Meath Ladies News

Meath upped the tempo in the second half and showed great spirit and resilience to claim a well deserved victory in this tough encounter. This was a great team performance by the ladies in green and gold and they showed great heart to overcome a tough Laois outfit. They will face Dublin in the next round on Saturday with time and venue still to be arranged.

The players and management team would like to acknowledge and sincerely thank Abbey House Physiotherapy Clinic who sponsored a new set of jerseys.

Meath – N. Byrne, N. Sheridan, K. Cummins, N. Dalton ; L. Kelly, A. Flynn(1-0), K. Flynn ; E. Olwell, A. Cassidy ; K. Harris (0-1), E. Lane (capt., 1-1), A. Minogue ; A. Ward (1-2), N. De Graff (2-0), A. Curtis (1-1).

Subs – K. Clynch for K. Flynn, A. Garvey (1-1) for Minogue, E. Griffiths for Clynch, B. Keating for Griffiths.

Bord Gais Energy National Ladies Football League Round 5
Meath v Tipperary
New Inn, Co. Tipperary
13th March at 4pm

Half Time: Meath 2-03; Tipperary 2-04
Full Time: Meath 5-04; Tipperary 2-11

Meath were made work hard for the right to bag all three points in this round 5 clash between the Royals and Tipperary.This long awaited tie started explosively with Bridgetta Lynch winning Meath a penalty after a clever ball was delivered by Kellie Allen into the square on 3 mins which was duly converted by Meath’s Elaine Duffy. Tipperary didn’t take this lying down and on the resumption, broke through Meath’s defence and full forward Patricia Hickey found the back of the Royal net. On thirteen minutes, Shauna Bennett found Duffy in space, the Ultans player was then fouled, but converted the resulting free on 13 mins, to put the Royal ladies a point ahead.

Lynch doubled Meath’s advantage, adding a point for the Royal girls on 18 mins to lift Royal hopes. Meath went further ahead on 19 mins, Lynch and Allen teamed up again with Allen finding the back of the Tipperary net with a rasping shot. However, Tipperary pulled one back courtesy of a free taken by Anne Marie O’Gorman on 23 mins. A minute later, Tipperary got the break they were looking for, finding holes on the Meath defence through fast hand passing into Hickey from Anne O Dwyer, who finished to the net. Tipperary were awarded a free which was converted by Edel Hanley and Hanley added to her opening point with one from play. Meath were not to be found wanting at this stage when they turned on the attack again. A long ball from Geraldine Doherty to Allen, led to the Oldcastle player being fouled and the referee awarded a second penalty on 28 mins. Meath were denied when Duffy pulled it narrowly wide. Tipp responded well when Hanley pointed for her third of the afternoon. Meath weren’t finished the opening half just yet, when a cute ball from Bennett to Doherty led to the Royals only trailing by one at half time, Tipperary 2-04, Meath 2-03.

The second half proved to be just as end to end as the first half although the home side began the brighter scoring three points courtesy of Hanley, Jennifer Grant and Mairead Morrissey (captain) in 5 mins and opening up the gap between the teams. Meath weren’t finished yet, as they replied with a ball from Duffy to Allen, and Meath’s full forward was once again fouled for a third penalty. Elaine Duffy made no mistake with this penalty, finding the back of the net for Meath’s third goal. This lifted the Meath side and turning on the pressure, Bennett pointed from play on forty mins. The Meath attack continued, Orla Sheridan found Allen in space and passed to Lynch and despite numerous attempts by the Tipperary defence, Shauna Bennett found her way through and deservedly put it into the net. This ended Lynch’s time on the field as she had to be substituted following the scuffle.
End to end play continued before Tipperary’s Mairead Luttrell eventually put another score between the sides to reduce the gap to two points, Meath just ahead 4-04 to 2-08. Meath’s attack continued when Stephanie Byrne found Doherty who floated the ball into the Tipperary danger zone only for Allen to rise above the defence and fist it past Tipperary’s Nora Noonan and find the back of the net for the fifth time in the game.
Tipperary tried to respond, with points from Morrissey, Hanley (free) and Barbara Ryan to finished the scoring for Tipperary. This left the final score with Meath 5-04, Tipperary 2-11. At the end of the game, Meath keeper McGuirk pulled off a remarkable save from Tipperary to preserve Meath’s well earned victory.

This was a tough, dogged Meath performace and they are improving with each game in this league campaign. The game was a physical one, but Meath matched Tipperary time and time again, and their never say die attitude continues to flourish. This was a great team display with the team gelling really well. Best for the Royals on the day though were Kellie Allen, Shauna Bennett, Eve Wardick, Stephanie Byrne and goalkeeper Monica McGuirk. Meath now have a fortnight to plan for their next game as the O’Connor Cup Finals take central stage. A trip to the Banner County awaits the Royal ladies on March 28th, and they will surely need the break after today’s tough fixture. After the trip to Clare, the Seniors have two remaining games in the round section of the league, both are home games to Donegal (brought forward to Easter weekend) and the visit of Down on the 11th April will finish out the rounds. The future is looking bright once again for the Meath Ladies.

Meath Team: M.McGuirk, A. Murray, P. Sheridan, C. Coffey, C. Dempsey, J. Rispin, E. Wardick, M. Sheridan, S. Byrne, S. Bennett, O. Sheridan, G. Doherty, E. Duffy, K. Allen, B. Lynch.
Subs: S. Martin for Lynch, V. McCormack for O. Sheridan.

Tipperary: N. Noonan, A. O’Dwyer, M. Corcaran, S. Lambert, C. Carroll, C. Condon, A. O’Dwyer, K. Hackett, A. McDermott, M. Luttrell, M. Morrissey (capt.), G. O’Brian, J. Grant, P. Hickey, E. Hanley.

Referee: Garry Owen McMahon