Depleted Minors no match for Dublin in shield final
WEXFORD OFFALY 4-12 1-13
FOUR CRAZY minutes at the start of the second-half put Wexford on the road to a TG4 All-Ireland ladies’ Intermediate football championship quarter-final meeting with Tipperary in Clane on Sunday, but it could have been so, so different.
The Faithful girls started the second-half in lively fashion with Róisín Egan kicking them level (1-7 to 2-4). Then, in the 35th minute, things started to happen. Mairéad Daly took Ellee McEvoy’s pass on the left, beat the Wexford defence and shot across goal.
For all the world it looked destined for the far corner as Mary Rose Kelly watched it going past her. With the Offaly contingent already cheering, the ball rebounded off the foot of the post, bounded across the face of goal and Wexford moved forward.
Chantelle Martin pointed in that attack. Fiona Rochford won the ball from the Offaly kick-out, and fed Aoife Sheil who played a one-two with Aisling Murphy and added another point.
Moments later both Murphy and Sheil were involved again as Rachel Bennett cut inside and fired over Lauren Dunne to the net.
Tails up, Wexford’s Caitríona Murray picked off a nice score after great work by Róisín Murphy. With Offaly struggling to get out, Murray got in again. She initially fumbled possession but got it back to Chantelle Martin, and the Adamstown clubwoman fired across goal with her left boot to the bottom corner.
Four minutes, that’s all it was. Wexford went from staring down the barrel at one end to nine points up in the blink of an eye (4-7 to 1-7). Almost like a calm evening after an earlier thunderstorm, there was a serenity about the winners, and the game was over as a contest.
Apart from those four minutes, Wexford were mediocre. There definitely seemed to be a hangover from the Leinster final as Anthony Masterson’s side made some poor errors of judgment in the first-half.
They restricted Offaly reasonably well at the back, although without Sarah Harding-Kenny, only Marica Cullen consistently got out in front of her player to win possession. The loss of Kellie Kearney and Clara Donnelly had a detrimental effect on how Wexford moved the ball in the middle third but they still had plenty of possession.
They didn’t always use it well once past midfield. Being direct is great when it’s accurate, and had the delivery been consistently better it would have paid dividends as Offaly chose to go DUBLIN WEXFORD 2-24 4-5
A SEVERELY depleted Wexford proved no match for Dublin in the Leinster Minor camogie championship ‘A’ Shield final in Fenagh on Sunday.
In fairness to Wexford, Leinster camogie don’t seem too interested in this competition themselves. With Wexford’s primary competition, the All-Ireland championship, over on April 1, players are supposed to hang around on county panels until late July for two games in eight days.
Having a two-game Leinster championship is fair enough, if it’s played as a precursor to the All-Ireland, but to expect any side to be at their best in these circumstances is ludicrous.
Wexford had just 16 of their squad available for this game and it showed. Dublin raced out of the traps and built a 0-12 to nil lead in the first quarter on the back of a trio of points from Ciara Holland and Kerri Finnegan.
When the Slaneysiders did get on the scoresheet, at least it was an Orla Fortune goal that shaved a few points off the Dublin advantage. After more scores at the other end, Lettie Whelan split the posts.
At 0-19 to 1-1 down, Oylegate-Glenbrien’s Derbhla Doyle found the net for Wexford in the 28th minute. Dublin responded with a net-rippler from Ciara Holland but Aoife Guiney picked off a minor right before the break.
The second-half proved to be a much more even contest. Lettie Whelan notched her second point but Niamh Rock found a second goal for the Metropolitans to make it 2-21 to 2-3.
Orla Molloy continued her impressive form with a goal with twelve minutes left and Aoife Guiney hit the net four minutes later as Wexford kept battling hard. Rathnure youngster Guiney registered a couple of late points too but it was too late to make any real impression on the scoreboard.
Wexford: Emma Kiely; Emma Furlong, Aisling O’Leary, Larah Campbell; Anna Hennessy, Róisín Cooney, Aisling Halligan; Derbhla Doyle (1-0), Clodagh Jackman; Jessie Harding, Aoife Guiney (1-3, 1 pen.), Orla Molloy (1-0); Orla Fortune (1-0), Lettie Whelan (0-2, 1 frees), Laura Kelly. Subs. Caitlin Whelan-Kinsella for Hennessy, Hennessy for Kelly. Absent: Rebecca Doran, Liza Bates, Emma Codd, Mary Barrett, Aoife Dunne, Sarah Harding-Kenny, Zoe O’Leary, Ciara O’Connor, Aisling Byrne.