Roscommon were crowned AirNav Ireland All-Ireland U-16 \u2018B\u2019 champions as they produced a sensational display to defeat Laois at Coralstown Kinnegad GAA Grounds. it finished Roscommon 4-14 Laois 0-10<\/p>\n
A run of 2-8 without reply in the opening half laid the platform for Roscommon to secure their first ever All Ireland title at underage level. The second half saw Laois fight back but Grace Barron produced three top drawer saves before late goals from captain \u00c9abhanna Sheridan and Clodagh Finneran helped Roscommon to a seismic triumph.<\/p>\n
Roscommon showed their early threat from deep as Aisling Kennedy tap over a free after the fleet-footed Clodagh Finneran was hauled back. However, Laois carried a firm threat every time they attacked in the first quarter as they powered 0-4 to 0-1 in front.<\/p>\n
Kate Dowling enjoyed an entertaining duel with Roscommon corner back Sophie Cox as the Laois attacker bagged two points in the opening quarter. But Roscommon gradually began to gain a grip around the middle third before completely dominating this sector of the field, which laid the platform for them to kick 2-8 without reply.<\/p>\n
Two Katie Conroy frees and an effort from play by the Boyle clubwoman drew Roscommon level and when Cox came storming out with possession in the 17th\u00a0minute, it set in motion a flowing move that ended with Kennedy slamming to the net. Roscommon were now rampant as they continued to press home their advantage with Kennedy and Conroy carrying a heavy scoring threat while Isabella Downey\u2019s hold up play was causing Laois untold problems.<\/p>\n
Roscommon\u2019s second major came in the 28th\u00a0minute as Anna Kelly\u2019s point effort hit the post before Kennedy grabbed the rebound and rifled an unstoppable effort to the net. A Kennedy free rounded out Roscommon\u2019s scoring surge and even though Mia Delaney ended her side\u2019s 21 minute scoreless spell, Roscommon were in firm control, leading 2-9 to 0-5 at half time.<\/p>\n
Laois came out with intent in the second half but when Grainne Coleman was denied by Barron before the Roscommon shot stopper saved Laura Malone\u2019s subsequent penalty, it felt as if this was Roscommon\u2019s day. Another Barron save, this time from Kate Dowling was a further boost before Sheridan netted following a sumptuous crossfield ball from Anna Kelly.<\/p>\n
Clodagh Finneran\u2019s late goal was the icing on top of the cake as Roscommon secured their first of what they hope is a treble of All Ireland titles with the county\u2019s minor and intermediate teams in All Ireland finals in the weeks ahead.<\/p>\n
Scorers \u2013 Roscommon:\u00a0A Kennedy 2-4 (3f), K Conroy 0-6 (4f), \u00c9 Sheridan 1-1, C Finneran 1-0, I Downey 0-2, A McGlynn 0-1.<\/p>\n
Laois:\u00a0M Delaney 0-3 (2f), K Dowling, L Malone and K Conroy 0-2 each, K Powders 0-1.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
ROSCOMMON:\u00a0G Barron; S Cox, C Carroll, S Scott; N Burke, R Keane, L Keena; \u00c9 Sheridan, K Canning; C Finneran, A Kennedy, M Hagan; K Conroy, I Downey, A Kelly. Subs:\u00a0A McGlynn for N Burke (43), S Kelly for M Hagan (53), S Dixon for L Keena (56), A Smyth for S Scott (60), I Walshe for S Cox (60).<\/p>\n
LAOIS:\u00a0A Mullins; L Brophy, L Whelan, S Cunningham; A Conroy, S Adams, K Powders; K Phelan, J Horan; H Luttrell, M Delaney, C Dooley; L Malone, O McEvoy, K Dowling. Subs:\u00a0G Coleman for O McEvoy (ht), K Conroy for H Luttrell (52), M Fitzpatrick for S Adams (58), A Hennessy for M Delaney (58), M O\u2019Reilly for G Coleman (60).<\/p>\n
Referee:\u00a0Anthony Marron (Monaghan).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roscommon were crowned AirNav Ireland All-Ireland U-16 \u2018B\u2019 champions as they produced a sensational display to defeat Laois…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551592,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-551591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551591"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551591\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}