Naughton comes to Caltra girls rescue

Date Published: 14-Dec-2010

Caltra Cuans 0-7

St. Enda’s (Tyrone) 0-7

CALTRA Cuans had to draw on every ounce of courage and never-say-die commitment to force a draw in this 2010 All Ireland Junior Ladies Football Final in Mullahoran, Cavan on Saturday.

Emma Naughton emerged as the hero of the hour for the Galway champions when she landed the levelling point with six minutes of injury time played to earn her team a dramatic reprieve.

St. Enda’s must have thought that they had claimed the title when Cara McCrossan scored a point from a close in free four minutes into injury time, but the Caltra women simply refused to give up and, in the end, the draw was probably a fair result.

Though Caltra left it very late to earn a second chance, they could have won this game as, especially in the second half, they practically owned the ball but could not seem to get the all important scores to reflect their superiority.

Caltra’s problems up front stemmed from the fact that they were playing a Tyrone team, playing a typical “Tyrone game” of massed defence, whereby Caltra players in possession in the forward line, always seemed to be facing two or three defenders and then when the ball was lost, Edna’s hit on the break, often with devastating effect.

The heavy underfoot conditions and the tight pitch in Mullahoran combined with the long lay-off, due to the recent cold snap, possibly did not help Caltra, but then again both teams had to play under the same conditions.

Indeed Caltra could have got a goal in the first minute when Ciara Kilroy won the throw in and moved the ball onto Emma Naughton. She made a great run and was fouled, the free was dropped into the Enda’s square and from the resulting scramble, the ball crashed off the Enda’s crossbar and was cleared.