Galway Ladies win in outstanding final

GALWAY 3-9 DUBLIN 0-11 All-Ireland Ladies SFC
final

GALWAY firmly established themselves as the leading
lights in ladies football with an impressive second-half
display that consigned Dublin to runners-up in
the All-Ireland SFC final for a second successive
year. A combination of slack marking and Galway’s
relentless drive after the break in front a 20,706
crowd proved to be the downfall of John O’Leary’s
metropolitan ladies. Also, Dublin’s inability
to pull further clear when they were in control
proved costly.

They led by six points after 25 minutes thanks
to contributions, in the main, from Angie McNally
and Mary Nevin but a Niamh Duggan goal and then
a point from captain Annette Clarke ensured the
contest remained on a knife edge at half-time
with the score at 0-7 to 1-2. Thereafter, Galway
began to turn the screw. They tightened up their
defence by moving Niamh Fahy into centre-back
– Áine Gilmore left the field injured in the opening
skirmishes – and Clarke and Patricia Gleeson began
to get the upper hand around midfield.

It was captain Clarke who really set the revival
into gear with the second goal on 35 minutes.
The supplier was replacement Gillian Joyce, who
produced a remarkable performance that confounded
the reasons for leaving her on the bench. She
soon had Galway in front but Dublin rallied with
Nevin and McNally giving their final inputs to
the scoresheet before the tempo of the contest
was raised another notch. Lisa Cohill and Joyce
again hit the target but it was another sub, Edel
Concannon’s goal eight minutes from time that
was the knockout blow. Lorna Joyce supplied a
clever pass but the failure by the Dublin defence
to mark up gave Concannon plenty of time to take
aim.

In the final quarter of the contest the Galway
player in possession constantly had a free option,
while the likes of McNally and Martina Farrell
were relentlessly tracked. Their manager PJ Fahy
played his cards to perfection and was very sure
of how he wanted to use his players: “Impact substitutions
are very important. I’m not saying we didn’t start
with our best 15 but it’s very important to finish
with a strong 15,” he said afterwards. “We had
this thing all year where we never lose our composure
and we didn’t. We always stayed in control. “They
are a special bunch of girls and my only regret
is that I couldn’t bring on 15 subs. Once we got
going and got into a rhythm their was very good
movement and that has all come from the training
pitch. “A lot of work was done by Richard Bowles
and Mick O’Connell.”

Dublin will look back on the early periods of
the match with regret as they could have, should
have, had two goals before the break only for
lady luck to desert them with Bernie Finlay and
Ashling McCormack both hitting the woodwork. “We
played well. I can’t ask for much more from the
girls,” said O’Leary. “They went at the game,
they chased it. Galway got a couple of breaks,
got the goal. You know, we hit the post, they
hit the crossbar we hit the crossbar. That’s just
football. They made the jersey proud and that’s
all I ever ask of them.”

The former Dublin goalkeeper refused to make a
snap decision on his position in the job but now
must switch his attention to International Rules
as he is an Irish selector for the upcoming Tests
against Australia in Croke Park on October 17
and 24.

SCORERS –

Galway: A Clarke 1-3 (0-1f), E Concannon,
N Duggan 1-0 each, G Joyce 0-3 (1f), L Cohill
0-2, M Delaney 0-1.
Dublin: M Nevin 0-3 (3f), A McNally 0-3,
F Corcoran, B Finlay, L Davey, A McCormack, K
Hopkins 0-1 each.

GALWAY – U Carroll; M O’Connell, R Stephens,
A McDonagh; A Daly, A Gilmore, E Flaherty; A Clarke,
P Gleeson; L Cohill, N Fahy, N Duggan; G Conneally,
L Joyce, M Delaney. Subs: E Concannon for Gilmore
(23 mins), G Joyce for Delaney (half-time), M
Burke for O’Connell (53 mins), F Wynne for Conneally
(58 mins), E O’Malley for Gleeson (60 mins).
DUBLIN – C O’Connor; S Farrelly, N Comyn,
M Kavanagh; N McEvoy, L Keegan, G Fay; M Farrell,
F Corcoran; E Kelly, B Finlay, L Davey; A McCormack,
A McNally, M Nevin. Subs: L Kelly for Kavanagh
(43 mins), S Ahern for Kelly (47 mins), S McGrath
for Farrelly (49 mins), K Hopkins for Davey (54
mins), O Colreavy for Farrell (58 mins).
REF – E O’Hare (Down).

This article was kindly submitted by The Irish
Independent