Ladies Football Weekly Article

Ladies Football Weekly Article

Tuesday 22nd August, 2006

 

Three teams will advance to the semi-final stage
of this years’ All Ireland Senior Ladies Football Championship
following a quarter-final tripleheader at Breffni Park on Saturday. 

The replay of last weekend’s thrilling quarter-final clash
between Connacht champions Galway and Leinster finalists Meath
has been added to the roster as all three remaining quarter-finals
will be decided at Breffni Park.

Galway exploded out of the blocks last week with goals from Niamh
Fahey, Geraldine Conneally and Annette Clarke and the Tribeswomen
will be looking for a similar start if they are to progress as
Meath showed a dogged determinedness to overhaul a nine point
deficit and bring the game to extra time.

Meath will feel hard done by not to have booked their semi-final
place already, conceding a last minute equaliser but will relish
the opportunity to prolong their championship against one of the
favourites.

Meath captain Mary Sheridan said, “Last week we had a disasterous
start, we were asleep for the first ten minutes and found ourselves
10 points down. We had nothing to lose and we didn’t panic.
We stopped Galway carrying the ball out from defense and played
a possession game and it worked really well for us. This weekend
we hope to get on top of them early and attack Galway and stop
them from playing. Last week no one gave us a chance and now everyone
is saying that we can beat them.”

Armagh’s amazing season continues as last year’s Junior
champions take on Waterford in the second of the afternoon’s
quarter-finals. The Orchard ladies will look to the likes of Shauna
O’Hagan, Caroline O’Hanlon and Mags McAlinden, who performed
so well against Monaghan in the Ulster final, to ensure their
advancement to the semi-finals.

Waterford put in a strong showing early on against Cork in the
Munster final but fell away badly and will have to plan to stop
Armagh without Donna Frost who has not recovered from an injury
picked up in the Munster final. Eilish Cooney comes in in place
of Frost and Aoife Murphy who scored 1-2 against Cork will need
to be in top scoring form if the Deise are to halt the progress
of Armagh.

Waterford Captain, Mary O’Donnell, is upbeat about her sides
chances. “This game is going to be a real 50/50. We watched
the video of Armagh and Monaghan and they are strong, fit and
tough and we are wary of their forward line but we know we didn’t
play to our potential against Cork and we can play a lot better
than we did against the all Ireland champions.”

Monaghan face a nervy week ahead of their clash with Leinster
champions Laois in the last quarter-final of this bumper weekend
of ladies football. Both star forwards Niamh Kindlon and Therese
McNally are struggling to recover from injury but the Farney will
be able to call upon the services of Aisling Tierney and Hazel
Kingham who have recently returned to the senior fold.

Laois will be buoyed by the performance of Meath against Galway
as the O’Moore ladies comprehensively beat Meath in the Leinster
Final. Free-scoring Laois will look to continue their good run
of form which has seen them unbeaten since losing to Dublin by
two points in May.

All Ireland Senior Quarter Finals

Saturday 26th August

Galway v Meath (Replay) Breffni Park, Cavan 1.30pm

Armagh v Waterford Breffni Park, Cavan 3.15pm

Laois v Monaghan Breffni Park, Cavan 5.00pm

 

All Ireland Junior Quarter Finals

Sunday 27th August

Cavan v Longford Pearse Park, Longford 1.00pm

Wexford v Sligo Pearse Park, Longford 2.30pm