A visit for me to Dungarvan usually involves
sticking my head inside the Boston Barbers and usually results in the worlds
wrongs been put right with Laura, Ann Marie and Liam if of course they are not
busy at the time.
An early visit to Dungarvan yesterday morning
was no different.
Before leaving I was told “Butty, Waterford
Ladies are going to win big today, I’m telling you”.
While I was confident Waterford would beat
the Connacht Champions in the first of a double header at the Gaelic Grounds in
Limerick, for me a one point win would be enough. After all semi finals are for
winning. The manner they are won and the margin of victory is not always
important.
I for one are not going to hide my delight
that Waterford are through to a first All-Ireland Final sine 2012 and a third
since 2010, but I am rather surprise with the winning margin of eleven points,
and do you know what, if you have not seen the game be it at the ground itself
or on the TV, the margin of victory could have been a lot more and would have
been but for the impressive Michelle Guckian in the Leitrim goal who made at
least three excellent saves in this game to deny Waterford the chance of having
extra green flags waved.
For Waterford, Aileen Wall was named the
Player of the Match. It was no surprise that the brilliant Ballymacarbry player
won the award.
If you care to check my Facebook or Twitter
account feed (both are thomaskeane1973) midway through the Second half I felt
she was going to be the winner of the award.
She was outstanding in all she did on the
day. She was a constant thorn in the sides of the Leitrim defence and even when
she was not in a position to score herself, she was able to pick out players
who were in a better position, as was borne out mid way through the second half
when she laid off an inch perfect pass to Michelle Ryan to register Waterford’s
second goal of the game.
While Aileen was the Player of the Game she
had plenty of others that pushed her all the way.
All year long Katie Hannon is superb between
the posts for Waterford and she had another excellent performance here.
Sinead Ryan and Maria Delahunty have made a
massive contribution this year since returning to the panel and they too were
outstanding, accounting for 0-5 and 0-6 respectfully, while others to impress a
lot were the experienced duo of Elaine Power and Linda Wall.
For Leitrim, Michelle Guckian had a great
game for her side and the margin of defeat for her side would be far higher
without her, while Áine Tighe who hit 3-5 of 4-7 against Clare in the quarter
finals two weeks earlier was again to be her sides top scorer in this game,
finishing with 2-4 and without her you would have to wonder where the scores
would have come from.
Waterford made all the early running in this
game. Straight from the off they attacked the Leitrim goal.
Inside 162 seconds of the game starting,
Waterford had three chances to raise green flags, but resulted in none.
Sinead Ryan drew the first of Michelle
Guckian’s saves on two minutes and from the rebound the same player shot wide. Just
42 seconds later Aileen Wall tore the Leitrim defence apart but she saw here
shot go narrowly wide.
The first score of the game came with just
under five minutes played.
Waterford were attacking the Ennis end of the
ground, but Leitrim managed to intercept the ball and attack the city end of
the ground. The ball was worked into the dangerous Áine Tighe who soccer style
soccer style touched the ball to the right of the advancing Katie Hannon with
her right leg and after rounding the Ballyduff player she poked home to an
empty net with her left leg.
After the game Player of the Match Aileen
Wall in an interview said the plan was that should the side concede a goal they
would try and get one back as soon as possible afterwards and this is exactly
what happened.
The ball was quickly worked up the field with
Emma Murray and Louise Ryan combining to put Aileen Wall through on goal and
once on a one on one situation with Michelle Guckian she made no mistake in
planting the ball in the Leitrim net to level matters.
Áine Tighe from a free on ten minutes and
Dearbhaile Beirne five minutes later followed up with points for Leitrim, but
Waterford refused to panic.
Kerry in the past might have a deadly kicker
of a placed ball in Maurice Fitzgerald but this present Waterford side are
equally as fortunate to have an outstanding kicker of a placed ball in Maria Delahunty.
The Abbeyside player with just under fourteen
minutes of the first half remaining put over a ’45 to leave the minimum between
the sides.
Nine minutes from time Waterford had another chance
to raise a green flag.
The brilliant Maria Delahunty cut in from the
Waterford right hand side of the field and played an outstanding pass across
the Leitrim goal to Grainne Kenneally on the left hand side of the field and
doing as any footballer of note would do, the Ballyduff player opted to try and
palm the ball to the net rather than catch and kick it, giving the Leitrim
backs time to close her down, but Michelle Guckian not for the first time was
in the right place at the right time to keep the Waterford attack at bay.
The impressive Sinead Ryan with just ninety
seconds remaining on the clock slotted over a free to level matters on the
scoreboard for the second time in the game and just one minute later, the
lethal Ballymacarbry player slotted over to give Waterford the lead for the
first time.
Whatever was said in the Waterford dressing
rooms at the break had a desired result as Waterford came out for the second
half the better of the two sides by some distance.
