DOUBLE DELIGHT AS COUNTY TEAMS COME OUT ON TOP IN AUGHRIM
Hogan’s free-taking masterclass helps ladies get back
24-PAGE SPORT PULLOUT
WICKLOW DOWN 1-16 3-4
A MASTERCLASS in free taking from Laura Hogan and a towering performance at half-back by Lorna Fusciardi Hayden were the foundations for what was a stunning Wicklow ladies victory over Down in Aughrim on Sunday afternoon last.
Having looked so porous against Roscommon in Kiltoom just eight days before, it was a very different Wicklow outfit that took to the field in the county grounds in terms of ambition and preparedness and they powered to a 0-12 to 1-2 lead at the break as Down struggled to gain parity all over the field.
Wexford referee Barry Redmond certainly made himself a talking point in this game. He was consistently ruthless on steps, merciless when it came to tackling and generous with yellow cards as he flashed two to Wicklow players in the first half and two to Down in the second.
‘No words, such a good feeling,’ was Wicklow captain Niamh McGettigan’s reaction shortly after the final whistle. ‘I know it’s early in the league so it’s weird getting excited about it, but it’s just so good to get a win under our belts early and I think it will give us a well needed boost for the rest of the campaign,’ she added.
That opening day defeat to Roscommon suggested that this Division 3 league campaign would be an arduous one for James Kelly’s side. McGettigan said that it took that game for Wicklow to get used to the fact that the standard between both leagues is quite different.
‘Playing in Division 4 for the last few years, you’re not used to somebody being right behind you on every ball, and it was just a case of that shock in that first game. I think we came out today knowing that there wasn’t even a second to consider how you were going to take the ball, you just had to go for it, and I think we did that better,’ she added.
Losing two players to yellows (Sarah Delahunt and Jessie Nolan Byrne) in the first half was a blow the Wicklow side could have done without, but credit to them they battled on and controlled the game.
‘That’s one thing about our team, I think we’re well bonded and I think the girls work really, really hard for one another, and when you go down like that it nearly gives you an extra drive to go on again and again, so we were unfortunate to lose the two girls but I do think we made up for it and recovered from it. I think we were fortunate that we were leading so we were protecting the lead as opposed to chasing like they were. That can really get into your head,’ said McGettigan.
The concession of those four goals in Roscommon might have been the inspiration behind the moving of Sarah Hogan back to full-back, with Sarah Jane Winder slipping over to the corner and Jessie Nolan Byrne moving to centre half back.
The defence would perform much better on Sunday, but the concession of three goals, one in the first half and two in the second will still be concerning.
With Claire Walsh and Jackie Kinch both still unavailable for selection, the Wicklow side saw three changes to the starting 15 named in the match programme.
Sarah Delahunt came in for Aoife Gorman at midfield, Sarah Miley for Claire Walsh and Clodagh Fox replaced Anna McGrath at corner-forward.
From the off Wicklow were on top all over the field. Sarah Del hunt opened the scoring after three minutes following a sweeping move up the field and this was swiftly cancelled out by Down midfielder Laoise Duffy who was one of the Mourne County’s better players on the day.
From here on in it was the Laura Hogan show in terms of scoring. The Tinahely woman slotted the next three scores, all from placed balls, before Down midfielder blasted to the top corner of Kim Connors’ net to level matters with 13 on the clock.
Clodagh Fox and Amy Murphy complimented Hogan in the full-forward line and Fox returned Wicklow to a lead they would never relinquish again.
A Hogan free was followed by a Laoise Duffy pointed free and then Laura Hogan added two more points either side of an Amy Murphy peach and then the Wicklow sharpshooter sandwiched a Clodagh Fox effort with two more superbly struck placed balls to send James Kelly’s side in with a healthy 0-12 to 1-2 lead but knowing that they would be facing into the wind for the second half.
The tie looked dead and buried early in the second half when Hogan had the cheek to add another 1-3 to her already blossoming tally. However, Down’s recovery began in earnest from here on in and they added 2-2 but Wicklow weren’t for catching and they recorded an uplifting 1-16 to 3-4 victory in front of a healthy crowd in the county grounds.
Wicklow boss James Kelly says that they examined the stats after the Roscommon game and understood that transitioning from defence to attack was a major issue.
‘The one thing we identified going up there was, look, the amount of turnover, Niamh will tell you, we looked at the stats on Friday night, we held the stats until Friday night, for the simple reason we felt there was no point dwelling on it, the game was gone, there was nothing we could do about it. We identifed that moving the ball between the backs and the forwards was a bit of an issue.
‘We identified that early on, probably Sunday night, took a bit of time, looked at it, got a video clip then and really cut into it for Monday. Tuesday then was about putting into action what we wanted to do today.
‘The girls really responded well to it. The performance of all the girls in Roscommmon, the scoreboard didn’t do any of them any justice, and, look, captain fantastic here running up the field was something you’d see the Dublin midfielders doing, and if one of them did it you’d see a clip on YouTube getting a couple of hundred thousand looks.
‘We got straight on the bus, good mood on the bus coming down. Today was a little bit of work we did during the week about ball retention,’ he added.
Scorers - Wicklow: Laura Hogan 1-11 (11f), Clodagh Fox 0-3, Amy Murphy 0-1, Sarah Delahunt 0-1.
Down: Jessica Foy 1-0, Orla Swail 1-0, Aoife Keown 1-0, Laoise Duffy 0-2 (1f), Lauren Cunningham 0-1 (f), Anna McKee 0-1,