The Pats overcome Clonee to book place in Leinster Intermediate Ladies Club Championship semi-final

St Patricks eased into the last four of the Leinster Intermediate Ladies Club Championship semi-final with a comfortable victory away to Wexford’s Clonee on Saturday afternoon.

It was another confident and controlled team performance from the Lordship side as they dominated the hosts throughout to set up a meeting with Carlow champions Bennekerry/Tinryland on Saturday.

A blistering first quarter laid the foundation for this victory and having established a nine-point lead, the outcome was never really in doubt thereafter.

The Pats did have to withstand a spirited third quarter from the hosts and the loss of Aine Breen and Saoirse Butterly to contentious yellow cards in the second half, but such was their composure that they were never seriously threatened.

Despite a three-week lay-off since the championship final, the Louth representatives showed little signs of rustiness with a strong start, as Aine Breen had the first point on the board inside ten seconds before Grace Treanor added a second soon after.

Clonee hit back with a point from a Catriona Murray free but the Pats responded in emphatic fashion with two goals inside a minute to take charge of the game.

On five minutes Kate Flood was denied a stunning goal when inexplicably the referee called play back to award the Pats a penalty, but the Louth player ensured that justice was done when she stroked the ball into the bottom corner.

It got even better for the peninsula side from the restart when Niamh Holland pounced on a poor kick-out and fired the ball to the net at the second attempt.

When a Flood free was followed by a fine Meg Woods score, the visitors had eased into a commanding 2-4 to 0-1 lead after just 11 minutes.

Although Clonee responded through Sarah Doyle, they were denied further scores by a disciplined defence and a brilliant Rebecca Lambe Fagan save.

One downside of the Pats performance was a number of misplaced passes that saw them fail to capitalise on further opportunities, but nonetheless they did add points from Flood, Woods and the impressive Aisling O’Doherty.

In the final minute of the half, Clonee were given some hope when Aine Breen was rather harshly yellow carded and they took advantage by adding two injury-time points to cut the gap to 2-7 to 0-4 at the break.

The Wexford side came out strongly at the start of the second half and saw points from Murray and Doyle provide further encouragement.

However, the Pats never lost their composure and points from Flood and Treanor had the lead back to 2-9 to 0-6 on 45 minutes, despite Saoirse Butterly picking up another harsh yellow card.

The closing stages saw the Louth champions show their class with a fine Meg Woods points was followed by a wonderful goal from Aine Breen.

The Louth captain won the ball in midfield before continuing her run forward to latch on to a Niamh Holland pass and crash the ball to the net on 56 minutes.

Despite a late yellow card for Carrie Keenan and two late points for the hosts, the Pats cruised home in the closing minutes to secure another impressive win.

ST PATRICKS: Rebecca Lambe Fagan; Melissa O’Hanlon, Shauna Grey, Meabh Butterly; Deirbhile O’Doherty, Anna Whyte, Denise Finnegan; Saoirse Butterly, Chloe Barry; Meg Woods 0-3, Aine Breen 1-1, Grace Treanor 0-2; Niamh Holland 1-0, Kate Flood 1-3, Aisling O’Doherty 0-1.

Subs: Carrie Keenan for D Finnegan, Kate Cumiskey for C Barry, Caoimhe O’Hare for D O’Doherty, Tara O’Callaghan for G Treanor.

CLONEE: Laura Kehoe; Claire O’Rourke, Mary O’Neill, Danielle Hayden; Caoimhe Ryan, Karen Tomkins, Megan Hayes; Anne Byrne, Marguerite Doyle; Emma Tomkins, Sarah Doyle 0-3, Orlaith Byrne; Orla O’Rourke 0-1, Catriona Murray 0-4, Eabha Guinan.