Within ninety second of the restart Maria
Delahunty gave Waterford a 1-4 to 1-2 advantage on the score board and the same
player followed up with another free two minutes later.
Aileen Wall, Sinead Ryan and Elaine Power all
had points on the scoreboard as well in the opening six minutes of the second
half as Waterford took a 1-8 to 1-2 lead, one which Waterford were full value
for.
Leitrim’s first score of the second half came
eight minutes into the half when Aine Tighe registered her third score of the
game.
Seconds later, the Connacht side attempted
their look for a second goal in this game, but the brilliant Katie Hannon was
on hand to keep Niamh Tighe’s effort out and from the rebound the same player
saw her goal bound effort taken off the line and cleared to safety by Emma
Murray.
Aileen Wall hit another point for Waterford
before Katie Hannon was again called into action, the Ballyduff player doing
brilliant once more to keep Dearbhaile Beirne’s effort out on forty minutes.
Áine Tighe and Sinead Ryan swapped scores
before Waterford hit a second goal with thirteen minutes of the half played.
Caoimhe McGrath and Louise Ryan combined for
the latter to play a long ball into Aileen Wall who not for the first time ran
at the Leitrim defence and as she neared the Leitrim goal she spotted Michelle
Ryan in a central position and fist passed the ball to her and the towering
Ballymacarbry player made no mistake in palming the ball past Michelle Guckian.
Waterford now lead 2-10 to 1-4 and the game
was all but over as a contest.
Sinead Ryan followed up with a free for
Waterford after which Grainne Kenneally hit possibly the score of the match
after she was found with a pass from Caoimhe McGrath.
Another Maria Delahunty point with just over
thirteen and a half minutes left to play put Waterford 2-13 to 1-4 up after
which Leitrim had their best patch in the game.
Less than a minute after Maria Delahunty’s
score Anna Conlon, Dearbhaile Beirne and Áine Tighe were all involved in a
movement that saw the latter hit her second and her sides second goal of the
game.
Michelle Heslin and Áine Tighe followed up
with points with nine minutes to still to play, but this was as good as it got
for Leitrim as they failed to score after this.
Waterford in the final minutes of the game as
they were right throughout the second half continued to prove to be the better
of the two sides, with the subs that were brought in during the second half
doing their chances of winning a place in the Starting team for the All-Ireland
Final against Kildare or Offaly on September 27 no harm.
Aileen Wall from an Elaine Power pass with
just under seven minutes to play extended Waterford’s lead after which Michelle
Guckian was again called into action this time to deny Maria Delahunty the
chance of a goal with five minutes remaining.
The Abbeyside player hit Waterford’s next two
scores, the first after she was picked out with a good pass from Aoife Murray
and with the last attack of the game Caoimhe McGrath found Michelle Ryan who
put the ball between the uprights to give Waterford an eleven point winning
margin.
Waterford now await the winners of next
Saturday’s semi final between Kildare and Offaly in the All-Ireland Final.
It may be a commentators curse here, but you
would expect Kildare having played two divisions above the midlander’s in the
league and having beaten them in the Leinster Final to win the second semi
final.
Whichever side does come out on top,
Waterford will not have it easy in the All-Ireland Final, but they will travel
to Croke Park a confident side and in the knowledge that as the year is
progressing the side are getting better with each game they play.
WATERFORD; Katie Hannon; Mairead
Wall, Michelle McGrath, Linda Wall; Elaine Power, Megan Dunford, Louise Ryan;
Karen McGrath, Emma Murray; Grainne Kenneally, Maria Delahunty, Aileen Wall;
Hannah Landers, Sinead Ryan, Mary Foley. Subs:
Michelle Ryan for Hannah Landers (37), Caoimhe McGrath for Mary Foley (40), Nicola Fennell for Louise Ryan, Aoife
Murray for Sinead Ryan (55), Nora Dunphy for Mairead Wall (58).
Scorers: Maria Delahunty 0-6 (2f, 1 45), Aileen Wall
1-3, Sinead Ryan 0-5 (2f), Michelle Ryan 1-1, Elaine Power, Grainne Kenneally
0-1 each.
LEITRIM: Michelle Guckian; Claire Beirne, Mairead
Stenson, Róisín McHugh; Melissa Hewitt, Sharon Kerrigan, Áine Heslin; Sarah
McLoughlin, Anna Conlon; Deirdre Ward, Áine Tighe, Loraine Brennan; Dearbhaile
Beirne, Niamh Tighe, Carla LeGuen. Subs:
Michelle Heslin for Áine Heslin (41), Emma Guckian for Carla LeGuen (47).
Scorers: Áine Tighe 2-4 (0-2f), Michelle Heslin,
Dearbhaile Beirne 0-1 each.
Referee: Stephen McNulty (Wicklow).
