Wicklow ladies fall to powerful Royal outfit
Meath too strong for Garden county at Páirc Tailteann
WICKLOW’S Leinster championship ambitions were firmly put to bed last Sunday afternoon in Navan when Mick O’Rourke’s charges were overpowered by a dominant Meath team.
Having already suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Wexford, Wicklow needed a win to progress but within minutes of the throw-in it was clear that they were up against a serious outfit that contained a Baltinglass duo on the management team in the form of Paul Garrigan and Paddy Dowling.
The Royals were simply in a different place across the board and while Wicklow tried valiantly and never once threw in the towel, they were unable to take charge of proceedings at any stage and they could do nothing to halt the charge of the Meath women who put on an impressive display of support play over the course of the hour.
Wicklow’s cause wasn’t helped with the loss of Aoife Gillen to a yellow card after eight minutes of the opening half after the Bray Emmets woman pulled down a rampaging Niamh O’Sullivan who was bearing down on Kim Connors’ goal after a lovely flick on from further out the field. Gillen’s departure put Wicklow under more pressure and Meath inflicted considerable damage in her absence.
The result of Gillen’s foul was a penalty and Stacey Grimes stepped up and placed it low to Kim Connors’ right with the Blessington woman guessing correctly and getting painfully close to the ball.
Up to this point Wicklow had enjoyed plenty of possession but their long balls in to Naoise Baker and Amy Murphy were being dealt with by a physically impressive Meath outfit. Aoife Gorman did storm through the Royal defense at one stage only to be blown for overcarrying by referee John Doherty.
After the penalty, Naoise Baker fired wide on 11 minutes after a good exchange with Amy Murphy. Already though, Wicklow were having to work extremely hard for anything they were getting.
Meath came charging back up the field and they had the taste of blood on their lips. Fiona O’Neill fed Emma White and she fired off a shot that was parried by a falling Kim Connors into the back of her own net. This was a tough blow for Wicklow and it seemed to suck the life out of the defenders for a time and left Meath with a 2-01 to 0-00 lead ater 13 minutes.
Laura Hogan swung over a beauty from a free moments later and the Tinahely woman then went short with another one but got a second chance from the other side and converted to make it 2-01 to 0-02.
An Amy Murphy wide was proceeded by a Meath burst up the field and the impressive Niamh O’Sullivan made serious inroads into the Wicklow heartland before passing across to Fiona O’Neill who had the easist of tap ins to present Wicklow with a steep mountain to climb.
Meath powered on and were 4-03 to 0-02 up after 23 minutes. Wicklow finished strongly with a Niamh McGettigan point from play and a Laura Hogan converted free and two excellent saves from Kim Connors to leave it 4-03 to 0-04 at the break.
A good start was vital and while Laura Hogan answered Meath’s second half opener, the Royals got in for two more goals by the 18th minute of the second half to distinguish any hope the Garden county women had.
Wicklow did try hard, positional switches were made, substitutions were employed but it was a case of Mick O’Rourke’s side coming up against a much better team who used their pace and their physicality to overpower the visitors who didn’t play anywhere near their potential.
Wicklow turn their attentions to the All-Ireland campaign now. The defeats to Wexford and Meath, while difficult to take, will show them where they are and where they need to aim for.
Scorers – Wicklow: Laura Hogan 0-09 (8f); Niamh McGettigan 0-01.
Meath: Stacey Grimes 4-01 (1f); Fiona O’Neill 1-03; Megan Thynne 0-01, Emma White 1-00, Mariona Farrelly 0-01, Emma Troy 0-01
Wicklow: Kim Connors; Aoife Gillen, Sarah Hogan, Emily Mulhall; Niamh McGettigan, Shauna Byrne, Jessie Nolan Byrne; Aoife Gorman, Jackie Kinch; Ciara Byrne, Naoise Baker, Molly Cullen; Clodagh Fox, Laura Hogan, Amy Murphy. Subs: Rachel Byrne for E Mulhall (30min); Georgina Canavan for (HT); Clare Grace for C Byrne (48min); Sarah Fennelly for S Hogan (51min); Helena Dowling for A Murphy (53min).
Meath: Orlagh McLaughlin; Aideen Guy, Kate Flynn, Emma White; Vikki Wall, Emma Troy, Niamh Gallogly; Kate Byrne, Máire O’Shaughnessy; Megan Thynne, Niamh O’Sullivan, Orla Byrne; Stacey Grimes, Marion Farrelly, Fiona O’Neill. Subs: Catriona Keoghan, Niamh Lister, Paula Dunne.
Referee: John Doherty