Dublin U14s took part in a very competitive Intercounty blitz at St Flannan’s College Ennis on Monday. Cork, Galway, Limerick, Clare Tipperary and Dublin were all represented with A & B teams.
The 2 panels had 24 girls in each and all were ready to head off at 6.30 arriving in Ennis at 10 in good time for their first game at 10.15.
With 6 teams in each division there was a full round robin of 5 games for each panel.
The B team won 2, drew 1 and lost 2. That was a good day’s work but not enough to put them into the final. Laura Walsh, Niamh McKenna and Rachel Whyte were very strong in defence while Leanne Regan, Vanessa Boland, Martha O’Donoghue, Aoife Clancy & Karen Farrell made fine contributions throughout the field.
Having lost the Leinster final to Kilkenny the previous weekend the A girls were determined to restore pride in the Stormbirds jersey and it was Limerick first up that felt the full backlash when Dublin defeated Limerick by 2-2 to no score. Then they lost narrowly by 2 points to Cork. The next game was against Galway and the Dublin girls turned it on again with a comfortable win over the Tribesgirls 3-2 to no score. Clare were next up and again the Dubs were in flying form and ran out easy winners on a score line of 2-8 to 1-2. Next opponents for Dublin were tournament favourites Tipperary.
This was a pulsating encounter from the very start, the atmosphere was like Leinster Final day. This was a crucial game in that the losers would go out and the winners would progress to the final. The Dubs stood tall and Danielle had to be at her best in goals on a few occasions. Chloe Rochfort, Niamh Byrne and Blaithin McQuillan never gave the Tipp forwards any space and crowded them out any time they threatened. After 6 minutes Laura Morrissey got one of her trademark goals. She caught the ball high in the air around the 13 meter line and turned for goal hand passing to the net out of reach of the keeper. Laura Mulvey and Ailish O’Neill were on cong also and made it hard for the Tipp back to clear any ball. Sarah Nagle, Doireann Mullany, Aoife McKenna and Tess Coyne worked tirelessly around the middle and it was because of their huge work-rate that Tipperary were denied time and space to play their style of game.
Another fine point from Eve Kehoe after a great solo run before half time stretched Dublin’s lead to 4 points. The second half started at a blistering pace and Tipp went on the attack but Aisling O’Leary cleared the lines as she did all day. Mary Cronin is always sure and confident and from the wing back position she attacked up field. Tipp finally got a point which was to be their only score of the game. Orla Beagan finished with a lovely point from a 45. Anna Walsh, the fastest player on the field, was very effective when she came on. Shaunagh Harte, Tara Flaherty, Eilise O’Grady, Sophie Lyons and Fay McCarthy all made valuable contributions to this win over Tipperary. The final score was 1-2 to 0-1 in favour of Dublin and that put them through to the final against Limerick.
Dublin had every reason to be confident having beaten Limerick well in the first game. However, the early start and the long day took their toll and Dublin didn’t rise to the same heights as they had attained in the previous 5 games. Dublin were soundly beaten by a sharper and fresher Limerick outfit and in doing so claimed the major prize of the day. Dublin were content with runners up medals and will have learned a lot about themselves and Limerick, Tipperary, Cork etc. Congratulations to all the girls who represented Dublin on the day, coming 2nd on this occasion is very honourable. The next Blitz for the U14s is the James Hurley blitz in Mallow Cork on June 5th. They will be taking back the James Hurley Plate which they won last year and hopefully they can replace it with the James Hurley Cup.
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