Donegal Ladies back in business

Donegal Vs Waterford 02–02-03

Donegal Ladies back in business:
Donegal 3-6 : Waterford 1-10
Submitted by: Marc Curran

Played in dreadful arctic-like conditions in Mullingar, this match was a credit to both teams who served up a very entertaining hours football, that had some fine passages of play and some magnificent scores. As the teams took the field they were greeted by a blizzard of snow and sleet that was more becoming of a Winter Olympic events than a game of football.

The shower lasted some 10 minutes, but by the 6th minute the Tir Conaill ladies had brewed up a storm of their own racing into 2-1 to 0-0 lead, virtue of some clinical finishing by corner forwards Maz Sweeney and Sheila Campbell, while Catherine Mc Ateer pointed a free to add the point. At this early point playing into the breeze, Donegal well were well on top and were causing the reighning Munster senior champions and All-Ireland senior champions of 1997 all sorts of problems.

As the weather improved so did Waterfords influence on the game, and they began to come more and more into the game, adopting a very effective running game, thanks to the constant probings of All-star Mary O Donnell who had a hand in anything good they produced. In the remaining 20 mins of the half Waterford got to grips with Donegal in certain sectors and began to whittle down the lead point by point, until a pointed free on the stroke of half time levelled things. Indeed, were it not for some tremendous defending, Donegal could well have been in arrears at the break, with Donna Dunnion in particular really excelling in only her second outing.

The second half started just like the first with the elements returning as strong as ever, and with the storm returning so did Donegals dominance. The unusual practice of undergoing a second warm-up at half time proved a master stroke by the Donegal management.