End of the journey for wonderful Wicklow
THEY say it is about the journey and not the destination and Wicklow Ladies proved that to be true on Monday. They may not be on the cusp of becoming All-Ireland champions but they captured the entire county’s imagination along the way and have had a remarkable year.
Sligo’s four-goal haul proved to be the telling difference in the end but on another day it would have been Wicklow marching on had it not been for some inspired goalkeeping from Sligo and a few uncharacteristic Wicklow misses.
Wicklow landed the first score after four minutes when Claire Walsh was fouled and Maedhbh Deeney fired over from the floor and they should have notched the first goal too as Jackie Kinch powered through on goal after six minutes but her strike was parried by Noelle Gormley in goal for the Sligo and the net-minder somehow denied Amy Murphy’s rebound as well.
It took Sligo until the eighth minute to reply when Jaffey was held up by a Wicklow defender and Walsh put the resulting free between the upright.
Wicklow got a warning about Sligo’s goal threat when Walsh charged through the Wicklow defence - executing a lovely dummy solo along the way - before seeing her strike come off the underside of Kim Connors’ crossbar.
By the 10th minute, Sligo raised the green flag for the first time. A long, hopeful ball into the forward line saw McGrath slip her marker and immediately Wicklow knew they were in trouble.
The corner-forward slipped it off to the unmarked Walsh and she was never going to miss from six yards out.
Within the minute, the normally unbeatable Kim Connors was beaten for a second time but again - she stood no chance. The extremely impressive Stephanie O’Reilly took control of possession before driving it forward to Walsh. O’Reilly continued her run and it was brilliantly picked out by Walsh to allow O’Reilly to bury it low into the far corner.
Wicklow had another sniff of goal in the 13th minute when Kinch found Laurie Ahern in space but the wing-forward didn’t strike the ball as sweetly as she can and Sligo were let off the hook.
Sligo landed their first point from play through O’Reilly on 14 minutes and this was quickly followed by further white flags from McGrath and the match was threatening to slip away from the Garden County.
Wicklow suffered a big blow when Niamh McGettigan limped off but they made their second dent on the scoring board when they won a hop-ball and Laura Hogan came away with it before firing over.
A second free from Walsh was cancelled out by a Jackie Kinch strike but Sligo took another massive stride towards the semi-finals when the normally immovable Sarah-Jane Winder was left for dead by Walsh and she applied the finish for her side’s third goal.
Wicklow fired back immediately as Laura Hogan fisted to Deeney who drove it to the net and they might have had another when Amy Murphy latched onto a long pass and had the beating of her marker but her shot was the wrong side of the post.
With a little over two minutes until the interval, Wicklow had Kim Connors to thank for keeping the deficit at eight points and not 11. Jaffey moved the ball onto O’Reilly who had goalside of the defence but her soccer-style volley of the bouncing ball was turned behind by Connors.
Wicklow would pull one more point back before the break when Deeney’s free dropped short and into the hands of Kinch who turned very sharply and blasted over with the Sligo shot-stopper no doubt fearing the worst.
Trailing 1-04 3-05 was certainly not what Wicklow would have hoped for at half-time but that was the reality. If any side was capable of overturning such a deficit though, it was this inspirational group of women.
It was so nearly the dream start to the second period when Laurie Ahern galloped into the heart of the Sligo half before nudging the ball onto Laura Hogan. A point-blank save from Noelle Gormley denied her and the angle proved too tight for Amy Murphy to convert the rebound.
A foul on Sarah Hogan after three minutes paved the way for Deeney to chip over the first point of the second half. Laura Hogan added a free from the hands in the 35th minute.
From the resulting kick-out, Wicklow scrambled the Sligo defence and won it back.
Murphy and Hogan combined well in confined spaces but Hogan was denied by another fine save from Sligo captain Gormley.
All was not lost on that occasion though as Wicklow recycled the ball and Kinch split the posts to move her side to within four.
It looked like Wicklow were set to bag a second goal in the 37th minute as Claire Walsh embarked on a wonderful solo run from just inside the Sligo half that took her to within 10 yards of the Sligo goal but at the vital moment, the ball seemed to escape her grasp slightly and she could only snatch at the shot which made it a comfortable save for Gormley.
Amy Murphy registered her first score of the day to mean just a single score - a goal - separated the sides. Kinch followed this up almost instantly and the momentum was all in Wicklow’s favour with Sligo unable to leave their own half.
Wicklow should have taken the lead when quick hands from Murphy fed Kinch who returned the favour to the in-rushing Murphy. With her route to goal blocked up, she moved it onto Deeney but hav- ing seen her initial shot blocked by a combination of defender and goalie, the Eire Og woman fired wide from the rebound.
Sligo ended their drought when Jaffey sunk a point but a devastating blow was delivered to Wicklow on 44 minutes as McGrath wriggled free and moved it to Jaffey who immediately off-loaded to the unmarked Regan to confidently dispatch Sligo’s fourth goal.
Wicklow had 15 minutes to make up nine points which very quickly became 10 due to the right boot of Stephanie O’Reilly.
They gave themselves hope when Sarah Miley’s run wasn’t tracked in the 48th minute and she found the net and followed it with a point not long afterwards but it still left Wicklow chasing four points and their answer was to throw on Lucy Mulhall.
Sligo continued to tack on points though and in the end, it proved a bridge too far for Wicklow who have given us an incredible journey in 2018.
Scorers - Sligo: K. Walsh 2-4 (4F), Stephanie O’Reilly 1-2, D. McGrath 0-2, L. Jaffey 0-2, S. Regan 1-1.
Wicklow: Meadhbh Deeney 1-3 (2F), Laura Hogan 0-3 (1F), Jackie Kinch 0-4, Amy Murphy 0-1, Sarah