Dublin Seniors overcome by Waterford in round 4 of the Littlewoods Ireland National League at WIT 1.14 to 1.07
Report by Meggan O'Reilly, Photo Credit: Ilivephotos https://goo.gl/vcxUZD

REPORT
After a solid win against Meath 2 weeks ago the Dublin senior Camogie Team were adamant of securing another point on the League table this weekend with their outing against the experienced & tough Deise. This is was a must win game for both Dublin & Waterford to reach the Littlewoods Division 1 League Semi Final.

Dublin commenced the first 10 minutes of the game attacking from defence and creating a ripple effect right down to the full forward line. Throughout periods of the first half Dublin’s Midfielders and wing forwards distribution of the ball was classified as dangerous through the eyes of the waterford players. This was evident when in the 6th Minute Siobhan Kehoe broke the high ball down from Grainne Quinn, continued on a solo run where Zoe O’Donoghue had the experience to peel off her player, accepting the perfect chest hand pass from Kehoe just outside the square, and once again O’Donoghue struck gold with a powerful shot to the back of the net. 
However Dublin could not ease off at this point, it was still early days and every attack initiated and score taken from Dublin was out nulled from the outstanding free taking and skill delivered from Waterfords young Niamh Rocket and Beth Carton. Every time both players got the ball into their hands , Rocket & Carton were gone like lightning threatening Dublin’s Defense. Carton was also on free taking Duty today and for player as young, her experience of the game is way beyond her years. 
As waterford continued to tick over their points ,Dublin's wing forward Orla Beegan bagged herself a beautiful point from a very tricky angle.

The Half Time whistle blew and Dublin found themselves behind by a single point. All was to play for, and it was up to Dublin to take the game into their own hands.
The score at half time was Waterford 9 points, Dublin 1:05.

Second half
Owen Elliot blew the whistle for the second half, and within the first minute it was evident that this was a game based on who wanted it the most. Who wanted to win every ball or who would throw their body on the line to stop a shot. On any other given day, Dublin’s Short puck out tactic works a treat , however today was not the case.

A fumbled short puckout in the 2nd minute allowed for Beth Carton to pounce and place the ball into the back of Dublin’s net. Waterford again drove forward with every attack and implemented a sweeper system to ensure that no Dublin defender was getting by the half back line. This was not the case for Dublin’s Doireann Mullanny. She worked every fiber in her body to make the supporting runs and the defensive runs to track back and help in defence.

Aisling Carolan also matched Mullanys performance where she was not letting any waterford player steal the ball from a ruck. Today she defined the phrase ‘ Put your body on the line’. 
Dublin continued to run down the channels and eventually in the 10th minute of the second half Zoe O’Donoghue again struck the sliotar on the sweet spot to send the ball over the bar. This was followed by a point from a free from Orla Beegan. 
As the minutes went by, Dublin’s concentration started to slip. Waterford took complete advantage of this and hounded in packs. They knew that Dublin could bag themselves another goal and in turn ensured that every effort was made to get the hook and block in. Scorers Annie Fitzgerald , Deirdre Ni Fhaithaigh kept Dublin’s efforts subsided despite being awarded a penalty previously in the game. The waterford girls, took their scores from play, and hassled Dublin in every possible way.

It seemed as though Dublin could not finish the game with the correct mindset which resulted in Waterford being the hungrier team. They dominated every aspect of the game in the last 10 minutes of play. Dublin continued to fight, yet the 7 points to gain back in the dying 4 minutes made winning seem unreachable.

Dublin face Clare next week at home, and will look to finish the League off with a win with particular emphasis on the areas that Dublin must correct & work on.

Dublin Scorers : Zoe O’ Donoghue (1-1) Siobhan Kehoe (0-3F) Orla Beegan (0-2 0.01 F )