Great display as Wicklow ladies get revenge in Roscommon
Wednesday March 10 2010
WITH THE sun out and a nice breeze blowing today the Wicklow ladies took the long drive up the motorway to face an old rival in the form of Roscommon, who defeated Wicklow in the league final last year.
The ladies were seeking revenge and they got it in what was a very entertaining match from start to finish.
A free kick to Wicklow gave them the first point of the game after some sloppy defending from the Roscommon back line gave Cadilfhidnn Deeney the opportunity to place the ball over the bar.
Tara Taylor got Roscommon on the score board with a great point. More pressure from Roscommon ended with a very lucky goal when Emer Casey's tame effort some how founded its way into the Wicklow goal, going through the legs of Wicklow's Sarah Hogan. Ann Marie Dornan gave Wicklow a boost with a superb point and that was quickly followed by scores Lucy Mulhall who placed four points over the bar. With half time approaching Roscommon's Emer Casey kept the pressure on Wicklow with some nice scores leaving the score at half time Wicklow (0-9) to Roscommon (1-4)
The second half started the same way it ended with both sides scoring within minutes from the start with Niamh Carroll, who was only just brought on for Adaoine Lenihan and Emer Casy scoring for Roscommon. Other substitutions for Wicklow were Aine Byrne for Sarah Hogan, Geraldine Norton for Niamh Colman, Aoife Heffernan for Sarah Reid and Monica Lynch for Laura Hogan.
Wicklow started to take control of the second half with on fire Lucie Mulhall scoring a nice point and Geraldine Norton scoring a cracker of a goal to give the garden county a well deserved lead. With the minutes counting down Roscommon made a last attempt to pull it back and with Tara Taylor and Emer Casy scoring some great points it was building up to be an exciting last few minutes. With chances coming and going for both teams the Wicklow ladies were ahead by two points with only seconds on the clock when a tackle from Wicklow's Janet Miley gave Roscommon a great opportunity for three points with a free kick yards away from Emer Miley's goal. But when Emer Casey stood up to take the kick she made the decision to go for a point and that's when the referee blew the final whistle, much to the relief of the Wicklow management.
No one can take it away from the Wicklow ladies. They worked hard today for the win and one feels that if they play like this all the time there is nothing they can't achieve. But if there is one thing that they must improve on straight away is finishing of teams quicker and not leaving it to the last few minutes. Other then that the team improves with every passing game.
Passing, scoring, defending, goal keeping and all round team work has improved since last year and with a little bit more work there could be no stopping them. Best on the day for Wicklow was Lucy Mulhall and Captain Caitriona McKeon whose leadership and determination is the driving force behind an improving and very entertaining Wicklow
