Allianz Cumann na mBunscol Corn na Laoch Final 2009

Scoil Olaf Balally 2-07

St Pauls Ayrfield 1-08

Both sides entered this final with unbeaten records and it proved extremely difficult to separate them at the end of a nailbiting encounter. St Pauls started brightly and took an early lead from a free but the Olaf’s girls battled back to go in front with points from Chloe McDonald and Clara Sullivan. The sides exchanged scores and Pauls eventually beat the excellent Ellen Brien in the Olaf’s goal to take a 3 point lead approaching half time. Olaf’s responded strongly and Kate Murray was on hand to crash home after a fine move between Chloe McDonald and Laura Hennessy Feehan to leave the scores level at the interval.

The second half was similar to the opening period with St Pauls taking the lead again and Olaf’s levelling on 4 occasions. The defence of Sadhbh Maher, Éilis Murphy and Hayleigh Gunning was extremely solid while Harriet Meagan and Sadie Lanigan worked tirelessly at midfield. Kate Murray scored an excellent point from ‘downtown’ to leave just a single point between the teams with 5 minutes remaining. Olaf’s pressed strongly and the stands erupted when a long range shot from Clara O Sullivan ended up in the back of the net to leave Olaf’s ahead by 2 points with just a minute remaining. Stout work by Aisling Murphy, Clare O Connor and ‘Captain Fantastic’ Róisín McLoughlin ensured a famous victory for the Balally girls which more than made up for last year’s defeat in the same competition.

Comhgairdeas libh uilig!