No stopping superb Longford Slashers ladies on the march to the All-Ireland Club Final

Longford Slashers . . . 1-11   Charlestown Sarsfields (Mayo) . . . 0-10 

Kate Shannon scored the decisive goal with ten minutes gone in the second half, moments after Charlestown were reduced to 14 players when midfielder Katie Gavin received a yellow  card, and this proved to be a major turning point in the match. 

That left the Leinster Intermediate champions in a comfortable 1-10 to 0-7 lead, much to the sheer delight of the home supporters among the very big attendance, and Slashers showed fierce resistance to consolidate their firm grip on the game.

The commanding advantage was extended with a point from Grace Shannon in the 44th minute and while Slashers failed to register another score, a place in the All-Ireland title decider against Mullinahone (Tipperary) on Saturday December 10th was well secured at that stage of the game.     

Charlestown were unable to find a way through the rock solid opposing defence for a badly needed goal, even though they closed the gap with three points from their excellent full-forward Deirdre Doherty who accounted for the entire total of the ten scores (six frees) for the Mayo and Connacht champions.   

Another Charlestown player, Ella Brennan, was sin-binned in the 51st minute while Slashers were reduced to 14 players when Grace Shannon received a yellow card in the 56th minute.

This was yet another great achievement by the all conquering Slashers ladies who have created history by becoming the first gaelic football team from Longford to reach an All-Ireland Club final.

 The tactical battle was won by the four-in-a-row county senior champions and their shrewd manager Conor Clarke, along with fellow mentors Bryan Farrell and Shaun Cunningham,  deserve a lot of credit for plotting the path to the All-Ireland final.

 The Slashers workrate was immense throughout the semi-final clash against Charlestown and they were clearly the superior side, particularly so in the first half even though they had to be content with a slender 0-7 to 0-5 lead at the break.

The penetrating runs from Clare Farrell and Orla Nevin from the half-back-line were posing plenty of problems for the under pressure Charlestown defence and the first of three clear-cut goal chances was created with just a minute gone on the clock.

Nevin burst through to blast the ball over the bar when a goal was there for the taking and another point followed from Kate Shannon before Charlestown got their first score from a free converted by Deirdre Doherty in the 10th minute. 

The ever dangerous Doherty was then on target from play a couple of minutes later to leave the sides all square but Slashers then took over completely to register five points in a row.

Kate Shannon converted a close range free in the 13th minute and a brace of scores followed from Jessica Barry (play and free) with Aisling Cosgrove also on target. 

Slashers last point in the first half came from Kara Shannon, who was denied a goal in the 25th minute when her point-blank shot was parried over the bar by the opposing keeper Julia Gawalkiewicz.

Moments later the captain Cosgrove went so close to finding the back of the net when her goal attempt dropped just wide of the post in another lucky escape for Charlestown.

Having said that, Slashers were fortunate when Shona Mahon had a goal chance for the visitors in her bid to scramble the ball over the line in the 22nd minute but she was denied by a timely block from Aoife O’Brien.

Charlestown produced a strong finish to the first half with Deirdre Doherty shooting three more points (two frees) to keep her side in contention but Slashers hit back with a couple of crucial scores from Grace Shannon and Jessica Barry (free) in the early stages of the second half. 

Doherty then landed a cracking point for Charlestown before Jessica Barry (free) replied with her fourth score for Slashers. 

Doherty then went very close to scoring a goal for the Mayo Intermediate champions when she burst through to blast the ball over the bar in the 38th minute: 0-9 to 0-6. 

Things were tight at this stage of the game but Slashers struck a killer blow with a great goal from the influential corner-forward Kate Shannon who fired the ball into the back of the Charlestown net after doing so well to collect a centre from Kyana Lee. 

With the added boost of numerical advantage, Slashers were now in control but Charlestown never gave up the fight in battling it out to the bitter end and piled on the pressure in the closing stages in the faint hope of salvaging the situation.

Slashers now march on with high hopes of winning the All-Ireland Intermediate final at Croke Park against the Munster champions Mullinahone who beat the Ulster champions Derrygonnelly Harps (Fermanagh) 2-6 to 1-7 after extra-time in the other semi-final on Sunday last.

LONGFORD SLASHERS: Emer Casey; Grace Kenny, Eimear O’Brien, Emily Reilly, Clare Farrell, Orla Nevin (0-1), Laura Kenny; Aoife O’Brien, Grace Shannon (0-2); Lisa Nolan, Aisling Cosgrove (0-1), Kyana Lee; Kate Shannon (1-2, 1f), Jessica Barry (0-4, 3f), Kara Shannon (0-1).

Subs:- Jill Glennon for K Lee (55 mins); Grace O’Donnell for C Farrell (injured, 60 mins). 

CHARLESTOWN: Julia Gawalkiewicz; Clodagh Murphy, Lauren O’Donnell, Heather Johnson; Ella Brennan, Nichola Meehan, Elaine O’Donnell; Katie Gavin, Cailin Durkan; Shona Mahon, Chelsea Doherty, Nora McGovern; Kate O’Donohue, Deirdre Doherty (0-10, 6f), Jennifer O’Donnell.

Subs:- Eva Walsh for C Murphy (57 mins); Laura O’Toole for S Mahon (57 mins); Mary Kate Casey for E O’Donnell (60 mins). 

Referee: Eddie Cuthbert (Down).