Leinster U-16 A Championship Semi Final

Half time score: Meath 0-05 v Wicklow 0-08
Full time score: Meath 3-09 v Wicklow 2-10

There was a strong case of daylight robbery in Ratoath on Saturday afternoon as Meath under 16s narrowly booked their place in the Leinster Final ahead of a strong Wicklow outfit. Trailing by nine points with just under ten minutes to go, the Garden County were willing the time to run out. However, the Royal side had other ideas and clawed back the nine point deficit to win by two points, 3-09 to 2-10. Leading the charge for the Meath side were the Oldcastle trio of Sinead Coyle, Bridgetta Lynch and Kellie Allen.

Meath started uncharacteristically poorly in the opening half, and were lucky to only trail by three at half time, 0-05 to 0-08. Wicklow were stronger in most areas of the field, and their full forward was having a match winning performance, however, the second half was dominated by the Royal side and left it to the last kick of the ball to win the game. Meath opened their scoring account for the afternoon in the second minute of the game from Ratoath’s Katie Callaghan but this was cancelled out on four minutes. Wing-back Megan O’Brien raised the white flag on six minutes and Jacinta Maher added to Meath’s lead on nine mins. However, Wicklow upped their game, levelling matters with two points in two minutes. Meath were forced to retreat and were to wait ten minutes for their next score, when Joanna Byrne split the posts on nineteen mins. Thereafter, the Garden County had a fruitful end to the half, with the umpire reaching for the white flag on five occasions, while the Royals could not find a single reply, despite controlling a lot of possession. There was some hope for the Royals at the end of the half, when Kellie Allen broke free to add Meath’s fifth point of the half. Meath were lucky to be only three behind, and were relieved to hear the half time whistle.

While ambitions would be for the Royals to start the second half strongly, Wicklow had other ideas and continued where they left off in the first. Wicklow put themselves four points ahead on thirty-seven mins before two goals in two mins put the writing on the wall for Meath. With ten points down and less than twenty mins to go Meath had their work cut out for them. However, in true Royal style the team never gave up and began clawing their way back. Katie Callaghan pointed from a free on forty mins. The heat took its toll on the players and a treble substitution by the Royals seemed to freshen up the side, Karen Blaney, Laura Murray and Laura Dempsey began to turn the tide for the Royals. Meath cleared their lines well, with Cliona Murray, Lauren McCann and Megan O’Brien particularly impressing. Time was running out for the Meath team, with just over ten mins to go they were the nine points in arrears. However, the sublime Sinead Coyle found the back of the net on forty-seven mins after her free rebounded off a Wicklow defender, but the Oldcastle player was first to react and firmly found the bottom right hand corner of the net. Two mins later, Meath pointed again through Coyle leaving them with a six point deficit. The move of the game however, rests with Gael Colmcilles player Joanna Byrne. Byrne collected the ball on the right wing and ran at the Wicklow defence and firmly placing the ball in the back of the net for Meath’s second goal on fifty-two mins, cutting the loss to three points. Wicklow pulled one back on fifty-three minutes, but the tide was certainly turning in favour of the Royals. On fifty-five mins Coyle pointed once again. On fifty-eight mins, a hopeful ball into the Wicklow area led to a goal mouth scramble and despite a superb save from the Wicklow keeper, Bridgetta Lynch proved her ability to score in the tightest of spaces and found the back of the net. Against all the odds, Meath were winning by a point. The resulting kick out was won by Meath again and the referee spotted a foul on Meath forward and awarded a penalty. Clann na nGael’s Vivienne McCormack did the sensible thing and put the ball over the bar, to incredibly increase Meath’s lead to two points. However, Wicklow were not afforded time for one more attack as the final whistle blew on the kickout. Meath had booked their place in another Leinster final on the scoreline 3-09 to 2-10.

Credit must go to the Wicklow team for their performance and they will certainly be a team to watch out for in the future. For once, Meath had gotten the rub of the green, however they will need to significantly improve their performance if they are to be victorious against Dublin, who had an easy victory over Laois in the other semi final. However, this is a special Meath team and where they are concerned, anything is possible. The Leinster Final is scheduled for July 11th in Athy, Co. Kildare.

Best for Meath on the day were Cliona Murray, Megan O’Brien, Kellie Allen, Sinead Coyle, Vivienne McCormack, Joanna Byrne and Bridgetta Lynch.

Meath Team & Scorers: Samantha Monaghan, Cliona Murray, Lauren McCann, Orlaith Duff, Megan O’Brien (0-01), Kellie Allen (0-01), Niamh Collins, Sinead Coyle (1-02), Máire O’Shaughnessy, Joanne Byrne (1-01), Vivienne McCormack (0-01), Adrienne McCann, Jacinta Maher (0-01), Bridgetta Lynch (1-00), Katie Callaghan (0-02).
Subs: Stephanie Caffrey for Duff, Laura Murray for Collins, Karen Blaney for L. McCann, Laura Dempsey for Maher.