By Anthony Newman
Clare 5-6
Tipperary 1-12
Clare retained their Munster Ladies Football Minor B title after their win over Tipperary at Mallow on Saturday.
The game was in the balance right to the final few minutes, before a goal from Shannon Cagney secured the win for the Banner.
This was a highly entertaining game of football with both sides having their passaged of domination with Aoife Shelly and Molly Crowe playing well for Tipperary.
Clare had outstanding performances all over the pitch, with Aoibheann Ryan, Aisling Crowe, Hazel Keating and Abi Kelly the pick of them.
Tipperary took the lead in the first minute when Lucy O’Brien pointed and could have gone further ahead two minutes later.
But Sinead O’Carroll’s shot on goal was saved by Nicole Clark and the danger was cleared.
Clare were back on level terms when Aoibheann Ryan scored with Lily Maher putting Tipp back in front from a free.
A sweeping team move saw the ball break to Ryan and she made no mistake as she found the back of the net, to make it 1-1 to 0-2 in Clare’s favour.
Maher pointed another free for Tipp before Clare got their second goal. Aine McNamara regained possession for her side and took on the Tipp defence, beating several players before scoring a goal, to make it 2-1 to 0-3.
Ryan added a point before Maher replied from a free for Tipp. Maher set up Molly Crowe for Tipp’s fifth point as the game moved at pace from end to end.
Sophie Culleton pointed for the Banner, before they got their third goal.
Ryan won a Tipperary kick-out and played Abi Kelly in as she rounded the keeper, to make it 3-3 to 0-5 after 25 minutes.
They soon added their fourth, with Leah Daly on target to put them well in control.
Maher pulled a point back for Tipp and Crowe got the last score of the half as Clare led by 4-3 to 0-7 at the break.
Tipp started the second half brightly with Maher scoring from another free, before they scored a goal to put only four points between the sides.
Grace Hogan picked up the ball and played Aoife Shelly in, to make it 1-8 to 4-3 after 36 minutes.
That was down to three when Maher pointed another free before McNamara got Clare’s first score of the second half, after 46 minutes.
Shelly was on target for her side, before Clark made another great save from the same player to deny her a second goal.
Ryan and Sophia O’Grady exchanged scores and with two minutes left Clare still led, by 4-5 to 1-11.
Shelly made it a two point game, before Clare broke up the pitch to see Shannon Cagney score their fifth goal and with that secure the title for her county.
McNamara added a point to make sure as the Banner ran out deserving winners after a highly entertaining game.
Scorers for Clare: A Ryan 1-3, A McNamara 1-2 (1f), A Kelly, L Daly, S Cagney 1-0 each, S Culleton 0-1.
Tipperary: L Maher 0-6 (6f), A Shelly 1-2, M Crowe 0-2, L O’Brien, S O’Grady 0-1 each.
CLARE: N Clark; A Cahill, A Kelly, E Burke; A Kelly, H Keating, L Daly; A Talty, A Crowe; K Darcy, R Meaney, S Culleton; A Ryan A McNamara, M Clancy.
Subs: I Madigan, S Leahy, S McEvoy, C McDonnell, L Meaney, C Mescal, M Potter, S Cagney, M O’Connell, G Marrinan, E McInerney, N Meaney, L Darcy, A Mescal, S Clancy.
TIPPERARY: K Hennessy; E Grace, T Bourke, K Cremins; A Ryan, I Carr, E Cuddihy; M Crowe, S O’Carroll; S O’Grady, L Maher, L O’Brien; G Hogan, A Shelly, E Duffy.
Subs: C Grogan, K Bailey-Moloney, J Grey, E Kiely, S English, K Nevin, S Coughlan, Z Tierney, K Murphy, M McGrath, M Keague, A Fitzgerald, G Tuohy, E O’Keeffe, M Cunneen.
Referee: Conor McCarthy, Cork.
