Westmeath dash Louth’s semi-final aspirations
A very soft penalty and two quickfire second-half goals sealed Louth’s fate as Wayne Freeman’s side bowed out of the All-Ireland Ladies intermediate football championship in cold, wet and miserable conditions at a crowd-less Ashbourne last Sunday afternoon.
The Midlanders led by eight points at the break – helped significantly by Leona Archibold’s conversion of a penalty award in the tenth minute – but with a strong wind to help their cause after the break Louth retired at the break with plenty of hope.
However, the first of Ciara Blundell’s brace of goals shortly after play resumed gave Westmeath the momentum to pull away and qualify with a degree of ease for a semi-final showdown with western neighbours Roscommon next Saturday week.
Ultimately, Louth probably lacked their opponents’ range of attacking options and they failed to score from play until the 48th minute when sub Aimee McNally found the net.
Their last score proved to be their only point from open play, and their disappointing afternoon was rubber-stamped by the late sin-binning of another sub Lauren McFaul, who never got to return to the fray.
Anna Jones teed up Vicky Carr for wind-assisted Westmeath’s opening point of the afternoon in the second minute. Kate Flood equalised some three minutes later from a free. Both sides spurned chances before the referee – who was quite fussy and somewhat inconsistent throughout – awarded the winners a very soft penalty in the ninth minute, with nobody present very clear why.
However, Leona Archibold made the most of the lucky break and duly raised a green flag from her spot-kick.
Karen Hegarty was short from a ‘45’, but Archibold converted a free after a foul on Lucy McCartan (who was strangely replaced before re-joining the action in the second half), and a rapid-fire
brace of delightful points from play from the boots of Ciara Blundell and Anna Jones put Westmeath six points clear (1-4 to 0-1). A well-judged free by Lauren Boyle reduced the deficit to five by the first water break.
Fiona Claffey was unlucky with a point attempt which came back off the upright, and the woodwork saved Louth again in the 53rd minute when impressive sub Leanne Slevin hit the crossbar with a point as her target.
The latter slotted over a tricky free, moments after missing from a better angle. Archibold also converted a free and the strong-running Johanna Maher pointed from play in added-time, leaving Westmeath ahead by 1-7 to 0-2 at the interval.
Blundell found the net with a powerful shot just 20 seconds after play resumed, following fine approach work by Rachel Dillon.
Boyle then converted a difficult free for the Wee County ladies, but an unanswered 1-2 from Westmeath between the 35th and 42nd minutes all but copper-fastened their place in the penultimate round of the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup.
Blundell doubled her goal tally (after Hegarty’s initial attempt had been smothered by Una Pearson), with Slevin following up with two points (a great team score and a tricky free).
Niamh Rice (a free) and Rachel Dillon (rounding off a flowing move) soon traded points. The red and white-clad outfit got a badly-needed lift before the second water break when Aimee McNally poked the ball to the net after Lauren McCormack was unable to hold a shot from Rice.
The last quarter was a low-key affair with both sides merely adding a point apiece to their tallies – Eimear Byrne with a low-trajectory shot for the losers, and Slevin rounding off the scoring with one of the points of the contest (ironically, the move having commenced with what seemed to be a very dubious free awarded to Westmeath).
Sandwiched between these points, Lauren McFall’s brief cameo ended with a fully-merited yellow card.
Westmeath’s concentration levels were admirably maintained to the very end and fine defending prevented Louth from adding to their haul.
Lauren McCormack; Rachel Dillon 0-1, Lucy Power, Niamh Spellman; Vicky Carr 0-1, Fiona Claffey, Aeysha Roche; Johanna Maher 0-1, Tracey Dillon; Leona Archibold 1-2, Anna Jones 0-1, Lucy McCartan; Lorraine Duncan, Ciara Blundell 2-1, Karen Hegarty. Subs used: Leanne Slevin 0-4 for McCartan (22), Lucy McCartan for T Dillon (47), Sarah McCormack for Blundell (48), Sinéad Murtagh for Carr (54), Jennifer Rodgers for Spellman (59).
Una Pearson; Eilis Hand, Sarah Quinn, Eimear Murray; Michelle McMahon, Shannon McLaughlin, Claire Donnelly; Áine Breen, Aoife Byrne; Eimear Byrne 0-1, Kate Flood 0-1, Aoife Russell; Niamh Rice 0-1, Róisín Kavanagh, Lauren Boyle 0-2. Subs used: Louise Byrne for Donnelly (27), Rebecca Carr for E Byrne (40), Aimee McNally 1-0 for Boyle (44), Lauren McFall for Breen (50), Aoife Halligan for McMahon (55).