Victory was there for the taking believes St Brigid's Eimhin Quinn

“It was there for the taking” was how Eimhin Quinn summed up last Sunday’s Connacht LGFA Junior Club Championship Final, the St Brigid’s top scorer feeling that nerves played a part in her team’s downfall against a more clinical Claremorris in Abbey Park Boyle.

The Leitrim team, drawn from Aughnasheelin, Aughawillan and Drumreilly, created the chances to win the provincial crown but missed opportunities cost them dearly with Eimhim agreeing that nerves may have played a part in Brigid’s slow start to the contest.

“It was there for the taking,” was Eimhin’s first thought on analysing the contest won by Claremorris on a 2-13 to 2-8 scoreline, “but I suppose we came in to it knowing that we had achieved so much this year, for such a young club to get the Spring League, League and Championship, it was such an achievement.

St Brigid's rue missed chances and slow start as clinical Claremorris edge thriller

ST BRIGID'S 2-8 CLAREMORRIS 2-13

“We really gave it everything there today, we weren’t that shy of it. Definitely nerves early on, you can see the youth in the team and there was serious nervousness in that first half for about 10 or 15 minutes until we got ourselves settled and then after that, we started playing the way we’ve played the whole year long.”

St Brigid’s may have a few celebrated veterans in their ranks but Eimhin stresses the youth in the team: “It really does show the youth in our team which is lovely going into Senior next year but today was a really, really tough game.”

Claremorris’ good start exacerbated St Brigid’s slow one but Eimhin was proud of how her team kept battling away: “A good start is half the work isn’t it? But I really think we kept in it, I think we got it back to four points but that early goal for them knocked the wind out of us and it took a little bit of building but we were by no means dead and gone at any stage.

Heartbreak for St Brigid's as Claremorris claim Connacht title - GALLERY

Heartbreak for St Brigid's as a clinical Claremorris denied them their dreams of Connacht LGFA Junior Club glory on Sunday in Abbey Park Boyle with the Mayo side prevailing 2-13 to 2-8. Observer photographer Willie Donnellan was there with his camera, capturing some great shots of both sets of fans enjoying an enthralling encounter ..... see who you can spot!

“I have to say it is credit to the girls because no matter where you are, seven points down or seven points up, the drive is there and that comes from the girls themselves. And when that is always there, the margin doesn’t really matter and while we were on the side of the margin we didn’t want to be on, I think our experience stood to us and we kept going, got back to what we needed to be doing and playing our own gameplan.”

As for the future, Eimhin sees bright times ahead of St Brigid’s: “Take hugely from this going forward, that was a really tough good game and it is bound to stand to us going forward.”