Murray on fire as Wexford rule
Mental constraints cast aside in hard-earned victory
THE MENTAL constraints, so powerful in denying Wexford hardearned glory in recent seasons, were burned away in the Birr heat as Anthony Masterson’s side claimed the Lidl Ladies’ National Football League Division 3 title on Monday of last week.
It just goes to show how wacky sport really is. You work relentlessly on improvements, round into form at the penultimate hurdle, but then get the victory by excelling at the exact opposite style of play.
Wexford didn’t win this game by being patient, in fact, they did a poor job of being patient most of the afternoon. They won by scoring enough times with quicker ball into the full-forward line and they won because Caitríona Murray made most of her chances count.
Vince Lombardi was a great man for a few words of wisdom, and one of his lesser known lines goes: ‘Some of us will do our jobs well and some will not, but we will all be judged on one thing: the result.’ He was right; the win was the most important thing, and Division 2 is where it’s at.
One thing is for certain, Wexford couldn’t have worked any harder than they did in this game. With the stifling heat making everything a little more difficult, the Slaneysiders refused to allow the temperature to dictate the game.
They won by defending relentlessly as a team and scoring enough of their chances. Any time you play a main rival, spurn more goal opportunities than you score and win by four points, it’s a good day.
Murray has got all the plaudits and they are well deserved. The Clonee clubwoman has slowly turned into the top level finisher that can be trusted to do the business week in, week out, and Wexford need at least one of those types of player in the attacking third.
However, there were other superb performances out there too. As well as Murray played, she was arguably bested by one of her own team-mates in Niamh Moore. The Kilmore clubwoman has been working back to her level since missing much of last summer.
This was far and away her best showing, not just of the season but probably ever in a Wexford shirt. Not only did she work tirelessly in defence, she was a constant, quality outlet in attacking positions also, creating multiple chances for her side from wing-back.
The ‘Niamh’ line were all excellent. Mernagh again took on the big responsibility of marking the opposition’s best player in Niamh O’Sullivan, and the Horeswood woman is never found wanting.
Niamh Butler has been a revelation since dropping back. She didn’t get forward as much as Moore but when she did she picked off a superb score.
Then there’s the two 17-year- olds. Sarah Harding-Kenny produced her best performance since last season’s league final. No Meath ball sent her way was a lost cause for Wexford, and more often than not the Royalettes were heading down a blind alley with little hope of coming out unscathed.
Rachel Bennett’s seven-minute cameo is one that could easily slip under the radar, but it shouldn’t. Anthony Masterson doesn’t use substitutions in big games unless he’s wasting time or he really needs a change.
With 53 minutes on the clock, Meath had got within two points and Wexford were fraying at the edges. On came Bennett and the teenager calmed down her experienced team-mates, getting the ball in the middle of the park and spreading it out to free players, and then she won a huge kickout. She did the little things with a composure and maturity way beyond her years.
She will get more minutes as the summer goes on. It’s not easy to change a winning team but the St. Anne’s youngster is a real Jack in the Box for Masterson and Wexford. When things die down, and the celebrations are put to bed, the boss will have plenty of work to do.
He will know that this performance, repeated over the summer, will see his side fall short of their All-Ireland aspirations. To win it all, to make the leap past the grabbing hands of their rivals, Wexford need to improve.
They need to marry their ability to hit teams quick on the counter-attack with their ability to control possession, be patient and wait for their opportunity. The best teams can beat you both ways, which is why they are so hard to stop.
It’s a development facet, the road is long and Masterson will have to keep hammering home the message. Winning probably makes that a little harder but it’s a necessity if these players want to get to the next level.
Wexford looked like they might be hard to stop in this game after a Murray brace sandwiched a Fiona Rochford point to ease them 0-3 to 0-1 ahead after eight minutes. A short time later Murray made it 0-4 to 0-2 but her side failed to score for the next 13 minutes.
