Clare go down to Dublin Ladies

Clare ladies faced the might of senior championship hopefuls
Dublin in this Division Two Suzuki League game played in
atrocious weather conditions in the beautiful West Clare
resort of Miltown Malbay. Both teams made heavy weather
of the conditions in the opening ten minutes but even at
this early stage a physically strong and more determined
Dublin side seemed to be getting on top. Stout Clare defending
from Grace Lynch and Orlaith Griffin in particular kept
the Dubs at bay until the twelfth minute when midfielder
Colleen Barrett opened the scoring with a well worked point
from play. Dublin quickly added another point from corner
forward Sinéad Finnegan. Clare had a great opportunity to
get back in the game on nineteen minutes but Marie Kelly’s
shot on goal was excellently saved by the Dublin keeper.
A minute later Lissycasey’s Áine Kelly opened Clare’s account
with a good point from the right wing. This score was quickly
cancelled out when Dublin’s player of the match, Mary Nevin,
scored her first pointed free of the afternoon on twenty
two minutes. Nevin was to convert two further frees before
the interval to a single reply from Clare’s Marie Kelly
to leave the half-time score 0 – 5 to 0 – 2 in Dublin’s
favour.

Dublin settled quickly after the interval and had two early
points from Nevin and Fiona Corcoran. Clare then had a period
of dominance and again were unlucky not to raise a green
flag when a Fiona Lafferty piledriver was blocked down by
the Dublin defence. Clare did however get good points from
play through excellent scores from Marie Kelly and the newly
introduced Myra Daly. However between the forty second and
fiftieth minutes of the game Dublin’s ace sharpshooter Mary
Nevin scored five unanswered points to put eight points
between the sides. A Majella Griffin Clare free on fifty
three minutes did narrow the gap slightly but Dublin had
the final say in this game when Louise Kelly pointed for
them just before full time. This left the final score Dublin
0 – 13 to Clare’s 0 – 5. Dublin dominated in all central
pivotal areas of the field throughout this game and had
big performances from Siobhán McGrath, Niamh McEvoy and
Sinéad Finnegan as well as the aforementioned Mary Nevin.

On a day that the Banner ladies struggled to cope with the
difficult conditions and the physically stronger Dublin
team they were well served in defence by goalkeeper Emma
O’Driscoll and defenders Orlaith Griffin and Grace Lynch.
Although Dublin dominated midfield overall the Clare pairing
of Fiona Lafferty and Louise Henchy worked hard throughout.
Up front Marie Kelly was Clare’s most dangerous forward
while captain Majella Griffin again had a good game and
did Trojan work in assisting her midfielder’s and defence.
Indeed Marie Kelly was most unfortunate not to raise at
least one green flag during the game but Dublin’s keeper
Hannah Tyrrell pulled off a string of fine saves to deny
her. Overall the better team won on the day but Clare were
far from disgraced and will have learnt much from playing
the 2004 All Ireland senior finalists. Next up for Clare
now are table toppers and undefeated Sligo. Hopefully Deirdre
Murphy will have the team spirits lifted for this match.

Clare: Emma O’Driscoll (The Banner Ladies), Orlaith Griffin
(Fergus Rovers), Carmel Considine (Liscannor), Úna Downes
(Kilmihil), Sinéad Kelly (West Clare Gaels), Grace Lynch
(Coolmeen), Lorraine Kelly (Fergus Rovers), Louise Henchy
(The Banner Ladies), Fiona Lafferty (Miltown) Aoife Cavanagh
(The Banner Ladies), Majella Griffin, capt (West Clare Gaels
0 – 1), Marie Kelly (West Clare Gaels 0 – 2), Olivia Lucas
(Liscannor), Leona Murphy (Liscannor), Áine Kelly (Fergus
Rovers 0 – 1). Subs:Myra Daly (Fergus Rovers 0 – 1) for
Leona Murphy, Bernie Kelly (Cooraclare) for Aoife Cavanagh.

Dublin: Hannah Tyrrell, Aoife Green, Denise Masterson, Niamh
McEvoy, Siobhán McGrath, Gemma Fay, Niamh McEvoy, Sinéad
Finnegan (0 – 1), Fiona Corcoran (0 – 1), Mary Nevin (0
– 9), Natalia Hyland, Amy McGuinness, Colleen Barrett (0
– 1), Louise Kelly (0 – 1).

Dr. Paul McKenna, PRO Clare Ladies Football 086 – 6036385