Tipp fail to recover from Cork double first-half blow

LADIES FOOTBALL: Lidl National League Division 2 Round 3

Tipperary 0-9

Cork 3-12

Report: Michael Heverin at Fethard Town Park

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Laura O’Mahony (Cork).

SCORERS – Tipperary: Emma Morrissey, Aoibhe O’Shea, Kirsty Crotty Ryan (1 free) 0-2 each; Sarah Ryan, Ava Fennessy, Caoimhe Condon 0-1 each.

Cork: Laura O’Mahony 1-4; Katie Quirke 0-3 (2 frees); Emma Cleary, Orlaith Roche 1-0 each; Maire O’Callaghan, Abbie O’Mahony, Hannah Looney, Kaitlin Smith, Katie O’Driscoll 0-1 each.

Two first half goals in the space of sixty seconds proved decisive for Cork as they proved too strong for Tipperary in the Ladies Football National League Division 2 clash on the grass pitch at Fethard Town Park on Sunday.

The goals, totally against the run of play as Tipp dominated the opening quarter, helped the visitors to a single point lead at the break, 2-2 to 0-7. But Cork, eleven time All-Ireland champions in the last twenty years, took full control in the second half, adding another 1-10 and restricting Tipperary to just two points, the second from substitute Caoimhe Condon coming deep into injury time.

An over-worked Tipperary defence couldn’t contain the Cork forward threat in that second period, with O’Donovan Rossa star Laura O’Mahony in sparkling form. She kicked four points, three in a row in a space of five minutes, to add to her first half goal.

Katie Quirke, Hannah Looney, and Abbie O’Mahony also proved a handful for Tipperary, but battling defence from Moyle Rovers sisters Emma and Michelle Cronin, as well as Maria Curley, helped to keep the score down.

The two first half goals were a catastrophe for Tipperary. Cork had started like a team out to prove a point, retaining possession for the first ninety seconds, before Katie Quirke spurned a goal chance from point blank range. Cork continued to own the ball and it was beginning to look ominous for Tipp when Quirke was fouled following another flowing move and pointed the free herself.

Then the game changed on its head, with Tipperary scoring the next five points without reply. It was champagne football as they drew level with an Aoibhe O’Shea point following great work from Anna Rose Kennedy and Ava Ryan, followed by a move that began with a superb Maria Curley block deep in defence, and ended with an Emma Morrissey point.

Tipp stretched the lead to two points, from Morrissey again after Kennedy provided the assist with a brilliant kick pass, and Kirsty Crotty Ryan made it 0-4 to 0-1 midway through the half. When Mullinahone’s Aoibhe O’Shea fisted over her second point for a four points lead, Tipp were making the game look easy.

But it all changed in the space of sixty seconds with the concession of two very soft goals. Goalkeeper Lauren Fitzpatrick was caught out of position for the first as Orlaith Roche lobbed the ball into an empty net.

Tipp needed composure but within a minute they coughed up possession close to goal and Katie Quirke provided the assist for Laura O’Mahony to shoot past Fitzpatrick for the second.

All the side’s good work over the previous ten minutes was overturned in the space of just one. And manager Ed Burke felt the disappointment. “I thought we were brilliant in the first half and were unlucky to go in behind at half time. But in the second half they powered on and we lost momentum. We were unlucky for the first goal, and it was a mistake for the second”, he said.

With Aisling Moloney still out injured, and other players waiting to return, the Moyle Rovers clubman said the side needs the experience to keep going for sixty minutes.

“We cannot sit back on our laurels; we have to keep going to the end. But we have a lot of girls who haven’t played that much of inter-county football,” Burke added.

Tipp added further points before the break from a Crotty Ryan free following a foul on Emma Morrissey after a great run through the centre, and a fine score from Ava Fennessy to a Cork reply from a Quirke free to leave the minimum behind the sides at the break.

But the second half was a mismatch, with Tipp’s only scores from Sarah English seven minutes in, and the second from Caoimhe Condon twenty five minutes later. Cork hit 1-10, with their third goal from Emma Cleary, as a third defeat in a row pushed Tipp closer to the trap door to Division 3.

TEAMS – Tipperary: Lauren Fitzpatrick (Ballymacarbry, Capt 7), Michelle Cronin (Moyle Rovers 6), Lucy Spillane (Fethard 6), Emma Cronin (Moyle Rovers 8); Sarah English (Ardfinnan 7), Maria Curley (Templemore 7), Ava Ryan (Moyne-Templetuohy 6); Anna Rose Kennedy (Aherlow 7), Sinead O’Carroll (Ardfinnan 6); Hazel Brennan (Moyle Rovers 7), Neassa Towey (Templemore 6), Aoibhe O’Shea (CJ Kickhams, Mullinahone 7); Kirsty Crotty Ryan (Moyle Rovers 8), Emma Morrissey (Aherlow 8), Ava Fennessy (Clonmel Commercials 7).

Subs: Sarah Luttrell (Moyle Rovers 6) for Spillane (17); Clara English (Ardfinnan 7) for Fennessy (HT); Laura Morrissey (Brian Borus 6) for Towey (41); Caoimhe Condon (Cardiff St. Colmcille’s 7) for Brennan (45); Kate Cashman (Templemore 7) for O’Carroll (50); Heather Spillane (Fethard 6) for O’Shea (50).

Cork: Sarah Murphy (8); Melissa Duggan (7), Dara Kiniry (6), Siobhan Callanan (7), Erika O’Shea (6), Sarah Leahy (7), Rosie Corkery (7), Maire O’Callaghan (7), Abbie O’Mahony (6), Laura O’Mahony (9), Hannah Looney (7) Amy McDonagh ((6), Emma Cleary (7), Orlaith Roche (7), Katie Quirke (8).

Subs: Katie O’Driscoll (7) for Kiniry (HT); Shauna Cronin (7) for Roche (HT); Shauna Kelly (6) for Callanan (45); Aimee Corcoran (6) for McDonagh (53); Katie Horgan (7) for Corkery (55); Anna Ryan (7) for O’Shea (59); Kaitlin Smith (7) for Cleary (59).

Referee: Anthony Marron (Carlow).