Offaly ladies turn season around with crucial win

OFFALY turned their season around with an crucial win over Louth in the Leinster Ladies Football Intermediate Championship in Clara's Bretland Park on Sunday.

Leinster LGFA Intermediate Championship Round 2

Offaly 1-11
Louth 2-6

After losing to Westmeath in their first game, this was a must win one for Offaly and they showed great heart and character to get the result.

Well beaten by Louth in the league earlier in the year, this was a huge transformation by Offaly and they now have a great chance of making the semi-finals – they travel to Wicklow next Sunday.

A penalty goal from Roisin Cockram 11 minutes into the second half was the all important score for Offaly as they held out for the win.

Offaly survived on their wits in the first half. They were 2-2 to 0-6 behind and very grateful to be that close as Louth had missed three great goal chances. Offaly outscored them by 1-5 to 0-4 in the second half to grind out a two point win.

The outstanding Emer Nally had opened the scoring for Offaly but Louth broke through for their first goal in the 3rd minute when Aoife Russell raced through to finish. It was nip and tuck early on and the sides were level on a couple occasions in the first half before points from Saoirse McGuinness and Roisin Cockram pushed Offaly ahead.

Louth got on top coming up to the interval. A great tackle by Ava Dolan and save from Kelley Cunningham kept them at bay but Russell got her second goal in injury time for that half time lead.

The fact that they were only trailing by two points worked wonders for Offaly's confidence. The gap was down to a point when Offaly got their penalty in th 41st minute with Cockram converting aftrer Emer Nally was fouled.

That gave Offaly a 1-8 to 2-3 lead and it remained in the balance to the final whistle. Offaly hit a purple opatch that yuelded points from Roisin Cockram (free), Roisin Ennis and Ava Dolan for a 1-11 to 2-4 lead with four minutes left.

Loiuth's difficulty was increased when Ceire Nolan went into the sin bin but they came back at the winners in the closing stages. Two late points brought the gap back to two and it almost unravelled at the end when Russell hit the crossbar in the right minute of injury time and a highly relieved Offaly breathed

Scorers – Offaly: Roisin Cockram 1-3 (1-0 pen, 3fs), Emer Nally 0-2, Roisin Ennis, Ava Dolan, Emily Bailey, Emma Maher, Eve Kelly and Saoirse McGuinness 0-1 each. Louth: Aoife Russell 2-0, Laura Collins 0-4 (1f), Niamh Rice and Kate Flood 0-1 each.

The teams

Offaly: Kelley Cunningham; Kaytlin Flynn, Ava Dolan, Anna Grehan; Nicole Farrelly, Nicole Buckley, Michelle Mann; Emma Maher, Amy Gavin-Mangan; Roisin Ennis (captain), Emer Nally, Saoirse McGuinness; Emily Bailey, Eve Kelly, Roisin Cockram. Subs: Emma Hand for Kelly (half-time), Roisin Mealiff for Maher (43 min), Saorah Doyle for Flynn (59 min).

Louth: Rebecca Lambe-Fagan; Eimear Murray, Katie Doheny, Eilish Hand; Seoda Matthews, Shannen McLaughlin, Mia Duffy; Aine Breen (captain), Aoife Halligan; Laura Collins, Niamh Rice, Ciara Woods; Aoife Russell, Caitlin O’Reilly, Ceire Nolan. Subs: Kate Flood for Duffy (27 min), Rachel Berth for Doheny (39 min), Abi Keenan for Rice (49 min), Lucy White for Woods (60 min), Roisin Maguire for O’Reilly (60 min).

Referee – Angela Gallagher (Dublin).