Keegan springs from the bench to break Killeshin's hearts and secure Junior Championship for St Paul's

St Paul's are the LOETB Laois LGFA Junior champions after a 63rd minute point from substitute Anna Keegan saw her side over the line against Killeshin in Annanough on Friday evening.

St Paul's 2-7

Killeshin 1-9

Killeshin almost got off to the perfect start as Lucy Gaffney’s hand-pass found Eva Kavanagh but her effort rattled the woodwork after two minutes. Niamh Graham got Killeshin’s first score soon after as she split the posts from play. St Paul’s were pulled up for over carrying in defence which led to Aisling Cawley stepping up and putting the ball over the bar.

St Paul’s got off the mark with four minutes played as Shannon Costello went on a great run which led to her being through on goals. She took her point when a goal could have been on. Killeshin were getting their hands on a lot of the ball but couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard. St Paul’s were then reduced for 14 men for 10 minutes as Aoife Langford was shown a yellow card for a foul on Cara English. Graham pointed the resulting free to make it three points to one.

The sin bin seemed to spark a bit of life into Pat Langford’s side as they scored 1-3 while being a player down. Rebecca Balfe almost rattled in a goal for St Paul's but her effort struck the woodwork. They did eventually get their goal as Clodagh Brogan stuck the ball into the top corner to give Siobhan Dowling no chance in the Killeshin net. Aoibhin Maher, Balfe and Brogan (free) all pointed to give St Paul's a four-point advantage. The final two scores of the half were traded as Graham and Maher raised white flags. St Paul's led 1-5 to 0-4 at the break.

Killeshin came out with fire in their bellies in the second-half as they kicked three points in the opening two minutes. Cora English kicked two of those with a Graham free sandwiched in between. St Paul's struck for a second goal as Brogan set up Costello to raise a second green flag. English got a third point in the second period to cut the St Paul's lead to three points.

St Paul's had a chance to potentially wrap up the game when Brogan was fouled in the square. Costello stepped up but saw her penalty saved by Dowling. Sinead O'Rourke scored a wonderful point two minutes later. Graham slotted over a fifth score for Killeshin before they levelled the contest with a goal from Darien Hughes in the 51st minute. Both sides had their chances to win with St Paul's striking the crossbar from a Niamh Conroy shot while for once the ever reliable Graham kicked a free wide. Anna Keegan who was brought on for Maher after 49 minutes stepped up when her club needed her the most to send the large St Paul's crowd into raptures. The win sees them move up to the Intermediate grade for 2025.