Latest Laois Sport: Laois women down Dublin to secure Camogie status
National Camogie League Division 2
Relegation Semi-final
Laois 3-11 Dublin 2-09
Under the rainbow flag fluttering high over Clane GAA Club Laois shone brightly and went on to record the win that secured their place in the Division 2 for next season. If the truth were told the O’ Moore women made the victory harder work than it should have been however.
A very shaky opening six minutes for Laois saw go behind to a calamitous Dublin goal before the O’ Moore ladies rallied impressively either side of the first water break to build up a lead that the Metropolitans threatened, at times, to overhaul but never did. Laois did just enough in the second half to maintain at least a three-point advantage to secure their passport to Division 2 for 2022.
Early on Laois were made to pay for two poor defensive clearances in a row. The second one saw Dublin send in a speculative ball that took a deflection off a Laois hurley and end up in the O’ Moore netting. The Dublin side then added to that goal with a Aoibhe Dillon point to rattle Laois.
That early shellacking from the Dubs woke Laois up. The O’ Moore ladies now began to get the ball past the impressive Dublin midfield of Megan Benson and Ellen Dunphy. That pressure soon told on the Metropolitans who began to concede free after free. Aimee Collier fired over her first free of the afternoon to reduce the deficit. Laois were to go on and send two subsequent frees wide before Clodagh Tynan showed her teammates way by pointing a monster free from way back on her own ’65’. That score seemed to settle Laois and they went on to put together a sweet move that ended with Aishling O’ Dea blasting to the net.
Indeed the two Laois corner forwards O’ Dea and Sara Cuddy were beginning to terrorise the Dublin backline. Out the field Creagh landed another long-range free to push Laois into the lead for the first time. The St. Brigid’s player then landed another placed ball from nearly sixty metres out to underline Laois’ dominance. That purple patch for the O’ Moore women continued when the electric Camross duo of Collier and Cuddy combined before Collier fired home the second Laois goal of the encounter. Then O’ Dea won her own ball, skipped past her marker like she wasn’t there and fired over a sweet point to hammer home the Laois dominance of proceedings. Tynan and an increasingly impressive Laura Marie Maher tapped over the scores to leave Laois in a 2-07 to 1-05 lead at half-time.
The second half saw Laois’ scoring return dip however. Dublin had late in the opening half brought on Rachel Dolan and she kept a tight rein on O’ Dea for the remainder. The other factor in a lower-than-expected Laois score tally in the second half was Cuddy and O’ Dea coming out much too far from their corners in search of ball as Laois had to face into the breeze for the second period. However when the duo did get half-way decent possession they made Dublin pay. Cuddy fired home the third Laois goal late on but a dogged Dublin side refused to quit. The Metropolitans soon grabbed a second goal when Aoife Heffernan pulled on the ball to raise the green flag.
For the victors Alison McEvoy, Sarah Creagh, Aishling O’ Dea, Aimee Collier and Sara Cuddy shone the brightest. For our Laois People ‘Player of the Match’ the award has to go to Laura Marie Maher. After a very shaky opening quarter the O’ Moores player grew and grew and finished the game giving the appreciative crowd a glimpse of the stardust the Rosenallis woman undoubtedly has.
SCORERS – Laois: Sara Cuddy 1-0, Clodagh Tynan 0-6 (6 x f), Aimee Collier 1-1 (1 x f) Laura Marie Maher 0-2 (1 x f), Grainne Hyland 0-01 Aisling O’Dea 1-1 Dublin: Ciara Holland 0-7 (6 x f), Nicola Thorn 1-0, Sarah Fleming 1-0 (OG), Aoife Heffernan and Aoibhe Dillon 0-1 each.
LAOIS: Aedin Lowry; Sarah Fleming, Roisin Kilmartin, Liaden C Fennell; Laura Finlay, Clodagh Tynan, Sarah Creagh; Casey Conroy, Alison McEvoy; Laura Marie Maher, Aimee Collier, Cathy Galbraith; Sara Cuddy, Grainne Hyland, Aisling O’Dea. Subs: Katie Dunican for Fennell (25), Andrea Scully for Galbraith (46)
DUBLIN: Dara Cooke; Lauran Robinson, Niamh Gleeson, Kerri Milne; Niamh Heffernan, Ciara Buchannan, Ciara Clohessy; Megan Benson, Ellen Dunphy; Aoife Heffernan, Niamh Comerford, Nicola Thorn; Aoibhe Dillon, Siobhan Kehoe, Ciara Holland. Subs: Rachel Dolan for Robinson (26), Molly O’Neill for Dillon, Fiona Isdell for Clohessy (52)