The Laois ladies footballers are up and running in their All Ireland intermediate championship campaign following a hard-earned win over Kildare in O’Moore Park this afternoon.
It was an another incredible contest between the counties as Laois went from eight points up early in the second half to four points down at the water break to eventually win by two.
The result means that Laois have a good chance of reaching the All Ireland quarter-final but they will need to beat Roscommon next Sunday to be sure.
After a pulsating clash we look back at some of the main talking points from another epic battle.
Player of the Match – Laura Nerney
Mo Nerney finished with 2-7 and was excellent again and it’s probably harsh to over look her for the Player of the Match award.
But her cousin Laura once again played a captain’s part and again demonstrated her incredible competitive spirit by consistently getting in crucial tackles, never giving up on situations and also getting through an amount of possession.
By the end she was exhausted but still getting on the ball and she also greatly limited the influence of Kildare’s Grace Clifford.
Her lines of running, support play and use of the ball were all top notch.
Sarah Anne Fitzgerald, Erone Fitzpatrick, Anna and Ellen Healy, Joyce Dunne and Fiona Dooley all put in massive displays too.
The heat
It was insanely warm again in O’Moore Park, making it an incredible challenge for the players and officials.
They all deserve immense credit for making it such a spectacle as it couldn’t have been easy playing in such conditions at
Third quarter collapse – and fourth quarter revival
When Sarah Anne Fitzgerald got Laois’s third goal – and her second – two minutes into the second half, we felt that Laois’s lead was unassailable. Kildare were playing defensively and Laois were eight points up.
But they changed their approach and after sitting back and not contesting the Laois kickouts at all in the first half, Kildare pressed aggressively in the second half. And they duly roared back into the game.
Having trailed 3-7 to 0-8 after 32 minutes, Kildare hit 2-6 without reply and were 2-14 to 3-7 up the water break. Indeed it could well have been more as some of their points were clear goal chances too and they had a handful of wides as well.
Laois did miss two goal chances themselves but Kildare were rampant at that stage and Laois were hanging on.
But as so often has been the case, Laois were able to gather themselves at the water break, were energised by the introduction of Allana Havill and Leah Tarpey and the tide turned again.
Mo Nerney, who’d been quiet in the second half and generally starved of possession, took on the Kildare, defence, was fouled for a penalty that saw her marker sin binned and then duly buried the resulting kick.
Kildare could manage only one further point as Nerney, Havill and Tarpey all pointed to get Laois over the line.
Winning streak over Kildare
For a while it seemed that Laois had slipped behind Kildare in the pecking order of Leinster ladies football.
But after losing last year’s National League game to their neighbours, Laois have had the upper hand in the fixture – winning last year’s championship game, this year’s regular league fixture, this year’s league final and now this championship clash.
There has rarely been much in it – and they’ve all been thrilling contests. And we wouldn’t be overly surprised if they were to cross paths again in the knockout stages of this championship.
Possession game
Kildare’s approach in the first half was to retreat on the Laois kickout and allow Eimear Barry pick out a team-mate with a short kickout. And it was something that Laois completely turned to their advantage by holding possession patiently around the middle of the field before spotting a gap and exploiting.
Laois’s second goal – which Mo Nerney finished after brilliant work from Orla Hennessy and Erone Fitzpatrick – was one such example though a number of their points also came from this.
Kildare changed tact to great effect in the second half to present Laois with a whole new set of challenges – and it wasn’t until the final quarter that they were able to respond.
Throughout that first half where Laois held possession for long stages, Donie Brennan’s influence was visible as he called the shots from the line – and the Laois players carried out his orders to the letter of the law!
What next?
Laois play Roscommon next Sunday in Kinnegad with everything on the line again.
Laois need to win to be sure of progressing as a four-point win for Roscommon would knock Laois out. Laois can afford to lose by three points or less – but that’s certainly not a situation they want to be in.
The top two teams in the group go through to the quarter-finals.
Among the surprise packets so far are Leitrim who are through after beating Fermanagh and Clare while Wexford are also in a strong position having beaten both Sligo and Longford.
Westmeath, who played in Division 1 of the league this year, lost their opening group game to Longford but beat Sligo to stay in contention and must beat Wexford next Sunday to have a chance of going through.
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The post Six Talking Points as Laois ladies footballers see off Kildare in thriller appeared first on Laois Today.
source https://www.laoistoday.ie/2021/07/18/six-talking-points-as-laois-ladies-footballers-see-off-kildare-in-thriller/
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