Ennis opened the scoring with an early point from Fiona Lafferty. Suzanne Lynch cancelled out that effort after 10 minutes and the Carrigaline central line of Lisa O’Driscoll, Roisin O’Herlihy & Karen O’Sullivan began to dominate matters. Lafferty added another free but Sandra Moran scored her side’s first goal after a good approach play by Davinia O’Mahony and Michelle Coakley. Lynch converted two frees into the stiff breeze to put four points between the teams. Siobhan Lafferty went for goal from a thirty yard free and, although Laura Thompson made an excellent save, her defenders were unable to prevent Jacinta O’Grady from burying the rebound. Lafferty added another free to have the sides level at half time.

Carrigaline mentors Pat Looney & Ollie Troy were feeling confident at this stage they would have the advantage of the strong wind for the second period. Ennis, however, had other ideas. The half backline of Helen Collins, Niamh Shannon and the stylish Ruth Cahill were quite effective and Siobhan Lafferty began to run proceedings. Their forwards squandered a plethora of good scoring chances and it was not surprising when Suzanne Lynch scored a point at the other end. The shrew positional switch of Terri O’Keeffe to full forward had a huge bearing on the final outcome. A long clearance from her sister Jacqui found the full forward in space and her ground stroke from thirty yards billowed the Ennis net. Fiona Lafferty converted two frees for Ennis but when Jacqui O’Keeffe scored her sides’ third goal, Carrigaline held the advantage. Edel Malone from the banner side went on an incisive solo run but Elaine Egan blocked her path when a goal looked imminent. Referee John Morrissey had a busy afternoon with silly fouls conceded from both sides. Fiona Lafferty did score a goal from a close in free but Terri O’Keeffe put the result beyond doubt with her second goal three minutes from time.

Carrigaline:
L. Thompson, E. Egan, L. O’Driscoll (C), H. Egan, D. Crowley, R. O’Herlihy, D. O’Mahony, J. O’Keeffe (1-0), L. Kelleher, T. O’Keeffe (2-0), K. O’Sullivan, M. Coakley, A. Dempsey, S. Moran (1-0), S. Lynch (0-5, 4 frees). Sub: U. O’Farrell for Dempsey

Ennis:
S. Commane, S. O’Gorman, C. Cullinan, R. Lillis, R. Cahill, H. Collins, N. Shannon (C), S. Lafferty, M. Raftery, C. Colleran, E. Malone, F. Lafferty (1-5, 1-4 frees), N. Arthur, C. Power, J. O’Grady (1-0). Subs M. Kelleher for O’Grady, C. Rosengrave for Arthur.