School side bridges 15-year gap with impressive win
A FINE week for Wexford ladies’ football ended with the Loreto Wexford girls reaching the Leinster ' A' final for the first time since 1997 with a 4-10 to 2-6 win over Edenderry from Offaly.
The game took place in Carlow on Friday last in wet and slippery conditions as a place in December's final awaited the winners. The Wexford side were out of the blocks quickest as Julie Coakley of St. Fintan's got the opening four points of the half (two from frees) to build a lead that wasn't to be overcome.
It wasn't all one-way traffic though and it took some fine defensive displays, especially from Shauna Murphy, fresh from her Leinster success with Shelmalier the previous weekend, alongside her clubmate Megan Smith who showed no ill effects from her recent injury lay-off to keep Edenderry at bay for the opening quarter of an hour.
With the score at 0-4 to 0-1, Loreto really began to take a stranglehold on the game. The energetic midfield pairing of Ciara Corrigan and the exceptional Róisín Kavanagh were the launch pad for each attack, and Aisling Cronin and Aisling Kelly finished off two fine moves to leave the Wexford girls leading by 2-6 to 0-2 at half-time.
The account of the half can't go by without mentioning Leanne Moore of St. Anne’s who at centreforward prevented Edenderry from starting any attacks from the backs and kept much of the pressure off the Loreto defence throughout the half.
Loreto got off to a very slow start to the secondhalf as Edenderry (with their jerseys now turned inside out) began to show why they had reached this stage of the competition. Within two minutes of the re-start they reduced the deficit to five points with an early scoring burst of 1-2.
That was the wake-up call that Loreto needed though and they responded with two quick points through wing-forwards Aisling Cronin and Julie Coakley to open up a gap again. Edenderry kept up the pressure but Loreto's defence held firm though, with wing-backs Ellen Barrett and Laura Ross, and Rebecca Stafford who replaced her injured St. Anne’s clubmate Aisling Kavanagh at the break, holding firm.
The second-half really saw centre-back Niamh O'Gorman come to life as herself and Shauna Murphy blocked, hassled and intercepted everything that was thrown at them.
As the game reached the final ten minutes some good link-up play from Martha Rochford, MarieClaire Morrissey and Aisling Cronin left Julie Coakley in space to cap off a match-winning display from the Fintan's forward with a well-taken goal to leave the scoreline at 3-9 to 1-4.
Edenderry did respond with a goal and two points either side of another Coakley point but it was too late. As the game came to a close a fine performance from Loreto was capped off as young St. Martin's wing-back Ellen Barrett brushed aside two of her team-mates to pick up a loose ball and solo all of 40 yards to blast it into the roof of the net and seal victory.
The girls celebrated as the final whistle was blown and no doubt their celebrations could be heard back in Spawell Road! They now await the winners of Coláiste Iosagáin of Stillorgan and Trim in December's final.
Squad: Aine Wright, Aisling Kelly (1-0), Aisling Berry (Blackwater); Shauna Murphy, Ciara Corrigan (0-1), Megan Smith, Sinéad Moore (Shelmalier); Ellen Barrett (1-0), Marie-Claire Morrissey, Eleanor Kehoe, Amy Cardiff, Aisling Cronin (1-2), Aoife McAuliffe (St. Martin's); Leanne Moore, Róisín Kavanagh, Niamh Crosbie, Aisling Kavanagh, Rebecca Stafford, Martha Rochford, Fiona Bennett (St. Anne's); Julie Barry, Ellie O'Connor (Kilmore); Niamh O'Gorman, Michelle Rowe (Taghmon-Camross); Julie Coakley (1-7) and Laura Ross (St. Fintan's).
Reports and fixtures on all the schools games may be obtained on www.loretowexford.com.