Leinster Ladies Club Senior Football Championship Semi Final
Na Fianna (Dublin) 2-15 Seneschalstown 0-07
Seneschalstown bowed out of the Leinster Club Championship on Sunday after a disappointing defeat to hosts Na Fianna. The Dublin champions played some excellent football in the second half, and in particular Orlagh Egan who registered an impressive 2-10 over the hour. Seneschalstown came to Mobhi Road with high ambitions and came flying out of the traps early on, kicking the first four points.
Leinster Ladies Club Senior Football Championship Semi Final
Na Fianna (Dublin) 2-15 Seneschalstown 0-07
Seneschalstown bowed out of the Leinster Club Championship on Sunday after a disappointing defeat to hosts Na Fianna. The Dublin champions played some excellent football in the second half, and in particular Orlagh Egan who registered an impressive 2-10 over the hour. Seneschalstown came to Mobhi Road with high ambitions and came flying out of the traps early on, kicking the first four points.
Thirteen seconds was all it took for the visitors to open their account when Stephanie Byrne split the posts. Grainne Nulty won the throw in and went charging at the defence before laying the ball of to Byrne who finished the move off. When the resultant kick out was won by Na Fianna, they tried to move upfield. However Natasha Mullen intercepted a stray pass and gave the ball onto Edel McGrane. The ball eventually went through the hands of Orla Garry, Mary Murray and Grainne Nulty. After the ball was passed around, it found its way to Stacey Grimes who made no mistake when shooting. Two minutes in, Louise Coyle scored the visitors third point after Murray found her with a pass from a free. It got even better for them as Stacey Grimes popped over a free after Adelle Carolan was fouled.
In the fourth minute, Egan opened the hosts account from a free. A minute later Ciara McDermott kicked their second point after receiving a pass from Egan. Grimes dropped over another free after seven minutes. This time Nulty was fouled. Egan cut the gap for the hosts with a brace of frees shortly afterwards. In what was an extremely open game, the visitors regained their two point lead when McGrane scored after excellent work from the forwards forcing a turnover. There was only twelve minutes gone when it was 0-06 to 0-05 when Egan scored her fourth. On sixteen minutes Grimes kicked another free after Murray was pulled back.
However, Seneschalstown were rocked when the influential Nulty was forced off with a nasty looking head injury. This clearly affected Seneschalstown as they would not score again for the rest of the game. Two more Egan frees drew Na Fianna level before Muireann O’ Gorman put them into the lead for the first time. A Lucy Collins free brought the first half scoring to a close in the eighth minute of first half stoppage time.
After going in at half time two points in arrears, Seneschalstown would have been hoping for a quick start to the second period. However, the hosts made all of the running. A minute in Lisa Mullen made a superb save to keep the gap at two. Unfortunately, it was a sign of things to come as on thirty four minutes Egan netted her first goal when finishing to the corner of the net after a long run. In the next attack Egan set up Ciara Purdy for a point. On thirty nine minutes midfielder, Collins registered her second point of the game.
Scoring was not as free flowing as in the first period, and in the last twenty minutes Egan was the only player to score as she hit 1-04. Her second goal came when she punched to the net after a high ball into the centre. On forty nine minutes she pointed from the right of the posts. Seven minutes later she tapped over before scoring again after the ball broke to her. In injury time she brought the scoring to a close.
A lot of credit is due to the Seneschalstown management team of Joe Sheridan, Declan Byrne and Debbie Mangan who have done some great work with the panel over the last few years. There is still a Feis Cup to be played for which would be a nice way to round off end the year.
Seneschalstown: L. Mullen, A. McAdam, P. Sheridan, N. Mullen, S. Sheridan, E. Doran, A. Carolan, M. Murray, G. Nulty, O. Garry, S. Byrne (0-01), Ruth Commons, S. Grimes (0-04, 3f) L. Coyle (0-01), E. McGrane (0-01)
Subs: S. Fitzgerald for Nulty, S. Reilly for S. Sheridan, Roisin Commons for Ruth Commons, A. Taaffe for Byrne, K. Geraghty for Carolan.
Na Fianna: S. Turnbull, D. Cassidy, L. O’ Sullivan, L. Caffrey, F. Maye, B. O’ Donnell, L. Casey, C. McDermott (0-01), L. Collins (0-02,1f), O. Egan (2-10,0-05f), N. Doherty, A. Nolan, M. O’ Gorman (0-01), C. O’ Hara, C. Purdy (0-01)
Subs: O. Cullen for McDermott, D. Lyons for Casey, D. Pugh for O’ Hara.
By Shane Mulvany
