Shock defeat to Deise for ladies

TG4 MUNSTER SENIOR LADIES CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1

Waterford 2-9 Kerry 1-9 WATERFORD completely tore up the script when they surprisingly defeated Kerry by three points in the first round of the Munster senior championship which was played Fraher Field Dungarvan last Saturday.

Very few - bar maybe Waterford themselves - would have predicted this result. In fairness, they were full value for the win, and but for a Laura Rogers consolation goal in the dying seconds the result would have been even more comprehensive. Waterford were full of running, and players like Maria Delahunty, Katie Murray, Aileen Wall, Grainne Kenneally and Michelle McGrath caused the Kerry defence countless problems.

Kerry were without former All Star defender Aislinn Desmond due to a hamstring injury and her experience and physicality was certainly missed by Kerry.

The signs were there for Kerry from the very start of the game as in the very first minute Grainne Kenneally should have goaled after a strong run but struck the ball wide from a great position.

Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh got Kerry off the mark in the third minute, but Delahunty then put over two on the bounce to push the Deise 2-1 ahead.

As the game ebbed and flowed, Anna Galvin and Amanda Brosnan pointed to push Kerry 3-2 ahead before Delahunty with two more, and Aileen Wall with one of her own, gave Waterford a two point advantage with 18 minutes gone. Sarah Houlihan pointed a Kerry free, and then championship newcomer Miriam O’Keeffe slotted over with her left peg to level matters at 0-5 each.

The conditions began to deteriorate and heavy rain and wind made ball control difficult. This didn’t deter Delahunty and she slotted over her fifth and sixth points of the first half before Ni Mhuircheartaigh replied on the stroke of half time to leave Kerry trailing at the break, 0-7 to 0-6.

Kerry will rue a couple of goal chances that they failed to convert early in the second half. The Kingdom attacked straight from the throw in,and after a move broke down, Anna Galvin showed great work rate and tenacity to turn over a Waterford defender. Galvin then sliced through the Waterford rearguard but unfortunately her goalbound shot went to wrong side of the post. The rain continued to fall , but it was Waterford who appeared to cope much better in the conditions. Michelle McGrath struck for what appeared to be a fortunate Waterford goal as her initial shot seemed to rebound off the post on to her shin and into the back of the Kerry net. Minutes later Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh also had a chance of a goal but her effort was well saved by Deise net minder Jessica Fitzgerald at the expense of a ‘45’.

These let-offs seemed to boost the Waterford efforts, and in the 50th minute they struck for the pivotal score of the game when Aileen Wall passed to Roisin Tobin to finish smartly to the back of the net. This goal put Waterford seven points ahead and with players falling back into defence, the Kerry forwards found it very difficult to penetrate the Waterford blanket. Kerry did strike for a superb goal in the final minute of the game from Rogers, but it wasn’t enough to deny Waterford their first victory over Kerry at this level since 2002.

Kerry’s failure to take at least one of their goal chances probably cost them in the finish, but Waterford could afford to kick 10 wides in the game and still emerge victorious.

Waterford now play Cork on June 4 whilst Kerry will have to wait until June 17 before getting a crack at the All Ireland champions. Nothing short of a win of a win will do for the Kingdom if they are to retain their interest in the Munster Championship. KERRY: Laura Fitzgerald, Eilis Lynch, Caroline Kelly, Aisling Leonard, Denise Hallissey, Ciara Murphy, Sarah Murphy, Lorraine Scanlon (0-1), Emma Sherwood, Amanda Brosnan (0-1), Anna Galvin (0-1), Miriam O’Keeffe (0-1), Sarah Houlihan (0-2f), Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh (0-3, 1f), Laura Rogers (1-0). Subs: Eilish O’Leary for S Murphy (45 min), Sarah Leahy for C Murphy (49 min), Niamh Carmody for M O’Keeffe (51 mins), Andrea Murphy for A Brosnan (51 min), Fiadhna Tangney for S Houlihan (51 mins). WATERFORD: Jessica Fitzgerald, Megan Dunford, Caoimhe McGrath, Kate McGrath, Dearbhaile Ni hAodha, Karen McGrath, Michelle McGrath, Mairead Wall, Emma Murray, Roisin Tobin (1-0), Grainne Kenneally, Katie Murray (0-1), Aileen Wall (0-1), Maria Delahunty (0-7, 2f), Michelle Ryan (1-0). Subs: Eimear Fennell for A Wall (53 mins), Aoife Murray for R Tobin (55 mins), Nicola Fennell for K Murray (58 mins). A DOWNBEAT Kerry manager Graham Shine said that nothing seemed to go right for them on the day. “Things just didn’t go right for us. We were flat. We missed the goal chances and they took theirs and we just didn’t perform really. We thought that we were in a really good place coming into it but we got caught and we were chasing the goal and we could never get a grip of it. I am hugely disappointed.”

Kerry failed to score for a 20-minute spell in the second half and Shine admitted that this had a huge bearing on the result.

“We just couldn’t break down their defence ,they had 13 behind the ball and we just couldn’t do it, we seemed to be running into tackles a lot of the time, Waterford were really hungry today and we just couldn’t break them down.”

With Kerry facing Cork in the next round on June 17.

“We will go back training on Tuesday night and just stick to what we are doing, we will analyse what went wrong, we really thought that we were in a good place for today but obviously the performance just wasn’t there, I don’t think that we are as bad as we looked today and we just have to get the girls refocused and working hard again and see where it takes us.”