Ladies triumph on historic evening
Cork 1-9 Westmeath 0-6
HOLDERS Cork enjoyed a reasonably comfortable victory over Westmeath in the opening round to the Lidl Ladies National Football League played at Páirc Uí Chaoimh on Saturday last. The old saying that a good beginning is half the battle had a ring of truth about this contest where Cork held the better attacking combination in the opening quarter.
During that spell, All Star Orla Finn displayed a full range of tricks to offer a hugely significant influence. In fairness, Westmeath managed to quench the early Cork dominance by adapting a defensive alignment that at times frustrated the home side.
From a much hyped historic fixture and though a Cork ladies team from a previous generation had operated in an All Ireland Junior Championship semi-final, this contest allowed the Rebels the opportunity to play a competitive fixture at Páirc Uí Chaoimh in a double-header alongside their male counterparts that met unanimous approval.
Last season, Cork missed out on an appearance at the stadium, their double-header fixtures with their male counterparts did go ahead but away from Páirc Uí Chaoimh owing to redevelopment work on the ground with the subsequent league games played in Páirc Uí Rinn.
At the end of this hour, Cork’s flow wasn’t always smooth as they had hoped yet there was a hardened determination about the home team, impossible to ignore to ensure a wining start to the campaign.
Alterations to the match programme saw Shauna Kelly, Laura Cleary, Brid O’Sullivan and Orlagh Farmer replaced by Laura O’Mahony, Eimer Scally, Saoirse
Noonan and Libby Coppinger taking their places. Cork arrived in a positive mode and got down to business from the outset by imposing their influence on the proceedings.
Finn offered definite potential to shoot points from play and frees that confirmed Cork looked the more convincing side, strong play in defence and movement from midfield into attack contributed to a productive flourish.
Westmeath were struggling to generate any decent sort of momentum, Finn posted her fourth consecutive point. It proved a testing spell for the visitors before Leona Archibold pulled Westmeath out of their slumber on converting a free in the 13th minute.
However, Cork remained much sharper, newcomer Laura O’Mahony pointed a monster from distance.
And it got better for
Cork on unhinging the Westmeath defence in the 18th minute, Eimear
Scally warded off the intentions of opponents after picking up loose possession to accurately despatch the ball to the net. Thoughts of a landslide maybe yet Cork were brought down to earth, failing to add to their tally before the break due to a combination of poor shooting and Westmeath improvement on adopting a defensive approach. On the break, Westmeath chipped away at the deficit courtesy of Rachel Dillon and Lucy McCartan points, Cork has lost Scally to injury and they were thankful to defender Ashling Hutchings for a timely block and deny the visitors a decent goaling opportunity for Cork to enjoy a 1-5 to 0-3 advantage at the break.
The standard of play dropped in tempo on the restart, maybe a big pitch in January in the first competitive game of the season impacted with possession conceded by both sides either through sloppy passing or a lack of awareness.
Finn and Jo Hanna Maher swapped points, Cork failed to avail of a goal chance before Westmeath moved the ball to the opposite end for Aoife Connolly split the uprights to narrow the arrears 1-6 to 0-5.
Cork’s cause wasn’t helped on a sin binning for Caoimhe O’Callaghan and it looked as if Westmeath
TALKING POINT
For the very first time, the Cork Senior Ladies got the opportunity to play a competitive fixture at Páirc Uí Chaoimh, lining out in a ‘double-header’ alongside their male counterparts.
TURNING POINT
Cork laid the groundwork for victory in the opening 18 minutes, Orla Finn and Eimear Scally delivering the scores to allow the home side take a decisive grip on the proceedings.
TOP PLAYER
No surprise All Star Orla Finn was Cork’s most accomplished attacker, her predatory instincts yielded a 0-6 tally from her side’s 1-9 tally.
NEXT UP might rise the stakes. However, Cork intervened to re-establish their superiority, finding a new gear that earned reward for Finn to point as did substitutes Laura Cleary and Ciara McCarthy to confirm the destination of the spoils. CORK: M O’Brien (Clonakilty); M Ambrose (St Vals), R Phelan (Aghada), C O’Callaghan (Kinsale); L O’Mahony (O’Donovan Rossa) 0-1, A Hutchings (Fermoy), M Duggan (Dohenys); M O’Callaghan (Mourneabbey), H Looney (Aghada); A O’Sullivan (Beara), L Coppinger (St Colums), O Finn (Kinsale) 0-6 (0-4f); S O’Leary (Kinsale), S Noonan (Nemo Rangers), E Scally (Éire Óg) 1-0 Subs: B O’Sullivan (Mourneabbey) for E Scally, 28, O Farmer (Midleton) for A O’Sullivan, half-time, L Cleary (Éire Óg) 0-1 for S O’Leary, 45, C McCarthy (St Vals) 0-1 for L Coppinger, 53, E Cleary (Éire Óg) for O Finn, 60
WESTMEATH: L McCormack; R Dillon 0-1; K McDermott, L Power; F Coyle, F Claffey, A Roche; J Maher 0-1, V Carr; T Dillon, L Archibold 0-1f, L McCartan 0-1; J Draper, S McCormack, A Dolan Subs: S Dolan for J Draper, 15, L Slevin for S McCormack, 28, A Connolly 0-2f for A Dolan, 40, A Sheerin for L Slevin, 47, G Halligan for T Dillon, 59, K Hegarty for L McCartan,
60, C Thornton for L Archibold, 60
REFEREE: S Mulvihill (Kerry)
Cork travel face up to Tipperary on Sunday at Ardfinnan, the Premier girls boosted after securing a late draw against All Ireland champions Dublin in their opening league encounter.