Wicklow fall short
Offaly far too strong for Garden County Minor side
at Bray Emmets
Saturday’s game – was the man in the middle in the provincial final.
On top of that, there were a few presences from both clubs on the two panels. Offaly had Nicole Buckley starting at half-back, with a few fellow Naomh Ciarán stars on the bench. Meanwhile, there five players from Tinahely representing Wicklow (Shona Byrne, Caoimhe Murphy, Anna Lalor, Eimear O’Reilly, and Siofra Byrne.
Due to the imminent arrival of Storm Dennis, the opening game in group B of the Leinster minor football championship was moved to the artificial turf at Bray Emmets. While the game went ahead as planned, the conditions remained arduous, as swirling winds and heavy rain plagued the action.
Despite the poor weather, Offaly came flying out of the blocks. Midfielder Emma Hand got the opening goal of the day, while the dangerous Annie Heavin chipped in with points before her teammate’s strike.
It took 19 minutes for Wicklow to get their first score of the day through a Niamh Caffrey free, but the writing was very much on the well with the score at 1-3 to 0-1 and Offaly in the ascendancy. Sinead Todd and Maria Doyle got the second and third goals either side of points from themselves and Fiona Owens, before Todd brought the first-half scoring to an end with a free.
Any prospect of Offaly – who lost Heavin to a bloody nose in the first-half – taking their feet off the accelerator were quickly disposed of by Emma Flaherty, who notched the fourth goal of the day after Liadan Kavanagh and Lucy Dunne – the latter being Wicklow’s stand-out performer – had given their team a decent start with a pair of scores.
Just a minute after Flaherty got goal number four, Sinead Todd streamed past a pair of Wicklow defenders to bury in her second, her team’s fifth, with the pick of the entire lot to leave the score at 5-8 to 0-3.
After Roisin Mealiffe was set up by Emma Flaherty for the sixth to leave the score at 6-10 to 0-3, Wicklow emptied the bench in an attempt to add fresh legs and a renewed sense of energy to finish the game to the best of their ability.
To that end, Niamh Caffrey scored her second free of the day and Niamh Cullen ended the Garden’s scoring with a point of her own. That was Wicklow’s fifth and final point of the day, but it would be Offaly who would get the final major of the day, coming from the boot of Naomh Ciarán’s Nora Buckley, who came off the bench to replace Maria Doyle, who had scored on of her team’s seven goals on the day.
Mercifully, that would be the final score on the day, as Offaly’s comprehensive defeat of Wicklow came to an end with a final score of 7-11 to 0-5.
Wicklow: Niamh Caffrey (0-2f), Liadan Kavanagh (0-1), Lucy Dunne (0-1), Niamh Cullen (0-1).
Offaly: Sinead Todd (2-4; 0-1f), Maria Doyle (1-1), Roisin Mealiffe (1-1; 0-1f), Emma Flaherty (1-0), Emma Hand (1-0), Nora Buckley (1-0), Annie Heavin (0-2), Becca O’Connor (0-1), Fiona Owens (01), 18 (0-1).
Shona Byrne; Ava Carter; Caoimhe Murphy, Amy McManus; Naoise Reilly, Anna Lalor, Lucy Dunne; Niamh Cullen, Sive Byrne; Eimear O’Reilly, Niamh Caffrey, Siofra Byrne; Lucie Kindlon, Daisy Summer Cullen Dunne, Liadan Kavanagh.
Scorers - WICKLOW:
Ciara Slackin; Aimee Dunne, Chloe Smith, Kiah Farrelly; Nicole Buckley, Ava Dolan, Fiona Owens; Lauren Dolan, Emma Hand; Sinead Todd, Roisin Mealiffe, Maria Doyle; Annie Heavin, Emma Flaherty, Becca O’Connor. Subs: Nora Buckley (for M. Doyle),
OFFALY: