Hesitant Westmeath start in Wexford proves very costly
Wexford 5-15, Westmeath 4-12
(After extra-time)
Westmeath crashed out of the TG4 All Ireland Ladies’ Intermediate football championship, losing to Wexford after a pulsating game in McCauley Park, Bellefield on Sunday afternoon.
For long spells of this quarter-final clash there appeared to be only one winner, with Wexford’s blistering start, in which they scored 2-3 inside the opening five minutes, leaving Frank Browne’s side in trouble. However, the visitors hung in there and after Wexford’s Aisling Halligan was sin-binned to leave the hosts with fourteen for the final few minutes, Westmeath responded with great heart, scoring late goals through Anna Jones and Kelly Boyce-Jordan to force extra-time.
The full-time whistle probably came at a good time for the reeling hosts; they regrouped and Westmeath emerged flat at the start of the extra periods. Four unanswered points moved Wexford into a controlling position at the midpoint of overtime and Caitríona Murray delivered the killer goal with three minutes left.
It was a tough loss for Westmeath to take, having fought their way back into the contest. There’s very little solace in any defeat, especially when this title was wide open and there for the taking but the shoots of improvement have been evident as the campaign has progressed and one would expect this side to compete strongly for league and championship in 2025.
In the cold light of day there will be a realisation that while there’s very little between the top sides in this championship, Westmeath have come up a little short against the better teams so there is some work to do but that gap is far from insurmountable.
This contest pitted arguably the two most open, attacking teams left in the championship so it was of little surprise they produced an epic encounter. If the Leinster final meeting between the two was full of drama, this was even more so, with nine goals scored and many more chances spurned.
It’s questionable whether the life-span of teams that want to play open, attacking football extend past those that are a bit more defence oriented but it will be Wexford who test that theory going forward. They have come up short consistently in recent years so it will be interesting to see how they fare against a dogged Leitrim in the last four.
They would certainly take the first five minutes they produced here two more times. Right from throw-in Wexford motored down the field and cut the visiting defence apart, with Clara Donnelly smashing home the opening goal with 18 seconds on the clock.
Tara Doyle, Sarah Harding-Kenny and Aoife Cullen all added points as the Slaneysiders swarmed forward in waves. Chloe Foxe had smashed into the side-netting in that points burst but when she sent Ciara Banville in with less than five minutes on the clock the Taghmon-Camross club woman didn’t miss, sending her side into a 2-3 to nil lead.
Westmeath needed a response and they got a slightly fortunate one when Ashley Ruane’s effort from distance slipped between the crossbar and Sadbh McCarthy’s fingers before falling into the net in the 8th minute.
Ruane sprung through again moments later but from a tight angle McCarthy made the save. Rebecca Higgins pulled another point back but in Wexford’s next attack Foxe went clean through again, drilling her shot straight at Lauren McCormack and the ball rebounded to safety.
When Vicky Carr was taken down breaking through referee Patrick Smith needed to confer with his umpires before awarding what appeared to be a clear penalty, Leanne Slevin slotted it to the corner and suddenly it was game-on.
Yet Westmeath’s goal was still living a charmed life; Tara Doyle burst through and fired over from close range with only McCormack to beat (2-4 to 2-1). Ruane and Slevin points bettered a Caoilfhionn Ni Nualláin white flag score at the other end but Wexford did get their third goal when Roisín Murphy fed Cullen into the clear and the Gusserane woman rattled the rigging.
Carr and Ruane added points late in the period for Westmeath, while Doyle got her third at the other end to make it 3-7 to 2-5 at the break. Three minutes into the second half the hosts were in again, this time a slick team move was ended by Ni Nualláin drilling past McCormack.
A Slevin over provided momentary respite but Wexford led by nine after Cullen and Ni Nualláin pointed with 39 minutes on the clock. Then the hosts started to try to protect their lead and it was successful for a while. Higgins, Slevin and Carr took points off the deficit but as the scoring slowed, a Kellie Kearney minor was still enough to have Wexford seven points ahead moving into the final few minutes (4-10 to 2-9).
There was no sign of what was to come, even when Aisling Halligan picked up a soft yellow card in the 55th minute. Ruane cut the deficit to six three minutes later but Wexford were getting lost between keep-ball and brain-dead passes and Westmeath weren’t finished.
It was only when Anna Jones took advantage of the space vacated by Halligan and sent in a dipping shot from 25-yards that went under a diving McCarthy, that the visitors really started to believe.
Then they latched onto a woeful free-kick out of the Wexford full-back line in the 64th minute, worked the ball to Kelly Boyce-Jordan, who swivelled and fired home the equalising goal. Cullen had a last-gasp shot to win it for the hosts but it dropped short to send the game to extra-time (4-10 each).
After the drama of the sixty, things were a bit more mundane once Halligan returned. Wexford controlled the first period adding points from Grace Donovan, Cullen (2) and Caitríona Murray to move 4-14 to 4-10 up.
Westmeath exerted some pressure at the start of the second period but managed just a Slevin free before Wexford countered and Bébhínn McDonald sent Murray away for a clinching goal. The last few minutes were a mere procession, with Doyle and Carr points cancelling each other out as Wexford advanced to an All Ireland semi-final meeting with Leitrim.
Scorers - Wexford: Aoife Cullen 1-5 (0-4f), Caoilfhionn Ni Nualláin 1-2, Caitríona Murray 1-1, Tara Doyle 0-4, Clara Donnelly and Ciara Banville 1-0, Sarah Harding-Kenny, Kellie Kearney and Grace Donovan 0-1.
Westmeath: Leanne Slevin 1-4 (0-4f, 1-0 pen), Ashley Ruane 1-3, Vicky Carr 0-3, Anna Jones and Kelly Boyce-Jordan 1-0, Rebecca Higgins 0-2.
Wexford: Sadbh McCarthy; Amanda Power, Maria Byrne, Katie English; Ciara Banville, Aisling Halligan, Sarah Harding-Kenny; Roisín Murphy, Clara Donnelly; Bébhínn McDonald, Kellie Kearney, Aoife Cullen; Caoilfhionn Ni Nualláin, Chloe Foxe, Tara Doyle.
Subs: Caitríona Murray for Foxe (31), Loren Doyle for Harding-Kenny (38), Éabha Cullen for Power (47), Grace Donovan for Kearney (53), C. Foxe for Ni Nuallain (71), Roisín Hughes for A. Cullen (79).
Westmeath: Lauren McCormack; Lara McCartan, Lucy Power, Kelly Boyce-Jordan; Rachel Dillon, Fiona Coyle, Chloe Kelly; Vicky Carr (0-3), Tracey Dillon; Caoimhe Kilmurray, Anna Jones, Ashley Ruane; Rebecca Higgins, Leanne Slevin, Karen Hegarty.
Subs: Lucy McCartan for Hegarty (53), Meadbh Monaghan for Higgins (69), Philippa Ruane for A. Ruane (71).
Ref: Patrick Smith (Waterford).
A Closer Look
Player of the Match
Ashley Ruane (Westmeath): Although she was on the losing side, Ashley Ruane was the one Westmeath forward who time and again gave Wexford fits, unlucky to be on the losing side.
Key Moment
With Westmeath pressing three points down in the second half of extra-time, Wexford countered at pace and Caitríona Murray fired home the clinching goal to kill of the valiant Lake County girls.