Brave Boyle bow out of provincial race
Katie Conroy and her Boyle team-mates came up just short against Knockmore in Abbey Park on Sunday afternoon. Picture: Bernie O'Farrell
Boyle put Knockmore to the pin of their collar before falling just short in Sunday’s AIB Connacht LGFA Senior Club Championship semi-final at Abbey Park.
In a game of fine margins, Kieran McKeon’s side will point to a few missed chances in the third quarter alongside not being able to fashion an equaliser during the game’s dying embers.
But, overall, it was a hugely encouraging performance from the Roscommon champions who, in the manager’s words, “threw the kitchen sink” at a side that had appeared in the last six Mayo county finals.
Boyle were 0-4 to 0-2 ahead at the end of the first quarter, thanks to points from Aisling Feely (2), Caoimhe Cregg and Katie Conroy.
But the game’s defining score arrived in the 26th minute when Clodagh Keane latched onto Sarah Mulvihill’s probing pass to find the net, leaving the visitors 1-5 to 0-4 ahead at the break.
Led by the Wynne sisters, Roisín and Caoimhe, Boyle were terrific in the second half but, try as they might, they could never get back on level terms.
Knockmore were able to keep their noses in front through a hat-trick of frees from their captain Lara Sweeney, while Amy O’Connor saw a blistering shot cannon back off the crossbar.
By the end, that’s all they needed as despite late points from Conroy and Feely, Boyle couldn’t restore parity.
But the North Roscommon ladies bowed out with their heads held high, showing that they were more than capable of competing in this sort of company.
