Waterford 1-13 Longford 3-6

Waterford Ladies Football

 

Waterford 1-13 Longford 3-6

 

Waterford maintained their unbeaten record in dramatic circumstances on Sunday when they beat Longford by a single point in the Bord Gais Energy Division 3 match played in Fraher Field, Dungarvan. With 60 minutes on the clock, Grainne Keneally pointed from the sideline to level the match after Sinead Ryan had been fouled and two minutes later Ryan scored her eighth point of the match from 25 metres to put Waterford into a winning position.

 

Waterford played against a very strong wind in the first half. They were on the score board after 3 minutes when Ryan scored her opening point after Elaine Power had been fouled as she headed towards goal. Longford leveled the score on 8 minutes with an Edel Quinn point and went ahead after 10 minutes when Denise Murtagh pointed from a free. Waterford went back into the lead with another Ryan free and an excellent point from Linda Wall. Indeed Waterford could have been further ahead when Louise Ryan saw her shot come back of the cross-bar and sent the rebound wide.

 

Longford regained the lead on 22 minutes with another Murtagh free and two minutes later Edel Quinn got the first goal of the match when the Waterford backs failed to gather their own kick-out and Quinn finished powerfully to the back of the net. Murtagh went on a scoring spree adding another goal and a point to give Longford a comfortable lead.

 

Waterford introduced Grainne Kenneally for Grainne Enright on 25 minutes and Kenneally had an immediate impact setting Louise Ryan up for Waterford’s opening goal. Points from Power and Ryan narrowed the gap to two points, however a second Quinn goal on the stroke of half time left Waterford trailing on a score line of 1-5 to 3-4.

 

The second half opened with Longford’s keeper Lorraine McGloughrey saving well from a powerful Ryan shot. Two minutes later Longford’s Yvonne Barden was sin binned for a cynical tackle on Ryan and Ryan narrowed the gap from the resultant free kick.

 

The Waterford tactics of running at the Longford defense was a fruitless exercise and time after time the forwards lost the ball in contact or kicked the ball wide under pressure. Waterford didn’t score until the 48th minute when a long ball from Aoife McGovern put Aileen Wall through for a point. This seemed to galvanise the Waterford forwards and three points from Sinead Ryan and one from Michelle Ryan saw Waterford trailing by a single point with two minutes to go.

 

Longford defended in numbers throughout the second half and relied on quick counter attacks. These were dealt with effectively with Roisin Tobin and Grainne Kenneally dominating everything that came into the Waterford danger area. Indeed Longford were restricted to just two points for the whole of the second half, a Murtagh point on 44 minutes and an Una Flynn point on 51 minutes. Longford were unlucky to see a shot come off the post on 55 minutes after the Waterford goalkeeper, Amy Martin, lost possession as she tried to clear the ball.

 

There was high drama in the last three minutes of the game as Longford looked like they would hold out for a famous victory. However following another foul on Waterford player of the match, Sinead Ryan, up stepped Grainne Kenneally to score an inspirational point from close to 50 metres. In the last attack of the game, the Waterford forwards worked the ball in to Ryan who finished in style to give Waterford a narrow one point win.

 

In truth this was a game that Waterford, on the day, should have won easily, but could just as easily have lost. Sinead Ryan and Aileen Wall were the best of the forwards, with Louise Ryan and Elaine Power acquitting themselves well at mid field. Roisin Tobin and Grainne Kenneally were outstanding in the backline. Dearbhla Hayes had a very good debut and holds lots of promise for the future

 

Panel :- A Martin (Tramore), N Dunphy (Comeragh Rgs), R Tobin (Abbeyside), L Hogan (Ballymacabry), G Enright (Abbeyside), M Foley (Abbeyside), M Wall (Ballymacabry), L Ryan (1-0) (Ballymacabry), E Power (0-1) (Abbeyside), A McGovern (Abbeyside), S Ryan (0-8,3f) (Ballymacabry), D Hayes (Old Parish), A Wall (0-1)(Ballymacabry), M Ryan (0-1) (Ballymacabry), L Wall (0-1) (Ballymacabry), A Jordan (Abbeyside) , M McGrath (Ballymacabry), C Kearney (Ballyduff), E Cooney (Ballymacabry), R Kirwan (Comeragh Rgs), C O’Keeffe (Nemo Rangers), N McGrath (Abbeyside), R Manahan (Old Parish), T Fitzgerald (Clashmore), C Dunphy (Comeragh Rgs), A Barron (Clashmore), R Walsh (Abbeyside), G Kenneally (0-1) (Ballyduff), E Wilson (Clashmore), S Power (Comeragh Rgs)

 

Subs: G Kenneally for G Enright (25min), R Manahan for D Hayes (45 min), R Walsh for M Foley (50 min) and S Power for M Ryan (55 min)

 

 

Munster U14 Championship

 

Waterford’s U14 team travel to Limerick last Sunday in the first round of the Munster Championship. The Waterford girls found the going very tough and were beaten on the day by a physically bigger and stronger Limerick team.

 

There were some outstanding performances by the Waterford girls, particularly Roisin Cahalane, who had an outstanding game in goal and was probably Waterford’s best player . Nuala Landers, Mairead Power and Caoimhe McGrath also played well. Waterford’s scorers were Lauren McGregor, Lauren Guirey and Laura Mulcahy.

 

Team : R Cahalane, K Hammilton, N Landers, N Galvin, C Keane, M Power, J Troy, L McGregor, A Henessey, L Mulcahy, C McGrath, L Guirey, L Fagan, A Keane, S McCarthy,

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