Erne Eagles win senior mixed title in style

Rounders

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Jamie Dowling

Erne Eagles mixed rounders team secured the Dympna Reilly cup with an impressive victory to overcome a brave Glynn/Barntown of Wexford team who were playing their thirdfinal of the day.

It was a fitting result for the Cavan side as the mixed trophy was named this year after club legend and five-time All-Star Dympna Reilly who tragically passed away in recent years.

Erne Eagles overcame a slow start to the game to overcome the Wexford side. Glynn/Barntown were looking to put the despair of losing the men’s and women’s finals behind them and flew out of the traps in the first innings and led 7-3.

The game was then turned on its head in the fourth innings with brilliant batting from Erne Eagles duo Darryl Dolan and Ollie Fitzsimons, getting seven runs, and suddenly the bad start was forgotten about and now they led for the first time, 10-8.

Margaret Brady of Erne Eagles, centre, is presented the Dympna Reilly Trophy by Dympna's sister Síle, left, and mother Dympna after the Mixed Senior Rounders Final 2020 match between Erne Eagles and Glynn Barntown at GAA centre of Excellence, National Sports Campus in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy / SPORTSFILE

Good fielding from fielder Dolan and good play from Fitzsimons on first base kept Glynn/Barntown at bay and the Eagles led 13-9 at the end of the fifth.

The Wexford side weren’t going out without a fight with Paul Cooper getting one of the shots of the day bringing three home and now there was only one in it going down the last two innings.

This game was going down to the wire with Warren Broaders kept Glynn/Barntown in the game with great catching all through the match.

The winning of the match came from Erne Eagles' fielders in the last few innings with catcher Áine Reilly having a great game. The Eagles fielders came out on top and didn’t concede any scores in the last two innings which proved crucial.

It came down to the seventh with Erne Eagles leading 14-12 as they edged closer to the trophy; once again Dolan came to the fore with two great catches and a catch from Ollie Fitzsimons sealed the win.

The win led to emotional celebrations at the end as Erne Eagles captain Maggie Brady paid tribute to the late Dympna Reilly in her winning speech with was fitting way to finish a great day Dympna would have been proud of.

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