Suzuki Ladies National League Division 1 Final Match Report

CORK 0-14 MEATH 0-12

SUPER-SUB Geraldine O’Flynn kicked two late points to ensure
Cork retained their Suzuki Ladies National Football League Division
One title in a pulsating final against Meath at Parnell Park on
Saturday night. The Rebels entered the game as hot favourites, but
they were given a real scare from the Royals and it took two late
points from O’Flynn, who only came off the bench in the 44th
minute, to seal the victory. “There was nothing in it until
a few minutes to go but thankfully we got the few points near the
end,” admitted Cork captain Juliette Murphy. “They missed
a few chances but thankfully we finished that bit stronger. It’s
super to win a league again – it shows there is motivation
and hunger. We’ll regroup again now and look ahead to the championship.
“I think both teams showed tremendous character. Meath had
us rattled in the quarter final last year. They are an extremely
tough team to beat and I’m sure they’ll be around in the
summer.”

The Royals kicked away their chance with eight wides in each half,
but they were still level with five minutes to go before O’Flynn’s
late brace. “The gap has narrowed between the big teams and
with a little bit more work there’s no reason why we can’t
get up there,” said Meath boss Geraldine Sheridan. Cork burst
out of the blocks on Saturday night with five unanswered points
in the first 14 minutes. Deirdre O’Reilly started the scoring
inside the first minute with Sinead O’Reilly, Rena Buckley,
Caoimhe Creedon and Ashling O’Connor all kicking a point apiece
by the quarter hour mark. Meath’s Geraldine Doherty showed
great vision in the 15th minute to pick out the impressive Mary
Sheridan but her point blank effort was saved by Cork goalkeeper
Elaine Harte. Meath finally got off the mark in the 16th minute
when Doherty floated over a point.

Then, just like Cork before them, Meath hit five in succession
to draw level – with the other four coming from Gillian Bennett,
Grainne Nulty (2) and Elaine Duffy. Meath were winning almost everything
around the middle of the field with Sheridan and Player of the Match
Grainne Nulty dominating, but all too often they were failing to
make their possession count on the scoreboard. Creedon stemmed Meath’s
momentum with a well taken point in the 21st minute to put Cork
back in front. Meath almost took the lead moments later though when
a Bennett free dropped short and the Cork rearguard allowed the
ball to bounce dangerously just outside the small parallelogram.
It skidded up and off the underside of the crossbar before being
scrambled away to safety. All Star Valerie Mulcahy slotted over
a free in the 24th minute to extend Cork’s lead to two points,
but Meath finished the half strongly with Bennett sending over a
brace of frees to leave the sides level at the interval. Meath took
the lead for the first time five minutes after the resumption when
Bennett registered another free but Cork responded with a brace
of points and the sides traded scores for much of the second half.

They were level in the 48th minute before Nulty curled over a lovely
point to put Meath one in the ascendancy. However, it was to be
Meath’s last score with Cork hitting three unanswered points
for the remainder of the game – one from Mulcahy and two from
O’Flynn in the final minutes.

MEATH: I Munnelly; S Dooley, J Burke, S McCormack; J Rispin, L
McKeever, E McGrane; E Lynch, L Keenan; M Sheridan, K O’Brien,
G Nulty (0-3); G Doherty (0-1), G Bennett (0-7, 6f), E Duffy (0-1).
Subs: C O’Shaughnessy for Keenan (15 mins); C McAuley for O’Shaughnessy
(28 mins); A Thompson for Duffy (42 mins)

CORK: E Harte; B Stack, A Walsh, L Power; B Corkery, R Buckley (0-1),
S O’Reilly (0-1); J Murphy, N Kelly; N Cleary, D O’Reilly
(0-1), A O’Connor (0-1); V Mulcahy (0-4, 3f), A Murphy, C Creedon
(0-3). Subs: M O’Connor (0-1) for Buckley (ht); M Kelly for
Cleary (43 mins); G O’Flynn (0-2, 1f) for A O’Connor (44
mins)

REFEREE: L McDonagh (Sligo)