Devenish St. Mary’s 6-11 Derrygonnelly Harps Ladies 1-06

Devenish St. Mary’s eased to the Fermanagh Ladies’ Intermediate championship at Brewster Park on Sunday with a convincing 20 point win over Derrygonnelly Harps.
The Devenish ladies’ goal power proved to be the difference as they plundered four goals in the opening period and went on to add another two in the second half.
Indeed, the Garrison girls raced into a 2-02 to 0-00 lead early on and led by 3-03 to 1-01 at the end of the first quarter.
Derrygonnelly did rally at this stage but crucially Devenish finished the half stronger to lead by 11 points at the break and the second half was a bit of a stroll as a stronger overall Devenish side deservedly took the title.
Devenish got off to a great start bagging 2-02 without reply in the opening period.
Gillian Coyle hit the goals and added a point as the Garrison club laid down an early marker with Eimear McGarrigle adding the other score.
Eimear Smyth was the stand out player for the Harps and she found the net to get them back into the game but Devenish, led by player of the match, McGarrigle and the non stop running of Aisling O’Brien were always just too good.
They led by 3-03 to 1-01 at the end of the first quarter before the Harps enjoyed a good spell and Smyth knocked over a free before the Harps’ Erin Flanagan burst through for a goal chance but fired over the bar to reduce the gap to 3-03 to 1-03 with ten minutes to the break.
The Harps needed a strong finish to the half but it was Devenish who reasserted with the influential Eimear McGarrigle pointing before Aisling O’Brien knocked over a good score from play.
The Garrison girls then got their fourth goal of the half when Aoife Doherty’s attempted point came off the upright but Bernie Maguire reacted quickly to catch the ball and fire superbly into the corner of the net.
O’Brien and Smyth exchanged frees to leave the half time score Devenish 4-06 Derrygonnelly 1-04.
Devenish just needed to keep the scoreboard ticking over in the second half and this they did as McGarrigle found Doherty who pointed well before the classy Smyth hit back as she soloed through on her right foot and fired over with her left.
McGarrigle then pointed before the pacy Aisling O’Brien raced through and fired low to the net to make it 5-08 to 1-05.
Smyth pulled a point back for the Harps but they were too reliant on their young County star for scores whereas Devenish had greater quality all over the field and Coyle fired over two excellent points to increase the advantage to 16 points.
McGarrigle’s long range point effort then dropped into the net before O’Brien wrapped up a very deserving 20 point win with the final point of the game.
Worryingly, young Smyth picked up a hand injury in the final minute and all will be hoping it does not keep the talented forward out of the upcoming All-Ireland semi-final.
As the final whistle sounded Devenish had secured the title on a scoreline of 6-11 to 1-06; a fine win made all the sweeter after last year’s defeat and the fact that it is the club’s centenary year.