Full forward Beth Carton was at her
brilliant best on Saturday evening as Waterford got the win they needed to stay
in the hunt for the All Ireland quarter finals.
The home side led by seven after
seventeen minutes but came under pressure when Sibeal Harney picked up a
controversial second yellow, a third Déise dismissal in as many matches.
Limerick closed within a point but the hosts kept their noses in front. Donal
O’Rourke jumped for joy at the end as he celebrated his first championship
success.
Carton contributed 1-10 (1-2 from
play) and had a part in all bar one of Waterford’s scores. She batted home the
first goal, assisted the second and converted eight out of ten frees. After the
sending-off, she came out around the half forward line to win a crucial
puckout. She has accounted for 1-23 out of 2-29 in championship 2018. Her 63rd minute
free sealed a hard-earned victory. Full back Muireann Creamer endured a
horrible evening and it got worse when she also received a second yellow in
added time.
The summer heatwave has left Walsh
Park dry and dusty, with barely any green grass in evidence. After the
pre-match parade in front of the stand, Waterford played with a fresh breeze
towards the city end. A three-point half time advantage (2-5 to 0-8) was
unsatisfactory given their positive start.
Limerick star name Niamh Mulcahy moved
out to midfield from the off leaving Aine Lyng as an extra defender. It took
the Ahane ace just 20 seconds to open the scoring. Their lead barely lasted a
minute however. Carton drilled over two difficult frees and collected a pass
from Lorraine Bray to strike her first in open play.
Waterford’s first championship goal
arrived in the tenth minute. Annie Fitzgerald was blocked down twice in the
build-up but ploughed on and fed Carton who slipped the ball to the net. The
second came just four minutes later. Lyng found Fitzgerald inside the Waterford
half and she drove the ball in the direction of Carton. She nudged it along the
ground to Tobin and the Déise minor rifled past Laura O’Neill. Carton then forced
Creamer to take too many steps and the resultant free left them seven clear
(2-4 to 0-3).
Instead of driving on, Waterford
mistakes allowed Limerick back into the contest. Ten first half wides, eight fouls and two
yellow cards helped the Shannonsiders recover. The visitors hurt the home team
down the centre. Five of the last six points were theirs. Three Mulcahy frees
increased her tally to six while Dearbhla Egan and Karen O’Leary pounced on
errors in defence. At the other end, Waterford overhit deliveries into Carton
and company. O’Rourke decided to introduce Fiona Morrissey before the break and
the versatile An Rinn player put herself about under the dropping ball.
The margin shrank to two when Aisling
Scanlan pointed within fifteen seconds of the resumption. Carton replied from a
free and that set the trend for the second period. Every time Limerick got
within two, Waterford responded.
Carton shot her second point from play
over her right shoulder after taking a pass from Niamh Rockett. She should have
stretched the lead to four but her free drifted right and wide. Waterford’s
indiscipline at the back was punished by Mulcahy to keep Limerick within touching
distance.
Subs Jenny McCarthy and Aisling Power
freshened up the home side. Entering the last quarter, Aine Lyng picked out
Rockett from a quick free and the vice-captain squeezed her shot just inside
the right-hand post (2-8 to 0-11). Limerick wing back Caoimhe Costelloe cut
through the middle again for the score of the game.
Carton and Mulcahy exchanged points
before Sibeal Harney got her marching orders. She tried to solo out of defence
before she was met by Dearbhla Egan. Liz Dempsey deemed that the defender was
charging and brandished a second yellow. Crucially, Mulcahy missed the
subsequent dead ball from the stand sideline. Waterford claimed the next score
via a Carton free.
A long ball from O’Leary caused panic
in the home defence before Sarah Carey fired wide. Mulcahy and Rebecca Delee
whittled it down to a point a minute into injury time. Waterford threw on Orla
Hickey and Clara Griffin to eat up the clock. In the third added minute,
Kaiesha Tobin won a relieving free off Creamer. The Limerick number three was
shown a second yellow and Carton’s eighth conversion was the clincher.
A draw or a win away to Clare next
Sunday will send them into the knockout phase.
Scorers
for Waterford: Beth
Carton 1-10 (8fs), Kaiesha Tobin 1-0, Niamh Rockett 0-1.
Scorers
for Limerick:
Niamh Mulcahy 0-10 (8fs), Caoimhe Costelloe, Karen O’Leary, Rebecca Delee,
Aisling Scanlan, Dearbhla Egan 0-1 each.
