Nicky shines bright in poetic An Tochar win
3-13 0-6
AN TOCHAR will take their place in the Junior ‘A’ football championship, after a dominant second-half performance saw them overwhelm perennial rivals Newtown on a storybook night in Greystones on Saturday evening.
After a sluggish first-half display saw them take a narrow 1-2 to 0-3 lead into the interval thanks to Nicky Dunne’s poetic goal, Roundwood put in a much improved showing in the second, with further goals from Amy Murphy and Marcella Price ultimately sealing the deal.
Even before the match threw in, there was a poignant, compelling narrative running through it. Three years ago, in the midst of preparing for a championship semi-final against Newtown, Nicky Dunne was given the devastating news of a stage three breast cancer diagnosis. Fast forward to Saturday night, a little bit over a year after making her triumphant return to the game, the 1996 All-Star was lining out at corner-forward in the semi-final of the Junior ‘A’ football championship, once again versus Newtown.
For all of the above, it came as absolutely no surprise that, after Jess Scott found her in the Newtown square after just three minutes – another piece of poetic coincidence – Nicky Dunne resisted pressure from Niki Fitzsimons and blasted the ball into the back of the net.
While their start was electric, An Tochar’s first-half showing was otherwise underwhelming; unconvincing in the press, lethargic with ball in hand, and conservative when it came to committing supporting runners when Dunne and Aoife Murtagh made regular darting runs inside off the shoulder of the corner-backs.
Instead, Newtown enjoyed a lot of the possession but were found wanting when it came to turning that advantage into scores on the board. Ciara McLeavy’s score shortly after the goal was one of just three scores that they would register over the course of the entire half while, when score chances did present themselves, An Tochar had more joy, with Marcella Price and the lively Amy Murphy each splitting the posts. Newtown did rally well enough, with Megan Quigley striking over two frees to send the teams into the break with the score at 1-2 to 0-3.
An Tochar were clearly dissatisfied with their own performance, as they came out in the second half with a renewed sense of urgency and purpose. A well-worked move down up the right-hand side ended with Amy McManus finding Eve Leacy, who set up Marcella Price for their second goal of the day. Newtown appeared shell-shocked and spent the majority of the half penned into their own half, unable to work the ball out and build any sort of momentum.
Their case was not at all helped when the game, and this electric five- to ten-minute spell, was all but brought to an effective end with Roundwood’s third. As she had done all evening, Amy Murphy popped up on the left-hand side, where she had caused Newtown so many problems. On this occasion, rather than go for the upright, Amy sent a dipping strike towards goal, where it dropped in over the head of Sophie Lacey and into the corner of the net.
At 3-5 to 0-3, the game was lost from a Newtown perspective. They were finding it impossible to live with the pressure and intensity with which Roundwood were playing in the second half. Frees from Dunne (2) and Jess Scott compounded their misery, before Megan Quigley finally got their first score of the half on the board from a free.
Two further scores from Quigley put somewhat of a gloss on the game, but that was as good as An Tochar could have hoped for. Theresa Molloy was sprung from the bench to score for Roundwood, as did fellow substitute Eva Doyle following good work from Eve Leacy, a bright performer in midfield. Either side of those scores, Amy Murphy was once again on hand to score, before Jess Scott rounded off a good night with the final point.
In truth, it is impossible to say when An Tochar will get their crack at the big one in the junior ‘A’ final. Due to recent restrictions, the season has been put on hold for the foreseeable future, for the second time this year. Whatever happens, and while it will make for an arduous wait for Roundwood, it will not take away from how special this win over Newtown was.
AN TOCHAR: Valerie Halligan; Emma Kavanagh, Tammy Breen, Liadh Cronin; Amy McManus, Rebecca Molloy, Laura Kavanagh; Orla Molloy, Eve Leacy (0-1); Sarah O’Toole, Jess Scott (0-2, 1f), Amy Murphy (1-4); Nicky Dunne (1-3, 2f), Marcella Price (1-1), Aoife Murtagh. Subs: Laura Griffin for S. O’Toole (HT), Roisin Belton for A. Murtagh (40), Jennifer O’Gorman for O. Molloy (50), Theresa Molloy (0-1) for N. Dunne (50), Eva Doyle (0-1) for M. Price (57).
Sophie Lacey; Frances Kearns, Kim Mooney, Niki Fitzsimons; Chloe Byrne, Kelly Merriman, Robyn Evans; Megan Quigley (0-4, 3f), Aoife Keedy; Annalise Dunne, Aisling McDonald, Ciara McLeavy (0-2); Kayla Devlin, Sarah Keely, Emma Hunt. Subs: Aisling Ceoff for E. Hunt (HT), Kristy Mooney for K. Devlin (40), Becky Martin for M. Quigley (60). REFEREE: Stephen McNulty (St. Patrick’s)