Match Report - TG4: Leinster Semi-Final, Meath v Dublin

The sides were evenly matched over the following 14 minutes with each side scoring a brace of points and then Niamh Hurley broke through for the Dub’s third goal. A further point apiece for each side saw the teams going in at the break, Dublin 3-3, Meath 1-4.

Dublin replaced Niamh McEvoy with Amy McGuinness at the break, while Meath also had a change in personnel with Ciara Daly starting the half instead of Áine Fagan.With Dublin still in sight the local supporters hoped that Meath would take control of the second half. Sinéad Aherne and Ger Doherty swapped points before play halted to allow the injured Lyndsey Davey to be attended to and unfortunately stretchered off the pitch for medical attention.

After play resumed the Meath girls had a period of good possession but unfortunately were unable to convert fivechances in a five minute spell, and then on the sixteenth minute of the half disaster struck as Davey’s replacement, Natalia Hyland, found the back of the Meath Goal – and Elaine Kelly scored a point immediately after. Dublin now led the Royals 4-5 to 1-5.

Twenty minutes into the half Ciara Dempsey made way for Irene Munnelly who replaced Louise McKeever as goalkeeper and Louise continued the game in the full-back position wearing the number 29 jersey. Again the teams swapped points with Katie O’Brien and Niamh Hurley taking the scores. With twenty-six minutes of the half played, Noelle Comyn was sin-binned but instead of dropping their heads, Dublin’s answer to this was a fifth goal, this one scored by Mary Nevin. This was to be
Dublin’s last score of the match, Meath continued on to score two more points, one from Fiona O’Neill, who had replaced Aedin Murray and the other from Grainne Nulty.

Meath had some good passages of play, and can be pleased with the performances of Clare Coffey, Jane Burke and Katie O’Brien. Close followers of Meath Ladies would have been surprised at the lining out of the Sheridan sisters, with Mary starting full-back and Philomena in full-forward, and the moving of Shauna Bennett from her usual wing-forward berth to the half-back line, where we might have expected to see the tenacious Jenny Rispin. Team selection aside, overall Dublin were the stronger team on the day, and rose well to the challenge of losing two key players, Lyndsey Davey to injury and Noelle Comyn to the sin-bin.
Teams and Scorers:

Meath: Louise McKeever, Clare Coffey, Mary Sheridan, Maria Kealy, Shauna Bennett, Jane Burke, Áine Fagan, Gráinne Nulty (0-2), Ciara Dempsey, Aedin Murray (0-1), Jenny Rispin, Katie O’Brien (0-2), Elaine Duffy (1-1), Philomena Sheridan, Geraldine Doherty (0-1)
Subs: Ciara Daly for Fagan, Orla Sheridan for Philomena Sheridan, Irene Munnelly for Dempsey, Fiona O’Neill (0-1) for Aedin Murray and Aimee Bennet.for Elaine Duffy.

Dublin: Clíodhna O’Connor, Avril Cluxton, Noelle Comyn, Maria Kavanagh, Colleen Barrett, Sorcha Furlong, Siobhán McGrath, Lyndsey Peat (1-0), Niamh McEvoy, Mary Nevin (1-2), Elaine Kelly (0-1), Kim Flood, Niamh Hurley (1-1), Sinéad Aherne (1-1), Lyndsey Davey (0-1)
Subs: Natalia Hyland (1-0) for Lyndsey Davey, Ciara Murphy for Elaine Kelly, Carrie O’Connor for Niamh Hurley