Inch Rovers - Tesco Homegrown Senior County Champions 2012

Inch Rovers 0-14 Donoughmore 0-09 Inch Rovers captured their fourth Senior title in five years with a five point victory over Donoughmore in Pairc Uí Rinn on Monday night. On a mild Autumn evening with conditions perfect for football Inch and Donoughmore contined their great rivalry in Senior County Finals of recent years in front of a large attgendance. The opening half was a tight affair with both teams a little tentative at time in front of goals. Inch opened the scoring with a Sarah Harrington point followed by an Annie Walsh point before Aishling O' Connor opened Donoughmore's account. As the first half continued points were exchanged as the arm wrestle for supremacy continued. With the Inch Rovers midfield pairing of Captain Annie Walsh and Orla Cotter shading affairs against Juliet Murphy and Rachel Barrett Inch enjoyed the greater share of possession but were finding it difficult to convert their scoring opportunities. Jessica O' Shea raced on to a great through ball which split the Donoughmore defence but was denied the opening goal when Catriona O Connell brought off a fine save. At the half time whistle the game was firmly in the melting pot with Inch holding a two point advantage on a score of 0-5 to 0-3. The opening ten minutes of the second half saw Donoughmore enjoy their best period of the match as they found their rhythm. With their forwards receiving a better supply of ball the Donoughmore girls found their range in front of goals outscoring Inch by three points to one to tie up the match, the Inch point coming from inspirational Tesco Homegrown player of the match Anne Marie Walsh who was now operating at centre back. Two points from the boot of Mary O' Connor steadied the ship for Inch as they restablished their grip around the middle of the park. Donoughmore continued to press responding with a couple of points but the momentum was now swinging back in favour of the Inch girls as their backline got to grips with the Donoughmore attack whilst Annie Walsh, Orla Cotter and Anne Marie Walsh were dominant in the middle sector ensuring a better supply to ball to an attack led by Amy O' Shea and Mary O' Connor who were now finding their range with some fine scores. Inch Rovers donimated the final ten minutes of the game as they closed in on their fourth county title. When Referee Gene Buckley sounded the final whistle the Inch girls had proven that they were deserving champions with a display of great heart and determination in what had been a difficult time for the club in the lead up to the decider. Congratulations to Inch Rovers on a well deserved Senior County title and the best of luck in their upcoming Munster Club Championship Campaign. [gallery orderby="post_date"]