2011 Camogie 7's

The Tara Camogie 7s in Tir Chonaill Park on Saturday 30^th April were another success with 15 teams taking part and 28 games of camogie been played.

The Junior competition has 6 teams making 2 groups of six with the group winners heading straight to the Cup Final and the others competing in the Plate Final.

The Junior Cup Final saw hosts Tara play Bros Pearse.  Bros Pearse topped Group 1 by beating MCusacks and narrowingly seeing off Cup holders Erin go Bragh by one point whilst Tara beat London Shinty and Croydon.  Tara's Janine O Neill played in goal out of duress rather than desire but she made some crucial saves throughout the day; and marshalled by Dearbhail O Neill and Susi Gill the backline was solid.  There was some great battling in midfield with Sheila Fernandes and Jennifer Tomb trying to keep Christine Murphy at bay whilst Denise Mooney and Niamh Dolan took the scores. Therese Doyle controlled the backs excellently all day for Pearses but Dolan made some great runs out to collect the ball, turned and headed straight for goal and found the back of the net on a number of occasions. This game ended with Tara running outright winners 6-10 to 2-3 and Tara Captain Denise Mooney collected the Junior Cup as sponsored by the Man of Aran and presented by Graham Heneghan.

The remaining 4 teams qualified for the plate semi-finals. Croydon saw off MCusacks whilst Erin go Bragh, still a young team and captained by Arienne Purcell, were victorious over London Shinty.  This was a repeat of last years Cup Final which EgB won but Croydon werent going to let this one slip. With Claire Curtin commanding the backline, and Celine O Connor, Emma O Connor & Rita O Mahoney battling hard and taking scores Croydon won 2-03 to 0-01 to take the Junior Plate to South London.  Congratulations to Croydon's Rita O Mahoney who won Junior Player of the competition, as voted by the referees.

The group draws were made on the morning and with 9 senior team Group 1 saw both Clare teams, Whitegate and Kilkishen, Liverpool, Na Fianna and Holycross drawn together whilst Portobello, Fr Murphys,  Liverpool/London combo team and hosts Tara in Group 2. 

Liverpool who were runners up to Tara in the Birmingham tournament earlier this year, as always, are very competitive with a never-die attitude and a last minute goal ensured a win over Kilkishen.  All the talk was about Holycross, winners 06 & 08, and they didn’t disappoint, winning their early games.  Late comers Na Fianna who got held up at Stanstead airport and a motorway accident, did give Holycross a run for their money but lost by 2 points.  Holycross went through as Group winners and onto the Getjar Cup final whilst Na Fianna went on to J Coffey Plate Final. 

In Group 2 the Liverpool/London combination team combined well considering some of the girls never met before.   Hosts Tara beat local team Fr Murphy’s by 2 points and went down to Portobello by the same deficit but earned a place in the Plate Final against Dublin's Na Fianna.    Na Fianna had a couple of mishaps along the way including Mariee O Dwyer, past Tara player, breaking her contacts and having to play goalie.  Tara's Denise Gilligan showed no sympathy and was lethal in front of goal to help the hosts win some senior silverware.  Jamie Coffey presented the Senior Plate to Tara's captain for 2011 Denise Gilligan.

Group 2 winners Portobello were lined up for an encounter with Holycross in the Cup Final and they didnt disappoint.   Holycross’ Siobhan Ryan was dangerous as usual scoring 2 goals in the first half and earning her side a 4 point margin going in at half time.  Portobello upped the pace in the second half and the influential Lorraine Burke ran at Holycross' defence, and Elaine Gallery totted up scores.  At the other end Jacqui Hurley cleared the backs and Goalie Breda O Neill made a couple of crucial saves; and with only allowing Holycross 2 points in the second half, Portobello ran out clear winners by 3-11 to 4-2.  Portobello's Liz Ruth won Senior Player of the Tournament although Holycross' Siobhan Ryan wasnt far behind.

The standard of camogie at Greenford last week was fantastic and other senior players that had great performances included Kilkishen's Siobhan Kiniry and Monica Moroney, Murphys Mel Hogan, Tara's Bid Grennan, Helen Murphy and Denise Gilligan, Whitegates Aisling Treacy, Ciara O Leary, Rachel Bleach and Ciara McDermott and Liverpool's Cara Farren, Clodagh McPeak & Ciara Murphy.

The day was a huge success and we thank all our visiting teams, London and UK teams for taking part.  Thanks also to Referees Jason Cody, Linda Cummins, Damian McCormack, John Joe Burke and Eddie Naughton for their excellent work throughout the day.   

Thanks to Sponsors: Senior Cup - Getjar, Senior Plate - J Coffey, Junior Cup - Man of Aran and Junior Plate Tir Chonaill Park

Tir Chonaill Park was a fantastic setting in the sunshine with many of the visitors complimenting on the standard of facilities available to us here in Greenford and we thank Tir Chonaill Gaels, Tom Mohan, Adrian Byrne, Maurice Carr, JP, and Brian Corry for their help and assistance on the run up and over the weekend of our 7s.