Waterford:
Ciara
Jackman; Kate Lynch, Sibeal Harney, Iona Heffernan; Shauna Kiernan, Aine Lyng,
Claire Whyte; Lorraine Bray, Aoife Landers; Annie Fitzgerald, Niamh Rockett,
Deirdre Fahy; Kaiesha Tobin, Beth Carton, Caithriona McGlone.
Subs: Fiona
Morrissey for Landers, Jenny McCarthy for Whyte, Aisling Power for McGlone,
Orla Hickey for Fitzgerald, Clara Griffin for Morrissey.
Limerick: Laura O’Neill; Megan O’Mara,
Muireann Creamer, Mairead Ryan; Neamh Curtin, Sarah Carey, Caoimhe Costelloe;
Karen O’Leary, Rebecca Delee; Aisling Scanlan, Niamh Mulcahy, Deborah Murphy;
Caoimhe Lyons, Dearbhla Egan, Kate Hennessy.
Sub: Laura Stack
for Hennessy.
Referee:
Liz
Dempsey (Kilkenny)
Déise
minors return to winning ways
The Waterford minors beat Tipperary
for the second time this season on muggy Wednesday evening as their formidable
forward unit paved the way to victory. The Déise exited the All Ireland series
back in March but Kevin Barry’s side cast that disappointment aside to set up a
Munster semi final meeting with Limerick.
2-3 without reply in the opening half,
including goals from Annie Fitzgerald and Ciara O’Sullivan, put them in control
of this tie. Scorer in chief Kaiesha Tobin struck over eight of her nine frees,
added one from play in the second half and created the second goal for
O’Sullivan. Clodagh Carroll, Abby Flynn and Sarah Lacey also punched holes in
the Tipp defence throughout. At midfield, hard-working pair Keeley Corbett
Barry and Clara Griffin gained the upper hand.
A wasteful Tipperary, who finished
with a dozen wides, only managed three scores from play over the hour. Déise
netminder Megan Foran pulled off two vital saves in the first half from main
threat Casey Hennessy while Shauna Fitzgerald and Mary Kate Curran blocked up
the centre of the defence.
On the sunburnt surface, three Kaiesha Tobin frees gave Waterford a two-point lead
after ten minutes of play. The home forwards got to grips with Tipp sweeper
Sarah Delaney and managed to feed Tobin and Annie Fitzgerald in the corners.
The visitors were guilty of five wides
inside the first quarter. On twelve minutes, Casey Hennessy weaved her way
through the Déise rearguard but Megan Foran deflected her powerful shot over
the bar. From the next Premier attack, full forward Rosanna O’Donnell fetched
Hennessy’s high delivery and fired the ball home. Waterford responded
immediately as the persistent Annie Fitzgerald found the top of the Tipp net
(1-3 to 1-2). Referee Mike Flannery granted the teams a water break on the
quarter hour mark.
Fitzgerald and industrious midfielder
Keeley Corbett Barry won frees that Tobin converted into the city end. Shauna
Fitzgerald and Mary Kate Curran held Tipp scoreless for eighteen minutes. The
away side ended the opening half with nine wides.
On 28 minutes, Sarah Lacey controlled
a high ball and sent over Waterford’s first point from play. A crossfield pass
from Tobin then picked out the unmarked Ciara O’Sullivan who made no mistake
from close range. A productive second quarter left them six to the good at the
break (2-6 to 1-3). Another brilliant Megan Foran save thwarted Hennessy again
in injury time.
After Emma Flanagan increased Tipp’s
wide tally to double figures, Grace O’Toole got the scoreboard moving again. The
leaders replied with two Tobin frees and a Ciara O’Sullivan effort from play to
widen the gap to eight. Clodagh McIntyre dashed through on the Waterford goal
but a fussy Flannery penalised her for charging, welcome relief for the Déise
backs.
Hennessy popped up with two frees in a
slow paced second period. Lacey then supplied her Dungarvan club mate Tobin for
a point. With three minutes remaining, the hosts survived a mad goalmouth
scramble. Abby Flynn raced up the other end to put Waterford seven up.
Annie Fitzgerald was denied a second
goal by Aoife Butler but they had done enough. Tobin’s ninth point of the
evening wrapped it up.
