Dublin lose to Offaly in Leinster semi-final.

(16 May 2015)

Dublin lost to Offaly in Saturday's Leinster Senior Championship semi-final at DCU Sports Centre. The players will be disappoinmted with thier overall performance.

Half Time: Dublin 0-03 Offaly 0-06

Full Time:  Dublin 0-07 Offaly 2-11

Photos: Go to: Photo Gallery 2015 Intercounty Senior Leinster semi-final.Dublin v Offaly

Report courtesy of We are Dublin.

DUBLIN'S SENIOR CAMOGIE SQUAD SUFFER DEFEAT IN LEINSTER SEMI-FINAL

Dublin 0-07 Offaly 2-11

Dublin's senior camogie squad bowed out of the Leinster championship this afternoon at the hands of Offaly in DCU.

Dublin played against the very strong in the first half and got off to a great start inside two minutes with a fine point from Aine Fanning. Both sides had got stuck in from the start with a good physical bite to the game. A minute later the sides were level thanks to a pointed free from Siobhan Flannery.

With both teams trying to get to grips with the elements the next score didn't arrive till the eight minute when Offaly's Siobhan Flannery confidently stroked over another free.

The game went through another scoreless eight minutes of play thanks to both sides struggling to impose themselves. Offaly were finding it difficult to turn possession into scores because of the strong wind at their backs with passes and shots going astray. Dublin were finding it hard to get decent ball into their dangerous forwards because of Offaly's tactic of playing a sweeper in between their halfback and fullback lines to great effect.

With seventeen minutes on the clock Offaly stretched their lead with their first score from open play thanks to Arlene Watkins. This was followed by another Siobhan Flannery free. Dublin finally after twenty scoreless minutes got their second point of the day scored from a free by Mairi Moynihan.

It was quickly cancelled out by yet another free from Siobhan Flannery. There were two further scores in the last few minutes of the half the first from Dublin's Mairi Moynihan and on the stroke of halftime Offaly's supremely accurate Siobhan Flannery knocked over yet another finely struck free to leave the score at the break Dublin 0-03,Offaly 0-06.

Dublin now had the strong wind at their back for the second half and needed to take full advantage of it.
Six minutes in and a pointed free from Dublin's Mairi Moynihan reduced the deficit to two points. The girls in blue then left the bare minimum between the sides when Louise O'Hara hit a long range free right between the sticks.

Offaly were always dangerous and on thirteen minutes of the second half Siobhan Flannery hit another fine pointed free to stretch out the lead again. A minute later Dublin hit back with another excellent free from Louise O'Hara, it was as close as the dubs would get. Dublin owned the ball for the next couple of minutes but undid their good work with a couple of poor wides.

With ten minutes left and Dublin well in the game they were punished ruthlessly for those earlier wides when Offaly midfielder Arlene Watkins tore through the heart of the Dublin defence and finished to the back of the net to give them a healthy cushion going down the home straight.

Seconds later Offaly increased their lead with an exquisite point from play scored by Rachel Brennan. Dublin to their credit never dropped their heads and battled on. But they will need to be more clever with the ball for the All Ireland series as although they had plenty of possession in the closing stages, time after time they passed the ball straight down the throat of the Offaly sweeper who gleefully mopped it up and cleared her lines.

With six minutes remaining another cracking free from Louise O'Hara sailed over the bar, but surprisingly it was to be the Dubs last score of the game.

Offaly finished the game strongly and hit three points in a row two from Siobhan Flannery one from play and the other from a free and it was followed by another fine finish from Tina Hannon. With two minutes remaining Dublin tried to give it one last push but again the ball into the forwards was just not good enough and Offaly broke down the field and put the icing on the cake when Mairead Jennings finished to the net. Seconds later the full time whistle went and Offaly ran out deserved winners.

Dublin will now regroup,get their injured players back and prepare for an assault on the All Ireland.

Dublin Scorers:
Louise O'Hara 0-03
Mairi Moynihan 0-03
Aine Fanning 0-01

Offaly Scorers:
Siobhan Flannery 0-08
Arlene Watkins 1-01
Mairead Jennings 1-00
Rachel Brennan 0-01
Tina Hannon 0-01

 



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