Keeva Reid of Our Lady's Bower in action against Alannah O'Brien, left, and Eimear O'Brien of Sacred Heart Secondary during the Lidl All Ireland Post Primary Schools Senior ‘C’ Championship Final match between Our Lady's Bower, Athlone, Westmeath and Sacred Heart Secondary, Clonakilty, Cork at Sean Treacy Park in Tipperary Town. Photo by Ray McManus/Sportsfile

Final heartbreak for Bower

Published: Fri 1 Apr 2022, 2:47 PM

Sacred Heart, Clonakilty 1-11

Our Lady’s Bower 3-3

By Ger McCarthy

It was a case of so close but yet so far for a gallant Our Lady's Bower outfit who were edged out in a pulsating Lidl All-Ireland PPS Senior C title at Sean Treacy Park in Tipperary today.

Orlaith Deasy scored 1-4 as Sacred Heart Clonakilty claimed the trophy by just two points despite two fine Keeva Reid first-half goals.

The Cork school though outlast the Bower in the final quarter to prevail by just two points.

Our Lady’s Bower hit the front courtesy of a superbly crafted Keeva Reid goal after seven minutes. An Orlaith Deasy free represented Sacred Heart’s solitary response prior to the first water break.

Siofra Pattwell and Deasy raised consecutive white flags before the former clipped the crossbar to make it 0-4 to 1-0 after 18 minutes.

The Athlone side enjoyed a purple patch with the dangerous Reid rattling the crossbar and punching the rebound to the net. Reid added a point shortly after but their opponents found another gear as Ciardha McCarthy, Millie Condon and Aisling Moloney efforts levelled matters, 0-7 to 2-1, at half-time.

A scrappy third quarter saw Deasy add two more scores to increase the Cork side’s lead to 1-9 to 2-2 at the final water break.

Sacred Heart lost Deasy to a yellow card offence for ten minutes and Our Lady’s took full advantage. Marian Nolan converted a penalty before Alison Nugent levelled it up 3-3 to 1-9.

A nerve-wracking closing period saw Deasy return to the pitch and kick the insurance score after Pattwell landed a long-range free to spark wild scenes at the final whistle.

Scorers –

Our Lady’s Bower: K Reid 2-1, M Nolan 1-0 (1-0 pen), T Foley 0-1 (1f), A Nugent 0-1.

Sacred Heart: O Deasy 1-4 (1f), S Pattwell 0-3 (1f), C McCarthy 0-1, A Moloney 0-1, M Condon 0-1, R Ni Bhuacalla 0-1.

OUR LADY’S BOWER: C Fitzpatrick; E Fitzpatrick, E Galvin, J Begley; D Ní Ruairc, A McGrath, L Nugent; T Foley, M Nolan; E McGovern, A Curran, L Seery; O Craven, K Reid, S Kenny.

Subs: K Stuart Trainor for Craven (30), A Nugent for McGovern (40), C Fallon for Kenny (47), O Craven for Nolan (63).

SACRED HEART: K Hearne; M Murphy, A O’Brien, R Shanley; M Condon, K O’Donovan, M Kingston; K O’Driscoll, C McCarthy; R Ni Bhuacalla, E O’Brien, L Sutton; S Pattwell, O Deasy, A Moloney.

Subs: A O’Flynn-Meade for McCarthy (47), N Kennedy for Moloney (57).

Ref – Ciarán Groome (Offaly).