Tempo 3-09 Belcoo 1-12

Two slightly fortunate goals in the space of 90 seconds swung this thrilling encounter irrevocably in Tempo’s direction as they finally took a county title at the third time of asking.

Heartbreaking defeats to Derrygonenlly and Aghadrumsee had hardened their resolve to eventually have their day in the in the sun minus the great Balithín Bogue and the gifted Eva Finlay McGovern.

The crucial scores came from Player of the Match Cora McCaughey whose attempt at a point into the breeze seemed to dip in under the crossbar to the Belcoo net in the 44th minute.

McCaughey’s score put Tempo in front by 2-07 to 1-09 after trailing by 1-07 to 1-06 at the break.

Emboldened by that three-pointer, Tempo attacked again, and it took a great block from a Belcoo defender to keep out a second goal.

But a free was conceded and Tempo full-forward Megan Hamilton’s soaring left-footed effort seemed to be going over the bar before it was caught in the breeze and the ball nestled in the corner of the net.

Suddenly Tempo was ahead by 3-07 to 1-09 and even though brave Belcoo responded with three points on the spin- a late score from McCaughey sealed the deal.

Tempo had the benefit of the breeze, but it was the languid 15-year-old Ella McGovern who scored a fine point for Belco.

County player Cadhla Bogue levelled matters for Tempo. But McCaughey struck for her first goal when she profited from a poor Belcoo kick out and lobbed the O’Rahilly’s keeper Riona Keaney into an empty net.

Aoife McPartland narrowed the gap for Belcoo with a well-struck point and Bogue made it a three-point game from a free.

The breeze was a big factor and Shannan McQuade made a searing run through the Belcoo defence and hit a great point and Bogue made it 1-04 to 0-02 by the 15th minute.

Belcoo launched a revival with points from Abbie McGovern, Sinead Barrett and Eimear Higgins to leave just two points between the sides before Bogue made it 1-06 to 0-06.

But Belcoo’s strong running was causing the Tempo defence problems and Higgins landed another point.

And it looked like they had hit a killer goal in the 28th minute when the excellent Aoife McPartland broke through and her cross-field shot dipped into the Tempo net to put the O’Rahilly’s ahead by 1-07 to 1-06 at the break.

McPartland added to their lead when she swooped on a loose ball and swept the leather over the bar in the 32nd minute.

Both sides had a few bad wides before Bogue hit a great point into the breeze but Higgins responded with a fine point before Tempo hit those two killer goals.

They were real hammerblows for Belcoo, but to their credit, they hit back with three rapid points on the spin from Higgins and Ella McGovern to narrow the gap to a point.

It proved to be a very tense finish and referee Barry Monaghan somehow found almost 38 minutes before finally calling time and McCaughey and Izzy Murphy hit the final clinching scores as Tempo won a memorable victory on a score of 3-09 to 1-12.