U16s held scoreless
Dubs dish out 24-point hammering
WEXFORD WERE comfortably second best to Dublin in their opening fixture in the Leinster ladies’ football Under-16 ‘A’ championship in St. Patrick’s Park on Saturday.
While the manner of defeat could be a real confidence crusher for Shane Murphy’s side, the Slaneysiders should take great heart from their performance against the teeth of Storm Jorge in the opening half.
At the break they trailed by 0-11 to nil, after fighting tooth and nail for everything.
They had very few scoring opportunities, but the hosts defended superbly against wave after wave of Dublin attacks to keep themselves in the contest.
People can, and will, say what they want about resources available and the ample talent Dublin have to pick from, but once the sides head onto the field it’s just two sets of players battling away for the right to win a game.
In truth, Wexford went about it the correct way. They looked prepared for the game, tried to set up attacks from their own half, had clearly worked on kick-out routines but, on the whole, they were up against a higher quality group of players.
On the other hand, having battled so well into the breeze, the second-half wasn’t great. Wexford lost it by 2-7 to nil, had a couple more opportunites to get scores on the board, but were just not the same force as they were in the first-half.
It’s likely the energy exerted in the first-half was part of that, given Wexford did a lot to stay in touch.
However, the changes didn’t make much sense at the end of the first-half, with the withdrawal of Imogen Deas straight up bizzare.
The Wexford full-back line was outstanding and had allowed just one point to an opponent in the first period, despite constant pressure.
The damage was generally being done further out the field, and indeed they hadn’t even given up a goal chance until moments after that change happened.
Leah Pidgeon kicked the visitors into a second-minute lead, and further points were added by Aine Rafter and Shannon Russell as the first quarter went by in the blink of an eye (0-3 to nil).
Wexford tried hard to make something happen in that spell. They did get the ball in and around the Dublin ‘45, had a few frees, but couldn’t get a solid shot at the posts. The wind was so strong that one clearance by the hosts blew all the way back past the kicker.
Eventually the pressure was bound to tell as it became more and more difficult for Wexford to break past midfield.
Dublin kicked eight of their points from the 17th minute onwards, with midfielders Niamh Crowley and Annabelle Timothy (five between them) doing the bulk of the damage.
With the last kick of the half, Erica Field skewed Dublin’s only goal chance wide under pressure from the excellent Rebekah Burke, but they only had to wait seconds after the interval to find the net through Grace Smith.
After Smith netted a second time in the 43rd minute, the girls from the capital led by 2-13 to nil.
Wexford did have one decent goal chance at the other end, right at the close of the third quarter, but Caoilfhionn Ní Núalláin fired across the face of goal and wide.
Dublin seemed to get stronger the longer the half wore on and kicked five points in the last eleven minutes.
Ní Núalláin missed a late free to get Wexford on the scoreboard, which would have been a small consolation for their efforts.
Wexford are back in action against Meath in two weeks and realistically it won’t be a much easier task than this game. The Slaneysiders finish their group campaign with a home clash against Westmeath in the middle of April.
Wexford: Erin Carley; Imogen Deas, Rebekah Burke, Amy Tobin-Cosgrave; Niamh Cullen, Karen Tomkins, Leah Nolan; Robyn O’Connor, Leah Furlong; Aisling Ryan, Caoilfhionn Ní Núalláin, Ellen Duggan; Megan Dee, Aoibhe MacSweeney (capt.), Ava White-Keating. Subs. - Aoibhe Manley for Deas (30), Sinéad Roche for MacSweeney (30+2), Katie English for Duggan, inj. (39), Hannah Kehoe for Dee (46), Marta Kavanagh for Nolan (51), Mia Davy Edmonds for Cullen (54), Aisling Murphy for Tobin-Cosgrave (58), Leiah O’Rourke for White-Keating (59), also Aoife Devereux, Kennedy Cullen, Cora McGrath.
Dublin: Molly O’Brien; Alice Rudden, Megan Dignam, Zoe O’Brien; Sadie Codd, Hannah Byrne, Niamh Donlon; Niamh Crowley (0-4), Annabelle Timothy (capt., 0-2, 1 free); Grace Smith (2-1, 0-1 free), Leah Pidgeon (0-1), Shannon Russell (0-4, 2 frees); Ella Connolly, Erica Field (0-1), Áine Rafter (0-2). Subs. - Sinéad Daly (02) for Connolly (36), Ava Lambe (0-1 free) for Russell (44), Rachel Callery for O’Brien, inj.(47), Kate Donaghy for Smith (52), Hazel Prior for Donlon, inj. (59).
Referee: Pamela Hayden (Carlow).