Seniors slump to heavy loss
Twenty-point swing in Offaly’s favour in three weeks
OFFALY 2-14 WEXFORD 1-7 HOW CAN a ten-point win, which could have been 20-plus, turn into a ten-point loss against the same opposition in the space of three weeks? A complete lack of hunger and intensity, that’s how. There is nothing positive that can be said about Wexford’s horrendous performance against Offaly in the All-Ireland Senior camogie championship in Birr on Saturday, absolutely nothing.
It’s rare that a whole team spirals into a collective malaise but the Slaneysiders managed to accomplish that feat. Nobody played close to an acceptable level and that takes some doing. The starting 15 were completely off the pace and the substitutions made no impact whatsoever.
An excuse? Well, clutching at straws, the grass on the pitch was thick and heavy which wouldn’t have helped the visitors. However, the running through treacle seems to be exclusively a Wexford problem as Offaly were effervescent, clinical and thoroughly worthy of the biggest win over their opponents since the Faithful’s promotion at the start of 2011.
The hosts’ superior intensity was the catalyst for a multitude of Wexford problems. The visitors’ first touch was clumsy and poor, the decision-making was slow and erroneous, and the passing was simply abysmal. The sizeable travelling support must have wondered what had happened to this team since the previous weekend.
There were signs of the danger of two-goal hero Arlene Watkins for the Wexford management in the Leinster final when she tormented the Slaneysiders in the second-half with little help from her team-mates. However, that warning wasn’t heeded as Offaly stuck her in at full-forward again and she was able to dictate and enlivened those around her.
Unlike the provincial decider, Offaly played in the first-half and they had more than one attacker winning their individual battle. All six forwards gave Wexford problems but Tina Hannon and Michaela Morkan in particular found opportunities too easy to come by.
When a personnel switch might have been the prudent call, the eventual answer to the Watkins problem was to sit Jackie Quigley in front of her. It proved to be an absolute disaster as Offaly completely dominated the middle third of the field and set a base for victory.
Crazy as it seems but Wexford’s best spell, which wasn’t particularly impressive, was the first ten minutes. Kate Kelly opened the scoring from a free after Katrina Parrock was fouled in the first minute.
As a sign of things to come, Kelly got away on the right after an Emma Walsh line ball, only to over-hit her handpass to Parrock as her clubmate broke in on goal. Morkan levelled in the seventh minute but long-range scores by Shelley Kehoe, from Walsh’s pass, and Leacy, from a Chloe Foxe feed, gave the visitors a 0-3 to 0-1 lead.
That was about as good as it got. Quick points by Morkan and Hannon levelled the game and Offaly finished the first quarter ahead when the latter’s long ball was completely misjudged by Mags D’Arcy and Watkins nipped in to flick to the corner of the net.
Two more Morkan points brought her tally to four and her side’s lead to five (1-5 to 0-3). Things got even worse for Wexford in the 25th minute when Linda Sullivan’s handpass into the centre was missed by the visiting rearguard and Watkins looped a soft, pulled effort high to D’Arcy’s net.
After going 17 minutes without a score, Wexford ended the half a little stronger.
Kelly notched twice from deadballs while Linda Bolger pointed after a poor clearance as her side limped in at the interval trailing by 2-6 to 0-6.
Champions respond to adversity but the expected fightback was non-existent. In fact, it was Offaly who came out after the break with greater purpose and notched three points in as many minutes through Morkan, Hannon and Linda Sullivan.
Wexford scored their only minor of the third quarter in the 35th minute, a super Emma Walsh effort. Una Leacy did have a 20-metre free saved on the line but was soon withdrawn - a bizarre decision given her side’s desperate need for goals.
Kate Kelly summed up her team’s day, missing a simple 20-metre free in the 46th minute, while Walsh drilled a shot into the side-netting.
Meanwhile, at the other end Offaly were extending their lead with a brace apiece from Morkan and Hannon.
Substitute Debbie Flynn made it 2-14 to 0-7 in added time but Wexford did grab an injury-time goal when Shelley Kehoe’s low, fizzing ball in was saved by Eleanor Clendennen but only as far as Kelly who batted to the net.
This defeat means an automatic spot in the All-Ireland semi-finals is unlikely, although not impossible. However, Wexford must re-group quickly and make sure they make no further mistakes when they face Waterford in Walsh Park on Saturday (2.30 p.m.).
Wexford: Mags D’Arcy; Louise Sinnott, Síona Nolan, Karen Atkinson; Sarah O’Connor, Jackie Quigley, Ciara Storey; Emma Walsh (0-1), Katrina Parrock; Stacey Kehoe, Shelley Kehoe (0-1), Chloe Foxe; Kate Kelly (1-3, 0-3 frees), Una Leacy (0-1), Linda Bolger (0-1). Subs. - Deirdre Codd for L. Sinnott (38), Shauna Sinnott (capt.) for Leacy (38), Una Sinnott for Foxe (38), Marie Morrissey for Bolger (47), Louise O’Leary for Quigley (60), also Laura Brennan, Ciara Donohoe, Amy Cardiff, Leah Walsh, Aoife Sheil, Margaret Byrne, Michelle Martin, Joanne Dillon, Doireann Kavanagh, Shauna Kelly.
Offaly: Eleanor Clendennen; Fiona Stephens, Jean Brady, Deirdre Cashin; Aisling Brennan, Siobhán Flannery, Marion Crean; Christine Cleary, Orlagh Kirwan; Michaela Morkan (capt., 0-7, 2 frees), Linda Sullivan (0-1), Lorraine Keena; Mairéad Jennings (0-1), Arlene Watkins (2-0), Tina Hannon (0-4). Subs. - Grace Teehan for Sullivan, inj. (53), Cialin Fitzgerald for Jennings (56), Debbie Flynn (0-1) for Keena (57), Sarah Harding for Hannon (60+1), Lisa Gorman for Watkins (60+1).
Referee: Owen Elliott (Antrim).