Strong start sets the scene for comfortable Kilkenny under-16 success

The old adage ‘ a good start is half the battle’ was very much in evidence at Sunday’s under-16B Leinster camogie final on the Astroturf pitch in SETU Carlow last Sunday afternoon.

In cold but dry conditions, the fast start by the Kilkenny girls saw them lead by 1-4 to no score after five minutes and this was a lead they largely retained for the rest of the hour even though Laois battled gamely throughout.

This fast start was started with an Emma Daly point inside the first 30 seconds and two quick frees from the lively Laoise Kehoe and a smart 1-1 from the impressive Rachel Duff saw the Kilkenny girls with an early seven point advantage.

Despite playing with the breeze, it took Laois until the sixth minute to launch their first attack and this yielded an opening point from a 45 by Chloe Boylan.

This did settle the Laois girls and they now started to stem the dominance of Kilkenny’s strong midfield pair of Noa Bambrick and Ruby Norris who were dominant in the early stages of the contest.

Scores were now harder to come by and when Laois’ Sinead Kirby applied a smart finish to the net in the 26th minute, the margin was down to four points (1-6 to 1-2).

Both sides traded points before the half time whistle (Emma Daly KK, Lauren Fitzpatrick L) to leave the half time score at 1-7 (KK) to 1-3 (L).

The opening stages of the second half saw scores again hard to come by despite the faster astro conditions and Kilkenny had slightly edged further ahead 1-9 to 1-4 by the 40th minute. The wind advantage was now with Kilkenny and driven on by Rachel Murphy at centre-back, they started to take over the scoreboard with points flowing from Barrow Rangers’ Noa Bambrick (2) and Rebecca Smith (2).

Laois battled to the end but were now finding scores very hard to come by and a further two minor scores from Rachel Duff and a late point by Laoise Kehoe completed the scoring on what was a second half largely dominated by Kilkenny.

Best for a Kilkenny side all of whom had their moments were Molly Phelan, Julia Adamczyk, Faye Sutton, Rachel Murphy, Noa Bambrick, Ruby Norris and Rachel Duff.

Teams and scorers

Kilkenny - Molly Phelan (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Hillary Muldowney (Rower Inistioge), Eva Roche (John Lockes), Julia Adamczyk (O’Loughlin Gaels), Faye Sutton (Mooncoin), Rachel Murphy (Tullogher-Rosbercon), Ruby Doyle (St Martins), Noa Bambrick (Barrow Rangers) (0-2), Ruby Norris (Piltown) (0-1), Ailbhe Ní Casaide (Danesfort), Emma Daly (St Martins) (0-2), Lauren Skehan (Bennettsbridge), Laoise Kehoe (Rower Inistioge) (0-5, 0-4f), Niamh Moore (James Stephens), Rachel Duff (Blacks & Whites) (1-3).

Subs: Aisling Power (Tullogher Rosbercon) (Joint Capt), Moya Egan (Windgap), Alice Quinn (James Stephens), Amber Hogan (O’Loughlin Gaels), Saoirse Walsh (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Mia Phelan (St Lachtain’s), Rebecca Smith (Barrow Rangers) (0-2), Millie Ireland Wall (Danesfort), Ava Darcy (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Cora Doherty (St Anne’s), Stephanie Phelan (Mooncoin), Ruby Farrell (Blacks & Whites), Beibhinn Shefflin (Ballyhale Shamrocks), Ellen Hanafin (Danesfort), Kate Hayden (Blacks and Whites), Ella Talbot (Glenmore), Isabelle Murphy (Tullogher  Rosbercon) (joint captain).

Laois - Alison Kenna, Ava Dowling, Grainne Dowling, Chloe Lyons, Kate Kenna, Eimear Redmond, Ava Hogan, Aine Duggan, Lucy Ryan, Sinead Kirby, Chloe Boylan (2-7, 2-6 frees, 0-1F), Molly Gorman, Holly Brennan, Sarah Delaney.

Subs: Alanna Dwyer, Eimear McEvoy, Leah Murphy, Ava Dowling, Sarah Hibbits, Kaela O’Connor, Cara Phelan, Vivienne Gee, Robyn Percy, Lauren Fitzpatrick, Lucy Ryan, Millie Dynan, Laura Dooley Kirwan, Sarah Kavanagh, Ruby Maunsell, Avril Phelan.