DLGFA Weekly Update 31st August 2009

DLGFA Weekly Update 31st August 2009

The Dublin Ladies Board wishes to convey its sincere sympathy to the Quinn Family of Castleknock, parents, Paul and Catriona, brothers, Eogháin, Stephen and Gearóid, on the the recent tragic death of Cáit.
Suaimhneas na bhFlaitheas dá anam dilis. The loss will also be felt by Castleknock St. Thomas GAA club for whom Cáit played football.

Good luck to the Jackies next Saturday in Ardee as they take on Monaghan in the TG4 All-Ireland senior semi-final at 6pm. Your support could be crucial so come along and cheer them on as they attempt to reach the final for the first time since 2004.The game will also be shown Live on TG4.

The Gazette Newspaper has nominated Cliodhna O Connor as Player of the Month for August and the Dublin u16s as the Team of the Month. Cliodhna played an outstanding part in Dublin’s win over Kerry in the All-Ireland quarterfinal while the u16 County team defeated Mayo by one point to win the All-Ireland Shield competition.

TG4 All-Ireland Semi-final 2009 Preview.

Dublin V Monaghan, Ardee, 6/9/2009.

Dublin meet Monaghan in this year’s TG4 semi-final at St. Mary’s GAA pitch in Ardee, Co. Louth next Saturday at 6pm. The game will be transmitted live by TG4. It is the first ever meeting of these two counties at this stage of the All-Ireland Ladies Football competition. Monaghan featured in last year’s final against Cork and lost on a scoreline of 4-13 to 0-11. The Farnay Ladies didn’t do themselves justice on the day and could feel somewhat aggrieved with the final scoreline. Their panel is more or less the same as last year’s and they have made steady progress through this year’s competition having won the Ulster title at the expense of Armagh. Their quarterfinal victory over Galway was one of sheer hard graft winning by 0-17 to 1-13. One of the heroes on the day was goalkeeper, Linda Martin, who made two great saves on the day, one from a last minute penalty by
Niamh Fahey. At the other end of the pitch two of their star forwards from their 1997 All-Ireland victory over Waterford, namely, Niamh Kindlon and Edel Byrne, contributed thirteen of their side’s points and Niamh was named Player of the Match for leading her side to victory on the day. Ciara McAnespie made a significant contribution to her side’s victory with her pacey runs at the Galway defence and scoring two points in the process. If the Dublin defence can neutralise the threat from these particular players then they could be well on the way to a first All-Ireland final appearance since 2004.

The Jackies had a comfortable win over Kerry in their quarterfinal by 1-13 to 2-6 but had the superb goalkeeping of Cliodhna O Connor to thank for her early saves which frustrated the Kingdom and kept Dublin in the game. Once the Jackies got on top Kerry had no answer although they did come with a late surge which caused anxiety in the camp. They will not be able to afford the same luxuries against Monaghan this coming weekend. Lindsay Peat was absent the last day through her basketball commitments with the Irish International side and with their failure to qualify for the latter stages of the European competition, should make a welcome return to the Jackies midfield.
Amanda Casey and Isobel Kierans will be formidable midfield opponents for whatever Dublin pairing starts and the Jackies will at least need to break even in this quarter. The Dublin forwards have the potential to cause major problems for the Monaghan defence but they must do it from the off. The inter-passing must be crisp and accurate and not over elaborate. After the early wobbles against Kerry the Dublin defence settled down and went on the dominate their opponents.
Monaghan have the experience of Kindlon and Byrne in their forward line and Ciara McAnespie is capable of testing any defence. If Dublin’s defence curtails the scoring opportunities and doesn’t concede frees then Monaghan’s options may be limited. Big displays will be needed once again from Avril Cluxton, Noelle Comyn, Maria Kavanagh, Colleen Barrett, Sorcha Furlong and Siobhan McGrath should there be no changes in defence to the side that defeated Kerry. Dublin defeated Monaghan in their National League encounter earlier in the season and the Farnay County will see this as an chance to exact revenge. Dublin have plenty pace in defence as well as attack and should be more than capable of matching up to the Monaghan.

Reaching the semi-final is a not a new experience for some of the Dublin squad although it hasn’t happened for some time. Cliodhna O Connor, Maria Kavanagh, Niamh McEvoy, Mary Nevin, Sinead Aherne, Siobhan McGrath, Elaine Kelly and Niamh Hurley were all involved in 2003 when Galway beat the Jackies in the final with Amy McGuinness in the extended squad. Most of the aforementioned were involved again in 2004 when they lost in the final to Mayo, as was Noelle Comyn and Lyndsey Davey. This experience could be crucial to the Jackies on Saturday next. There’s no shortage of big match experience in Monaghan
either. Their panel includes nine of the Donaghmoyne club side who were All-Ireland senior club champions in 2006. Emyvale provides five of the panel including sisters from the McAnespie and McNally families and Magheracloone has four. A number of Monaghan players would also have won the Interprovincial title with Ulster in 2008.

There is also a Dublin connection involving Monaghan team members.
Joanne Courtney from Donaghmoyne is a Games Promotion Officer with St. Monica’s in Edenmore and St. Patrick’s in Donabate for the past two years. She is one of four sisters who are all involved with Monaghan this year. Her sisters Sharon and Fiona feature regularly at full back and left half back respectively for the county team and Cora features regularly as a sub. Sharon has also helped Joanne with the summer camps. They would enjoy nothing more than to defeat the Jackies next Saturday and set up a rematch with Cork once again in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day. Dublin may have something to say about this and
one feels that the Jackies will have a slight edge on their opponents on the day. If the Dublin forward line clicks into gear from the off then it should be a Cork v Dublin final.

Run To Africa-
‘fun runs’ are part of their Run to Africa initiative (www.runtoafrica.org).The latest Dublin runs to be confirmed are a 5km
run in Malahide Castleon the 13th of September at 11.00, and an 8km run starting from Lucan GAA Club on the 27th of September at 12.30. See website for more details.

Joanne Courtney (Monahgan) and Cliodhna O’Connor (Dublin) meet ahead of their All Ireland Semi Final. Dublin Goalkeeper Stephen Cluxton was also on hand to officiate the launch of the Run To Africa initiative.