Ladies ease relegation worries
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Wednesday March 17 2010
THE WEXFORD ladies' football team edged their way closer to National Football League Division 3 survival with a seven-point win over Wicklow in Wexford Park on Saturday last.
The victory moves them ahead of Wicklow in the table and means a triumph over rock-bottom Roscommon in their next outing will guarantee their status for next year.
Not a single member of county champions Clonee played an active part in the tie which is hardly an idea scenario for a side at such low ebb of late.
The flakey confidence was dealt a huge blow as early as the fifth minute when Niamh Carroll combined well with Ger Norton inside the '45 to send Anne-Marie Doran away for the opening goal.
Unperturbed, Wexford produced a tidy period of play and took the lead in the ninth minute. Tara Moloney had already clipped over a pair of close-range frees while Leona Tector and Catherine Doyle had added further minors when the home side's driving force, Marcella Cullen, added her first score following a mazy run through the middle (0-5 to 1-1).
The visitors hit back right away and dominated the game for much of the remainder of the half. A sharp Lucy Mulhall grabbed a trio of points while Caoilfhionn Deeney twice, Mikaela Shelley and Niamh Carroll also scored as Wicklow completed an 18-minute spell in which they outscored Wexford by seven points to one.
Towards the end of that spell, Ger Norton found herself one-onone with Wexford goalkeeper, MaryRose Kelly, but despite having ample time to pick her spot the home stopper stood strong, and saved, in what proved to be the turning point of the contest.
Tector lashed past Emer Miley, following tireless work by Catherine Doyle, to pull Wexford back into the match in the last minute of the half, and she could have given her side an unlikely lead when she dragged an effort from ten yards inches wide moments later.
Up by two (1-9 to 1-7), Wicklow didn't look the same side on the resumption. The main protagonist of the sea of change was late first-half substitute Deirdre McMahon.
She created the chance that Tector dragged wide late in the first-half and was fouled for a penalty that Moloney calmly slotted away five minutes after the interval.
Not content with that, she played the perfect pass for Lisa Goff just 30 seconds later and the full-forward smashed the opportunity home to give her side the lead (3-7 to 1-10).
A mini-revival, with both Mulhall and star performer Deeney grabbing their fourth points and Sarah Reid also registering, momentarily pulled Wicklow within one.
However, the home side finished the stronger with six unanswered points, including a score following a lung-busting run by Linda Casey and an over from substitute Róisín Murphy, as they completed a hard-fought victory.
- WEXFORD WICKLOW DEAN GOODISON 3-14 1-13