Scorers
for Waterford:
Kaiesha Tobin 0-9 (8fs), Ciara O’Sullivan 1-1, Annie Fitzgerald 1-0, Sarah
Lacey, Abby Flynn 0-1 each.
Scorers
for Tipperary:
Casey Hennessy 0-6 (4fs, 1 45’), Rosanna O’Donnell 1-0, Grace O’Toole 0-1.
Waterford: Megan Foran; Izabella
Markiezch, Shauna Fitzgerald, Hannah Flynn; Kate Lynch, Mary Kate Curran,
Roisin Dunphy; Keeley Corbett Barry, Clara Griffin; Clodagh Carroll, Ciara
O’Sullivan, Abby Flynn; Kaiesha Tobin, Sarah Lacey,
Annie Fitzgerald.
Subs: Sally Kelly
for Carroll, Lorna Foley for Annie Fitzgerald, Lucy Hogan for Flynn.
Tipperary: Aoife Butler;
Anna Gavin, Sorcha Ryan, Niamh Long; Grainne Long, Gemma Fox, Thea Curtin;
Clodagh McIntyre, Grace O’Toole; Karin Blair, Casey Hennessy, Aine O’Dwyer;
Sarah Delaney, Rosanna O’Donnell, Emma Flanagan.
Subs: Katie Ryan
for Gavin, Eimear Bourke for Flanagan, Ciara Dwan for Blair, Lucy McEvoy for
Grainne Long, Rachel O’Dwyer for Delaney.
Referee: Mike Flannery
(Limerick)
Defeat
for Under 16’s
Waterford
1-5 Derry 3-11
The Waterford under 16 team were on
the road again this weekend to take on Derry in the 3rd round of the All
Ireland Championship. Even though there was a respite to the sweltering playing
conditions, we came up against another very physical and mature northern team.
The Derry team got off to a flyer with
their centre forward pointing 4 times from play in the first 10 minutes.
Waterford then registered their first point with a sweetly struck free from
Ciara Sheahan.
Our side showed great sprit in taking
the game to Derry for the rest of the half with a well taken point form Aoife
Fitzgerald before she was denied by the wood work on two occasions within 20
seconds of each other. Not prepared to take no for an answer, Aoife goaled
shortly afterward following some good inter play through the middle. Ciara tagged on another point from a free and
as we approached half time, Waterford were very much in the contest. A goal
just on the stroke of half time from Derry changed that complexion and the half
time score of 1-09 to 1-03 left our ladies with a lot to do in the second half.
As in previous weeks, Waterford again
created numerous chances, but we were unable to convert goals on three
occasions when it looked like the back of the net was getting nervous. Derry's
defence was very impressive and their goalie made a number of top class saves,
none greater that when she stopped a rasping penalty from Aoife. Waterford went on to register a point from a
free by Ciara and a hand passed point from Clodagh Hoctor. Derry added two
goals and two points with the final score 3-11 to 1-05.
A special mention to the Waterford
defence on the day and in particular Sheena McGuickian who impressed with her
tenacious tackling when moved to the half back position.
The final group game is fixed for
Walsh Park next Sunday at 2:30pm when Waterford entertain Westmeath.
Scorers for Waterford came from Ciara
Sheahan (0-3, 3f) Aoife Fitzgerald (1-1) Clodagh Hoctor (0-1), Dara Fitzgerald
(0-2) Clodagh Hoctor (0-1) Starting team:- Amy Coffey, Mide Delaney, Elisa
Flynn, Shauna McGuickian, Sorcha Cantwell, Annie Quinn (cpt) Helen Connelly,
Alannah Jones, Roise Ni Mhuiri, Rachael Walsh, Aine O’Neill, Dara Fitzgerald,
Ciara Sheahan, Clodagh Hoctor, Aoife Fitzgerald.
Subs: Clodagh Hoctor, Mary Kate
Prendergast, Beth Gardner, Clodagh Tutty, Hannah Walsh, Natasha Dobbyn, Hannah
Leamy, Kate Foley, Niamh Crowley, Rachael Jones,
Liberty
Insurance All Ireland Championship Round 4
Waterford
vs Clare
Venue:
Clare
Time
and Date: Sunday 22nd of July 2.30PM
Best of luck to our seniors who play
Clare next Sunday. A draw or a win will be enough for Waterford to qualify for
quarter final.
