, H Looney; A O’Sullivan, C O’Sullivan (c), E Spillane; L Cop- pinger, E Scally, O’Finn. Subs: O’Farmer for Finn


Sports TG4 Ladies Football All-Ireland Semi-Final massive difference


(36), S Noonan for A O’Sullivan (36), O’Finn for Hutchings (47). Donegal: L Gallagher; T Doherty, N McLaugh- lin, T McCafferty; D Foley, K Keaney, C Hegar- ty; AM McGlynn, O’Mc- Caffrey; K Herron, N He- garty, SJ McDonald; K Guthrie (c), Y Bon- ner, G McLaugh- lin. Subs: A Mc- Donnell


for


McCafferty (23), E Ward for N Hegarty (43), A Boyle Carr for Keaney (48), N Hegarty for McGlynn (50). Referee:


Br e nd an Rice (Down).


Cork ’ s


oppo - nent in the final b e


will hold- e r s Dublin af-


ter they over- came Galway


in the other semi-final on a 4-08 to 1-10 score-line with Nicole Owens getting the opening goal. Dublin captain


Sinead


added a further two goals before


interval as Du b l in were in control by


Ahearn the


half-time. Lyndsey Davey got the 4th set up a 4th


Dublin goal to meeting with


Cork in five years. It prom- ises to be a great decider as the two best sides in the country go head to head.


• Karen Guthrie of Donegal in action against Roisin Phelan of Cork


• Geraldine McLaughlin of Donegal in action against Emma Spillane of Cork during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship Semi- Final match


• Doireann O’Sullivan of Cork is presented with the player of the match award by President of LGFA, Máire Hickey


• Shauna Kelly of Cork in action against Sarah Jane McDonald of Donegal


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