Senior Ladies – Junior A Relegation Play-off Kilmeena vs Westport B

Kilmeena: 3 - 19       Westport B: 3 – 10 (AET)

Islandeady was the neutral venue on an October Saturday morning for this do-or-die contest between the ladies representing Kilmeena and their neighbours representing Westport’s B team. Geographical proximity inevitability equates to familiarity and friendships formed off the pitch – through work, school and socially!! But for 65 odd minutes and then a further 20 plus minutes (extra-time) all friendships and allegiances were parked in favour of a battle to decide who would survive to play Junior A football for 2026.

Weather conditions were perfect for the 11am throw-in time – it was overcast but dry and calm.

Captained by Eabha Carney, Kilmeena played towards the scoreboard end for the first half – there was no appreciable wind advantage either way today. Ciara Joyce registered Kilmeena’s first score, a goal for the ladies in black and white.

After this, the teams swapped points, Westport B scoring sixminors to Kilmeena’s five, the Kilmeena points coming from the boots of Lisa Hastings, Amy Carney, Aoife Gannon and Ciara Joyce. And it was the latter with her second goal of the opening 30 minutes that gave Kilmeena a cushion of five points at half time.

Half Time Score:  Kilmeena, 2 – 05  Westport B, 0 – 06

The second half was only a few minutes old when Westport B,having made some half time positional changes, took Kilmeena for two rapid fire goals. A bit of shock-and-awereally. But with Kilmeena quickly able to counter theWestport B positional switches, this early second half wobblewas quickly resolved.

Kilmeena went on to outscore Westport B by eight points to three from the 35th minute to the 55th minute, (scores from Ciara Joyce, sisters Eabha & Amy Carney and Lisa Hastings) giving the country ladies a four-point lead coming into the closing stages. But this is always a dangerous period and so it proved. With about 3 minutes remaining, Westport B got the goal they were looking for and suddenly there was only a single point separating the sides. Westport B pressurised the Kilmeena kick-outs and eventually following an attempted score, they won a 45. From this they managed to manufacture the levelling score and with that, the ref blew the full-timewhistle.

Full Time Score (end of Normal Time):  Kilmeena, 2 – 13 Westport B, 3 – 10

And so, it would take extra-time to separate these sides.

Westport B were evidently buoyed by their late second half recovery to level the game in normal time. Kilmeena on the other hand could be forgiven for feeling sorry for themselves and it would have been easy for the ladies in black and white to throw-in-the-towel at this stage.

With no score registered in the opening seven minutes of the first period of extra time it was looking like neither team could grasp the initiative. Then in the 8th minute of first half extra time, Sinead Hughes kicked the Kilmeena ladies into the lead with a well taken point. This was quickly followed by a goal from the boot of Ciara Joyce (a hat-trick for the full forward). This gave Kilmeena a four-point lead at the interval of extra time.

And from there, the ladies in black and white didn’t look back. Although fatigue and cramp were beginning to set in, the Kilmeena ladies laid siege to the Westport B goals Points followed from Lisa Hastings, Eabha Carney, Ciara Joyce, Emma Murray and Katie Moran (Jnr.) putting any notion of a late comeback by Westport B out of reach.

Although no prizes were given out to the victors today, this was the most important match this group will have played this season. In the end, the team in black and white stood up and were counted when it mattered most. The resilience shown by the Kilmeena ladies in Islandeady on Saturday morning 11thOctober 2025 will stand them well in their future encounters.

Team: Ellie Mae Keane, Mags Ryder, Aine Gallagher, Laura O'Grady, Sheila Bohan, Aine Regan, Sinead Hughes, Laura Kelly, Eabha Carney, Lisa Hastings, Aoife Gannon, Siofra Hughes, Amy Carney, Ciara Joyce, Lucy O’Malley.

Subs: Emma Murray (started extra time), Rachel Gibbons (for Ciara Joyce), Katie Moran Snr., Leah Walsh (for Lucy O’Malley), Niamh O’Connor, Katie Moran Jnr. (for Sheila Bohan), Rachel Keane.

Scorers; Ciara Joyce 3 – 5, Eabha Carney 0 – 4, Amy Carney 0 – 3, Aoife Gannon 0 – 1, Lisa Hastings 0 – 3, Katie Moran (Jnr.) 0 – 1, Emma Murray 0 – 1, Sinead Hughes 0 - 1