Lismore pushing to the limit - Lismore 0-9 Ballyhale Shamrocks 1-6

Lismore selector James Russell knows that the show must roll on after an inconclusive result in Sunday’s curtain raiser at Croker. “We have put in around 140 training sessions and out for fifty weeks. We are back again on Wednesday night. We are still alive and we think it could be destiny that the cup is waiting for us. Hopefully we will get it on March 16.” Those numbers lift the lid as to the push required behind the scenes to earn an All Ireland. The black and amber remain in the race after a stubborn refusal to surrender.

As the scoreboard shows, defences reigned supreme in this final. Forwards were barely afforded time to think about their shots. Only nine scores from play resulted. Nicola Morrissey, captain of the Waterford junior champions in 2011, managed three points from midfield and Ruth Geoghegan delivered two mazy efforts. The Ballyhale half forward line of Mags Fennelly (goalscorer), Kellyanne Cottrell (four frees) and Keeva Fennelly (two points from play) threatened intermittently. A couple of heavy downpours and 30 frees also reduced the scoring potential. All things considered, no quibbles with equality at full time.

Lismore battled through two significant scoreless spells. They spent 23 minutes without a point either side of half time and then waited another 13 minutes for their next white flag. Russell isolated the gutsy 45 metre over the shoulder leveller by Aoife Hannon to dispel two first half misses from routine frees. “Aoife Hannon got the point that drew it and things had been going bad for her. She was upset in the dressing room at half time with frees but it showed character in the end and our team have unbelievable character. All year they have dug themselves out of holes. With Aoife in particular, she stood up with that last point and put it over the bar.”

The corridors around the Cusack Stand dressing rooms were bereft of emotion or noise after the two teams filed in. They had lingered for a while on the field uncertain of how to react. Conflicted feelings ran through both camps. Lismore led by four at one juncture of the first half but were badly affected by a sudden second half swing of 1-1 in favour of the Shamrocks. “Our fault in the last few matches has been the first ten minutes of the second half,” Russell mentioned afterwards. “We said it in the dressing room at half time. These things happen and a few silly things happen.” Ballyhale didn’t fully capitalise on those weak moments. Mags Fennelly missed a sitter when the green and white enjoyed their spell of supremacy. Lismore rallied through a forceful player of the match performance from Shona Curran, the non-stop nature of Grainne Kenneally and a sticky defence glued together by Sarah Coughlan, Shauna Prendergast and Shauna Kiernan. Those two back to back points by Nicola Morrissey and Aoife Hannon almost gained cup winning momentum. A late burst by Caithriona McGlone in the red zone very nearly forced referee into awarding a free in front of the posts.

Grainne Kenneally spoke openly about their second half difficulties. She felt that they let the initiative slip. “We were disgusted with how we played at times but we are a mature team. We know that we let ourselves down for patches in that second half. We will stand up and we will admit to that.”

She soon turned towards the positives however. “What we need to take from this is the comeback and the fighting spirit. I looked up at the clock there was four minutes left and we were two points down. It felt as if it was all gone from us. Like this team has done time and time again in this campaign, we fought back and we were unlucky at the end not to take the game. We are happy with the draw, it was looking a lot worse with four minutes to go.”

She seeks a more rounded showing in the replay. “We need to ensure that our intensity is there from the very start to the very end to bring that cup home.” There was a conviction in her words that this final is still there for the taking. Russell felt likewise. “We feel that we didn’t do justice to ourselves. It was our first time representing Lismore in Croke Park at any grade. It was a big day so maybe that led to a few nerves or mistakes.” He also identified the requirement for a more cohesive attacking effort. “We have very good forwards but we are still waiting for them to click. There is goals in us but they just don’t seem to be coming.”

Using Ruth Geoghegan’s wheels down the right flank of the attack should be central to disturbing a solid Shamrocks defence marshalled by full back Roisin Fennelly. The Lismore rearguard continued their impressive average of only coughing up around eight or nine points per game. With all of this in mind, anticipate another low scoring arm wrestle on March 16.