Congratulations to those girls of the Dublin Minor A team who maintained their commitment to the very end and travelled to Clonad GAA in Co. Laois on Sunday last for an 11am throw-in for the Leinster Minor A shield final against Wexford. It would have been easy for the girls not to turn up for this match because of the All-Ireland final in Croker later that day. Indeed some of the girls and the management team were heading to Croker afterwards for the big game. 

 

 

 

 

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This match ended with Dublin having a 5-point win over Wexford. The previous match against Wexford had ended in a draw and the rematch was always going to be close. Sure enough both teams went full-blooded for the win. There were a couple of forced changes on the Dublin team from the previous day with Ciara Carolan, Ciara Glynn, Amy Conroy and Megan Lewis all unavailable on this occasion. However it was a very strong team that was sent into the fray with Ciara Griffin, Hannah Hegarty and Niamh Skehan filling the positions vacated by those girls.

 

The game opened in very lively fashion with Dublin looking a less vulnerable to counter-attack through the middle of the pitch than was previously the case. I am told that the team had focused on a couple of the Wexford players who had been identified from the previous game as being the main source of danger, and Dublin closed those players down in the initial part of the game. Hannah Hegarty’s natural instincts to maintain a defensive midfield position meant that Ellen McGovern could make the forays forward when the opportunity arose in the knowledge that there was someone left minding the house. This meant also that Grace O’Shea could move into the centre forward position from where she could use her natural attacking instincts to greatest effect.

 

Dublin moved into the lead through a couple of well-taken frees from Catherine Costelloe, who was in top free-taking form, and in general the team was moving well. However around the middle of the first half they were rocked back on their heels when Wexford struck for a goal to take over the lead and sow some seed of doubt among the Dublin camp. There was a bout of Wexford pressure, and with some excellent play from their main players they really tested the Dublin rearguard very sternly. However, time after time the full back line demonstrated their unwillingness to budge, and time after time Sinead Murphy, Ciara Griffin and Emma O’Flynn stepped into the Bearna Baoil and repelled the attacks.

 

The Dublin half-back line of Zenouska Murphy, Eimear O’Riordan and Jane Edwards soon began to regain the upper-hand and the supply of ball into the Dublin full-forward line began to pick up once more. A couple of points from Nadine Murphy and Julia Buckley (who had earlier replaced the injured and unlucky Niamh Skehan), sandwiched between a couple of successfully converted Catherine Costelloe frees saw Dublin sneak ahead by  a single point, and the momentum had changed again in Dublin’s favour.

 

Approaching the half-time mark, Alex Griffin had really begun to win loads of possession and pose problems for the Wexford defense, and it was only a matter of time before Dublin would make a bigger breakthrough. The decisive moment came when Laura O’Mahony pounced on a breaking ball and solo’d through a couple of tackles to fire a shot that rattled the Wexford net for a decisive score. This gave the Dubs a 4 point cushion at half-time and a great platform from which to build for the second half. 

Everybody knew that the second half would start with Wexford really piling on the pressure, and the girls were ready for this. Sure enough Wexford did turn the screw and if it wasn’t for the stout defending throughout from all the girls, the ship would have been sunk. There were a few scary moments for the Dubs, when it looked like Wexford might get a run on them, and create some overlaps, but ultimately this was never allowed to materialise. What stopped it was the very stout defending from the whole team, and there were some very heavy skirmishes in the Dublin goalmouth. We have become well-used over the course of the season to witnessing very stout and rugged defending from the Dublin girls and once again they didn’t let us down in this regard. When you have the likes of Zenouska Murphy, Sinead Murphy, Emma O’Flynn, Ciara Griffin, Eimear O’Riordan and Jane Edwards on your team, you know that there is plenty of hurling spirit in there and it takes a brave and strong opponent to overcome you.

 

Wexford managed to get back to within 2 points of Dublin, and with Julia Buckley and Catherine Costelloe (free) sticking over a point each the gap was maintained at 2 points after responses from Wexford. Ciara Buchanan  was introduced in an attempt to curb the influence of Wexford’s most threatening player, and succeeded in snuffing out that particular threat. Then with about 5 minutes remaining Alex Griffin won a ball on the 45 metre line and took off at high speed like a gazelle towards the Wexford goal, leaving 3 defenders in her wake. Nobody could stop her and she drove the ball to the net to effectively finish the game off as a contest.

 

The remaining 5 minutes saw some more stout defending from the Dublin girls, with the midfield and forwards dropping back to snuff out any further threat from Wexford. There was some great hooking and blocking from Ellen McGovern and Julia Buckley among others, and this ultimately finished off the Wexford challenge. Dublin had one final chance when Claire Murray struck a fine ground stroke only to see the ball sail narrowly wide. The final result was 2-9 to 1-7 for Dublin.

 

Scorers for Dublin were 

Catherine Costelloe 0-5 (all frees)

Alex Griffin 1-1

Laura O’Mahony 1-0

Julia Buckley 0-2

Nadine Murphy 0-1

 

The Dublin Team for the match was as follows:

Faye McCarthy (Judes), Sinead Murphy (Cuala), Ciara Griffin (Brigids), Emma O’Flynn (Lucan), Zenouska Murphy (Ballyboden), Eimear O’Riordan (Judes), Jane Edwards (Ballyboden), Hannah Hegarty (Judes), Ellen McGovern (Vincents), Alex Griffin (Brigids), Grace O’Shea (Ballinteer), Catherine Costelloe (Lucan), Laura O’Mahony (Lucan), Nadine Murphy (Vincents), Niamh Skehan (Brigids), Emma Loo (Whitehall), Julia Buckley (Kilmacud Crokes), Ciara Buchanan (Finians), Ellen Joyce (Judes), Claire Murray (Castleknock), Roisin MacLoughlin (Olafs)