Meath had a purple patch early in the second quarter, notching four points in just over two minutes to bounce from two points down to two up.
Wexford then missed a pair of goal chances, the first when Breen smashed across goal after being fed in by Moore, and the second when Murray released the Kerry native through the centre but she sliced well wide.
The goal did eventually come in the 25th minute. Only Chloe Foxe knows if she was wildly swinging for a point or dropping a ball into the edge of the square where Murray batted it down to Aisling Murphy.
She returned the pass and the Clonee forward trickled the ball past Monica McGuirk.
Clara Donnelly might have had a penalty when taken down in the 25th minute but, apart from that incident, and an earlier cynical foul on the Shelmalier clubwoman that didn’t result in a yellow for Emma Troy, referee Maggie Farrelly didn’t make too many errors or partake in over-officiating.
Murray’s fourth point sent Wexford in 1-5 to 0-6 ahead. Points by Niamh Butler, Donnelly and Murray ensured their side were three in front by the 39th minute, despite the fact that Meath had introduced the injured Vikki Wall - who, along with Niamh O’Sullivan, is their most effective attacking player.
In the 40th minute, another Moore run created the opportunity for a second Wexford goal. She wrong-footed three Meath defenders with her off-load to Murray and the deadly markswoman did the rest with a superb shot across goal to the opposite corner.
Meath didn’t look like getting back into the game until Maria Byrne’s arm bar was enough to send Fiona O’Neill careering to the deck. Stacey Grimes stepped up and sent the perfect penalty to the top right corner of Mary Rose Kelly’s net.
The spot-kick is the only goal Wexford have conceded in the knockout stages of the league and that is not only a testament to how well they have defended as a team, but defended as a goalkeeper and full-back line in particular.
It sparked Meath to life and they pulled within two when Aoibhín Cleary pointed in the 51st minute. However, two minutes later Murray rounded her run to collect a McGuirk kick-out, beat her marker for pace and lashed high to the net to make it 3-9 to 1-10.
The Royal county twice pulled within four but Breen’s point from yet another Moore assist meant that Wexford had the margin they needed to close out the last few minutes and take the trophy with only a couple of minor late scares.
The newly-crowned Division 3 champions now have a little break to re-charge the batteries and iron out the flaws ahead of the Leinster Intermediate campaign.
That kicks off with a home quarter-final against Kildare on June 3, a game the Slaneysiders will go into as warm favourites.
Wexford: Mary Rose Kelly (capt.); Shauna Murphy, Maria Byrne, Sarah Harding-Kenny; Niamh Moore, Niamh Mernagh, Niamh Butler (0-1); Róisín Murphy, Bernie Breen (0-2); Clara Donnelly (0-1), Fiona Rochford (0-1), Kellie Kearney; Chloe Foxe, Aisling Murphy, Caitríona Murray (3-5, 0-3 frees). Subs. - Rachel Bennett for Rochford (53), Ellen O’Brien for Butler, inj. (58), Aoife Sheil for A. Murphy (60), Georgina Hearn for Moore (60), also Sinéad Whelan, Marguerite Doyle, Anne Byrne, Aoife Drennan, Cailín Fitzpatrick, Fiona Bennett, Chantelle Martin, Ciara Ryan, Amy Wilson, Lauren Cousins, Cathy O’Brien.
Meath: Monica McGuirk; Katie Newe, Michelle Peel, Sarah Powerdly; Emma Troy, Shauna Ennis, Niamh Gallogly (0-2); Máire O’Shaughnessy, Katie Byrne (0-1); Megan Thynne, Niamh O’Sullivan (capt., 0-1), Aoibhín Cleary (0-1); Marion Farrelly (0-1), Fiona O’Neill (0-1), Stacey Grimes (1-3, 1-0 pen., 0-1 free). Subs. - Vikki Wall (0-2) for O’Shaughnessy (37), Orlagh Lally for Peel (46), Emma White for Byrne (53).
Referee: Maggie Farrelly (Cavan).