Dublin 0-15 Waterford 1-10
It
wasn’t only the heat that had the Dublin management and fans sweating at Walsh
Park as the Dublin team went into to scary territory.
At
the three-quarters mark, Dublin were comfortably in front by 0-13 to 0-7 but in
the closing 20 minutes of play Waterford outscored the Dubs by 1-3 to 0-1.
At a point in the game when Dublin should have
put Waterford to the sword, the home side showed tremendous resilience and
ability particularly their leaders Aine Lyng, Beth Carton and Niamh
Rockett.
The long whistle was welcomed
with great relief in the 65
th
minute.
On a
perfect day for camogie, Dublin dominated the opening 15 minutes with Emma
Flanagan pointing after 4 minutes after getting on the end of a 70m free from
Faye McCarthy.
A minute later Emma was
the beneficiary of a great block on the Waterford goalie Brianna O’Regan to add
a second point.
This was followed by an
Aisling Maher free.
All over the field
Dublin were first to the ball and Waterford looked vulnerable.
Dublin
were using Faye McCarthy to add the metres to frees in her own half but
Waterford got off the mark when Beth Carton converted a free in the 8
th
minute.
Miriam
Twomey was superb covering acres at midfield and at centre back Aisling Carolan
was a rock.
Beside Aisling, Hannah Hegarty was also strong and decisive.
But although Dublin had
possession the scores were slow in coming and the attack was unable to create
the space for a pop at the net.
That
said great work by Siobhan Kehoe created a turnover and Aisling Maher pointed and two
more from Faye McCarthy and Zoe O’Donoghue pushed Dublin 0-6 to 0-1.
Dublin’s
momentum was probably disrupted by a 4 minutes stoppage for an injury to
Waterford’s Caithriona McGlone.
When
play resumed Dublin took their eyes of the ball momentarily and Niamh Rockett capitalised
on the lack of concentration to point from play.
Although Faye McCarthy came off her line to
send over a 60m free Waterford claimed the next two scores through the stick of
Beth Carton.
Ali
Twomey was now operating at centre forward and caught a couple of great
balls.
But the next phase was never
clinical enough to create a goal chance, occasional indecision and a number of aimless shots failed to do damage to Waterford's morale.
Eimear
McCarthy won the ball from a throw-in, from the pass Miriam Twomey scored a
great point.
The score sparked a good
closing spell to the half with Emma Flanagan bringing her tally to three with a
good point.
Dublin
held a 0-10 to 0-4 lead at the interval and within a minute of the restart Faye
McCarthy put her name on another pointed free but a fine point by Becky
Kavanagh cut the lead to 0-5.
Dublin’s
response was excellent and Ali Twomey and Aisling Maher (f) extended their lead
to 0-13 to 0-5.
But for the remaining 20
minutes Dublin would only add two more points.
Beth
Carton and a superb score from Aine Lyng raised Waterford hopes and one could
see their confidence growing.
But they
never looked like scoring a goal and that was due to a very tight Dublin
defence where Arleen Cushen, Eve O’Brien and sweeper Gráinne Quinn shone.
Emma Flanagan had her best game of the season and set up Aisling Maher for her fifth point.
As the game approached the 60
th
minute Faye McCarthy put a mighty point over from a free on the midway mark to
make it a six points lead.
One
would have thought that would be enough but with 4 minutes added Waterford
pointed a free from Beth Carton and then Aine Lyng sent a 30m all the way to
the net maybe with the help of a ricochet.
How
a game of camogie can change but Dublin had secured a deserved win and a vital
three points on the table going into the final game on Saturday July 22 against
Kilkenny
Dublin
Scorers:
Aisling Maher (0-5),
Faye McCarthy (0-4),
Emma Flanagan (0-3), Ali Twomey (0-2), Zoe O’Donoghue (0-1)
Waterford
Scorers: Beth Carton (0-5), Aine Lyng (1-1), Niamh Rockett (0-2), Becky
Kavanagh (0-1)
Referee: Liz Dempsey