Reigning champions St Conleth’s lay down a marker in championship opener against Shanahoe

Reigning champions St Conleth’s have gotten their 2025 LOETB Laois LGFA Senior Championship campaign off to a winning start against Shanahoe in Courtwood on Wednesday evening.

They fired eight goals past Shanahoe with their inter-county players having a huge impact on the game.

St Conleth's 8-19

Shanahoe 2-4

St Conleth’s went straight at Shanahoe from the first whistle as Eva Galvin won the throw-up before playing in Shifra Havill, but her inter-county team mate Eimear Barry denied her after 15 seconds. It was Aoibhe Byron who raised the game’s first white flag as she split the posts from long range. St Conleth’s inter-county contingent caused Shanahoe lots of problems with the next three points also coming from players on the Laois team. Byron set up Havill for their second point before the goal scorer from the All-Ireland final took her account to two. Eva Galvin made it four points to nil with eight minutes on the clock.

Grainne Phelan was the scorer of Shanahoe’s first point as she slotted a free between the posts. Alice Walsh, fresh from winning an All-Ireland Camogie title last Sunday, won the resulting kick-out and smashed the ball past Claire O’Connell to level the sides after 11 minutes. St Conleth’s took over from here and showed why they were crowned county champions in 2024 as they scored 4-2 without reply.

Byron notched her second long-range score of the evening from almost outside the two-point arc before Galvin set up Naomi Luttrell to get her first of the evening. Then came their first goal as Claire Fox played a one-two with Sinead Coffey before blasting it past Barry.

Three more goals followed for Chris Lynch’s side with Galvin having a part to play in two of them. She went through on goals before squaring the ball to Aoife Kirrane to tap into an empty net. Their third goal was a carbon copy of their second, as this time Fox played the ball to Galvin, who palmed it past Barry. The next kick-out ended up in Fox's possession and she raised her second green flag.

Maggie Fitzpatrick finally broke Shanahoe's 17 minutes without a score when she split the uprights. St Conleth's weren't letting up as they scored a further 1-3 unanswered. Galvin and two points from Byron, along with Fox completing a first-half hat-trick, put them in a commanding position before half-time. Shanahoe managed to get a second goal before the break as Marian Ferns played a great ball to veteran Mary Griffin and she made no mistake with her finish. The home side led 5-9 to 2-2 after the first 30 minutes.

The second-half was more of the same for the side that defeated Portlaoise in the 2024 County Final as Havill scored her third of the evening, while Byron also added another two placed balls to her tally. Fox would soon get in for her fourth goal of the contest as Byron and Naomi Luttrell kept their points tally rising. Substitute Courtney Finlay made an instant impact as she pointed before setting up Fox to add a point to her four goals.

Shanahoe's only two points of the second period came back-to-back as Mary Griffin took her tally to 1-2. St Conleth's finished the game strong and ended up getting another two goals, one each from Luttrell and Marie Byrne. Byron added two more points to her tally with Aoife Cummins popping up with a score from wing-back.

St Conleth's will look to make it two wins from two when they face Timahoe in Round 2 on August 26, while Shanahoe will take on Ballyroan on the same date.

SCORERS- St Conleth's: Claire Fox 4-1, Aoibhe Byron 0-9 (0-3 frees), Naomi Luttrell and Eva Galvin 1-2 each, Aoife Kirrane and Marie Byrne 1-0 each, Shifra Havill 0-3, Aoife Cummins and Courtney Finlay 0-1 each. Shanahoe: Mary Griffin 1-2, Alice Walsh 1-0, Grainne Phelan (free) and Maggie Fitzpatrick 0-1 each.

ST CONLETH’S: Claire O’Connell; Grainne Cotter, Ruanne Hunt, Ola Haastup; Aoife Cummins, Mary Cotter, Aine Haberlin; Shifra Havill, Aoife Kirrane; Aoibhe Byron, Eva Galvin, Sinead Coffey; Naomi Luttrell, Claire Fox, Marie Byrne. Subs: Courtney Finlay for Coffey (41 mins), Fiona Dempsey for Galvin (45 mins)

SHANAHOE: Eimear Barry; Sinead O’Brien, Ruth McDermott, Hannah Bailey; Niamh O’Sullivan, Marian Ferns, Megan Walsh; Jeanne de Toulget, Mary Fitzpatrick; Kate Jacob, Maggie Fitzpatrick, Alice Walsh; Martha Guilfoyle, Grainne Phelan, Ava Tynan. Subs: Caoimhe Cassin for O’Brien (17 mins, inj), Mary Griffin for A Walsh (22 mins, inj), Molly Cassin for Mary Fitzpatrick (36 mins, inj)

Referee: Michael Tarpey (Kilcavan)

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