Newcastle West fall short to impressive Gailltír in Munster senior camogie club championship semi-final

NEWCASTLE West have bowed out of the AIB Munster Senior Camogie Club Championship semi-final after losing out to Waterford champions Gailltír, 2-16 to 0-9, in Newcastle West this afternoon. 

After the opening 10 minutes it looked like Gailltír would be impossible to stop scoring two goals and eight points in those twenty minutes before half-time. Despite starting well the Newcastle West squad struggled with fouls and were ultimately beaten by a side with a different class. 

Gailltír will now go on to face Truagh Clonlara of Clare in Sunday week's Munster senior camogie final. 

Straight off the throw-in Rebecca Delee was fired in a fabulous ball from midfield as she sprinted down on goal her shot was bravely saved by the Gailltír goalie. Despite this effort the ball was not dealt with well as Karen O'Leary got her side the first free of the game with Delee popping over the score after one minute of play. 

Newcastle West looked determined from the outset, winning all the 50/50 balls ahead of their Waterford opponents in the opening minutes. After two missed shots from frees the Magpies finally got their second score on seven minutes from Ella Whelan after the ball dribbled out from the full-forward line. 

It took until this score for Gailltír to kick into gear with full-forward Mollie Comerford flying threw the defence to score the first point for her side. 

This point awoke the Waterford team as Newcastle West struggled to get to grips with the strong runs being made by Gailltír. A foul from one of these runs resulted in a fabulous free taken by Emma Fitzgerald from a hard angle, levelling the game after 10 minutes at two points a piece. 

The pressure was well and truly on the Limerick side who started brightly in the opening ten minutes as Gailltír fired a shot off from Alannah O'Sullivan from distance. Newcastle West goalie Aoife Corbett thought she had dealt with the problem as she batted down the sliothar, but she took her eye off the ball with the shot ending up in the back of the net leaving Gailltír 1-2 to 0-2 up after 11 minutes. 

This goal was complimented by three more frees from Emma Fitzgerald who made no mistake with her free taking in the first-half leaving the Magpies chasing the game. 

Iris Kennelly eventually got a score for Newcastle West to put them back on track after 18 minutes, but it was the Waterford side who had now found their stride with the home team struggling to get the ball out of their own half. 

This constant pressure left Newcastle West's goal wide open as Gailltír went on the attack once again with free taker Emma Fitzgerald firing the ball into the back of the net for their second goal of the game on 21 minutes, 2-5 to 0-4. 

Newcastle West tried their best to claw back the deficit in the closing minutes of the half with a well worked score finished off by Roisín Ambrose. Full-forward Rebecca Delee completed the home sides scoring in the first 30 minutes with a free from distance.

Gailltír looked strong in the closing 10 minutes as they pushed on once again with some fabulously worked scores all the way from one side of the field to the other with Laoise Forrest and Annie Fitzgearld finishing off the half for the Waterford team, 2-10 to 0-6.

An exchange of pointed frees from both sides opened the scoring in the second-half as Gailltír looked to push on again, winning frees inside in the full-forward line. As she had done throughout the contest Emma Fitzgerald slotted over two more frees before Laoise Forrest stepped up to the mark to put them well ahead, 2-13 to 0-7 after 40 minutes. 

Newcastle West were gifted an opportunity for a goal as Roisín Ambrose was taken down inside the box with the referee awarding a penalty on 45 minutes. Rebecca Delee stepped up to take the penalty, but the shot never looked like it connected right with her hurley as Gailltír's goalie, Noelle Murphy, saved the shot. 

Strong tackles were being put in from both sides as the game began to stop and start in the last 10 minutes of play. Despite missing her penalty Delee fired over her next free from the right hand-side of the goal. 

Compared to the scoring blitz in the first-half Gailltír were reasonably quite in the second with Newcastle West's Karen O'Leary adding the final score for her side from play, but at this stage the damage was done. 

The Waterford champions solidified their victory with four frees from centre-back Laoise Forrest to give them the 2-16 to 0-9 win and progress them onto the Munster Senior Camogie final. 

SCORERS NEWCASTLE WEST: Rebecca Delee 0-5 (0-5 frees), Ella Whelan 0-1, Iris Kennelly 0-1, Roisín Ambrose 0-1 GAILLTÍR: Mollie Comerford 0-2, Emma Fitzgerald 1-6(0-6 frees), Alannah O'Sullivan 1-1, Laoise Forrest 0-6 (0-4 free), Annie Fitzgerald 0-1

NEWCASTLE WEST: Aoife Corbett, Yvonne Lee, Roisín Mann, Kate Foley, Ellie Woulfe, Lucy O'Brien, Grace Lee, Deborah Murphy, Karen O'Leary, Ella Whelan, Kate Ambrose, Geri Mai O'Kelly, Iris Kennelly, Rebecca Delee, Roisín Ambrose. SUBS: Mia Smith for K Foley (36 minutes), Hazel Horgan for E Whelan (36 minutes), Isabelle O'Brien for K Ambrose (51 minutes), Shauna Tobin for G Lee (60 minutes), Roisin Browne for R Mann (60 minutes)

GAILLTÍR: Noelle Murphy, Faye Murphy, Maria Brennan, Maeve Sheridan, Shauna Fitzgerald, Laoise Forrest, Aoife Hartley, Clodagh Carroll, Kate Lynch, Alannah O'Sullivan, Annie Fitzgerald, Anne Corcoran, Emma Fitzgerald, Mollie Comerford, Ciara Sherlock. SUBS: Ciara O'Sullivan for C Sherlock (46 minutes), Hannah Flynn for F Murphy (51 minutes), Emer Walshe for A Corcoran (54 minutes), Orlaith Walsh for S Fitzgerald (58 minutes), Aoife Fitzgearld for C Carroll (61 miuntes)

REFEREE: Mike Ryan (Tipperay)