Seventh heaven for Termon who win third Donegal SFC in-a-row

Termon captured their third Donegal senior title in-a-row with a resounding 7-12 to 1-8 victory over Moville on a dark overcast day in O’Donnell Park. 

Geraldine McLaughlin led the way for the ladies from the Burn Road with the former Donegal player landing an outstanding 3-5 on a day where her side dominated from start to finish tallying eight different scorers in the process while Moville on the other hand never got going in a game that was below par for a final.  

It would be Termon who opened the scoring, finding an early lead with Jodie McFadden pointing off her right in the opening two minutes. 

Geraldine McLaughlin was causing bother in the early stages, despite being double marked by Niamh Cavanagh and Erin Leech. But even with close attention being paid to the inside forward, she still rattled off two points back-to-back to put her side three up. 

McFadden landed her second from a tight angle, while Mclaughlin nailed a 13-metre free off her right boot from the right side of the post, putting a big gap between the sides early doors. 

With Termon very much in control from the early stages, Moville suffered a big blow when Termon nailed their opening goal on the 10th minute when McLaughlin floated in a super ball over the head of Shannon Leech and into the hands of Ciara McGarvey to slot past the keeper and into the net. 

Niamh Hegarty settled her side into the match by kicking Moville’s first point from a free on 11 minutes, but Megan Ryan and Roisin Friel would follow this up with two points of their own to make it 1-7 to 0-1 at the end of the first quarter. 

Moville suffered another blow on the 16th minute when Erin Leech was sin-binned for a high challenge on McLaughlin. And it got worse from there. Following McLaughlin’s fourth point, the resulting kickout fell to the hands of Evelyn McGinley who waltzed through the entire Movile defense to fire into the net for another Termon goal.  

Naomh Skelly and Shannon McLaughlin traded points from distance as the teams entered the final five minutes of the game while Clodagh Skelly and Tara Hegarty finished Moville’s first-half scoring but had a huge mountain to climb in the second half. 

And it only got harder in the final minute of the half when a bad kickout from Sarah Faulkner fell to the hands of McLaughlin to lob the Moville goalkeeper to add a third goal to Termon’s tally with the ladies from the Burn Road leading 3-9 to 0-4 at the break. 

With Moville needing a good response to have any chance of staying in the game, it didn’t come with McFadden knocking over her third point at the start of the half before McLaughlin nailed her side’s fourth goal to put 17 points between the teams. 

Niamh Hegarty landed her team’s first point of the half on the 34th minute, but the game was as good as done during the next phase of play when McLaughlin hit her hattrick after Termon eased their way through the Moville defense to hit the roof of the goals. 

McFadden added to her side’s goal tally when she slotted home Termon’s sixth of the day after McLaughlin drove through the heart of the Moville defense to play it forward to McFadden who kicked it into the net from a difficult angle. 

Moville pulled one back with Naimh Hegarty slotting home a penalty following a foot block, but another mistake while Moville were in possession resulted in Termon hitting their seventh goal when they gifted one to McFadden who nailed her second of the day. 

Kate McCleanaghan added two more points for Moville but it was not enough as Termon clinched their third county title in a row.  

Termon scorers: Geraldine McLaughlin 3-5, 2fs; Jodie McFadden 2-3; Ciara McGarvey and Evelyn McGinley 1-0 each; Shannon McLaughlin 0-2; Roisin Friel, Kate McCafferty, and Megan Ryan 0-1 each. 
Moville: Niamh Hegarty 1-2, 1f, 1pen; Kate McCleanaghan 0-2, 1f; Tara Hegarty, Clodagh Skelly, Shannon Leech, and Niamh Skelly 0-1 each.  

Termon: Orla Corry; Evelyn McGinley, Niamh Friel, Chelsea Gorman; Niamh Bonner, Shannon McLaughlin, Aoibhe McDaid; Emer Friel, Megan Ryan; Jodie McFadden, Roisin Friel, Anna Gallagher; Ciara McGarvey, Geraldine McLaughlin, Roisin McCafferty. Subs: Jenny McGettigan for Gorman (22); Lauren Gallagher for Bonner (35); Siobhan Cameron for Friel (40); Sophie Curran for Gallagher (47); Rionach Giles for McDaid (51); Meabh McDaid for Roisin Friel (52); Cayla McFadden for McFadden (55); Kate McCafferty for Roisin McCafferty (56); Joyclene Diver for Corry (59); Emma Nelis for Jenny McGettigan (59). 

Moville: Sarah Faulkner; Shannon Leech, Niamh Cavanagh, Katherine McLaughlin; Michelle Louge, Realtín McElhinney, Erin Leech; Tara Hegarty, Niamh Skelly; Aoibhín McIvor, Niamh Hegarty, Clara Boyle, Clodagh Skelly, Kate McCleanaghan, Eimear McLaughlin. Subs: Shannon McDonald for McIvor (ht); Niamh McDonald for Boyle (36); Lauren Lindsay for Erin Leech (50); Jenny McLaughlin for Cavanagh (53) Pia Rose McDaid for Clodagh Skelly (59); Eimear Gillen for Eimear McLaughlin (60); Emma Jane Kelly for Katherine McLaughlin (60). 

Referee: Dermot McColgan (Naomh Padraig)