Fantastic Laois ladies put six goals past Wicklow and lay down All Ireland marker.

In front of a majority crowd of Laois fans in Kinnegad, The O Moore Ladies made a huge

statement of intent in the intermediate All-Ireland Ladies Championship. Laois came into

the game as slight favorites but the general feeling was that Wicklow was a

team on the rise that would leave their mark on the game. As it happened, through no real

fault of their own Wicklow left Kinnegad without having any impact on the quarter-final.

Laois put in a dominant display at both ends of the pitch to cement their place in the semi-

final.

Laois 6-16 Wicklow 0-8

Laois started like a train with Erone Fitzpatrick running riot. Fitzpatrick, who went viral after

a superb goal last week against Tyrone, opened Laois’s account. She then grabbed herself a

goal with only 4 mins on the clock. Within 5 minutes Erone would set up two more goals.

The first was for Sarah Anne Fitzpatrick who blasted in the top corner. Laois’s third goal was

finished off by Full Forward Emma Lawlor. After only ten minutes Laois had clocked up a

score of 3-3 to Wicklow’s two points.

Laois had a huge amount of possession in the first half. Midfielder Jane Moore played a

huge part in this, she was constantly putting in a shift and turning over possession. Moore

also had 4 fine catches from Wicklow kick-outs to keep momentum and commence Laois’s

attacks. Mo Nerney got into a flow with her opening point of the game coming at the 15-

minute mark. She would eventually finish with 2-3 on the day, an impressive tally. Laois

continued to make inroads and always looked like they were in control. Just before halftime,

Shifra Havill got Laois’s fourth goal. At halftime, Laois had a very commanding lead of 4-8 to

0-5.

Wicklow was always going to try and make some sort of an impression on the game and

they had a good period for ten minutes at the start of the second half. Up until this point

Laois had maintained a very high line and effectively stopped any progress that Wicklow

could make. However, a few high balls caught out the Laois defence at the start of the

second half but the only advancement that Wicklow could make on the scoreboard was an

Aoife Gorman point. After that normal service resumed and Laois got their fifth goal through

Mo Nerney.

Wicklows keeper Jackie Kinch had a busy afternoon and even though she conceded six she

did pull off 5 great saves. On three separate occasions, she denied Sarah Anne Fitzgerald,

She also pulled off great saves from attempts from Fitzpatrick and Nerney. As emphatic as

the scoreboard looks it still doesn’t tell the full story with all credit to the Wicklow

netminder.

Laois’s full-back Aisling Donoher has to be given a mention as well, Any jink in the armor

that Laois showed at any stage defensively, Donoher was always on hand to clean up the

spillage. Ellen Healy was very commanding as well in center-back and was the focal point of

a superb defensive display. As the second half grew on so did Laois’s lead. Laois showed

they have great depth in their squad with substitutes Laura Marie Maher, Alannah Havill,

and Anna Moore all contributing to the scoreboard. An incredible display by Laois who with

that performance will strike fear into the other three counties left in the championship.

Laois will face Clare in the semi-final, with the venue and date to be confirmed.

The Leinster Express player of the match was Erone Fitzpatrick and after the game, she gave

us her thoughts on the impressive victory

“We are delighted with how we played today but Donie has enforced the point that we can’t

get complacent now. If the other team gets three goals, we have to get three more, that’s

just our mentality this year. Donie has instilled a go-for-goals attitude. No matter how far in

front we are, we always want to push on and try and widen the gap. We did that today but

we're not going to get complacent. We have Clare the next day, who we bet in the league,

but we certainly won’t be taking them for granted.”

Laois scorers: Mo Nerney 2-3 (one free), Erone Fitzpatrick 1-3, Emma Lawlor 1-3 (one free),

Sarah Anne Fitzgerald 1-2, Shifra Havill 1-0, Laura Marie Maher 0-2, Anna Moore 0-1,

Alannah Havill 0-1, Rachel Williams 0-1

Wicklow scorers: Laura Hogan 0-2, Sarah Delahunt 0-1, Marie Kealy 0-3 (one free), Clodagh Fox 0-1,

Aoife Gorman 0-1

LAOIS: Eimear Barry, Amy Potts, Aisling Donoher, Aimee Kelly, Rachel Williams, Ellen Healy,

Clodagh Dunne, Anna Healy, Jane Moore, Eva Galvin, Shifra Havill, Erone Fitzpatrick, Mo

Nerney, Emma Lawlor, Sarah Anne Fitzgerald. Subs: Laura Marie Maher for Eva Galvin, Anna

Moore for Shifra Havill, Joyce Dunne for Amy Potts, Clare Conlon for Sarah Anne Fitzgerald,

Alannah Havill for Mo Nerney.

WICKLOW: Jackie Kinch; Jackie Byrne, Sarah Hogan, Lucy Dunne; Shannon Goetelen, Sarah

Jane Winder, Helena Dowling; Niamh McGettigan, Sarah Delahunt; Niamh Cullen, Aoife

Gorman, Meadhbh Deeney; Amy Burke, Laura Hogan, Marie Kealy. Subs: Clodagh Fox for

Meadhbh Deeney, Sive Byrne for Helena Dowling, and Siofra Adams for Sarah Delahunt.