Louth Ladies book their place in Leinster JFC final

Louth saw off a powerful second half Carlow fightback to book their place in the Leinster Junior Football Championship final with two points to spare in the Gaelic Grounds in Drogheda on Sunday afternoon.

On reflection, the Wee County will surely feel that this victory should have been a much more comfortable one than the final outcome showed, having led their opponents by thirteen points, five minutes into the second half.

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At that stage, Kevin Larkin’s side had rattled in five goals and were seemingly out of sight. Young forward, Mischa Rooney had helped herself to three of these green flags, on a flawless afternoon in front of the posts for the Hunterstown Rovers attacker, who finished with 3-1 from 4 shots over the hour, as Louth appeared to be cruising to another Leinster Championship victory.

However, Carlow did not read that script, as they began a remarkable fightback, which saw them outscore Louth by 2-7 to 0-2 from there until full time.

Despite appearing to take their foot off the pedal in terms of intensity and work rate, Louth came up with two crucial scores from Kate Flood, including a late strike from play to stretch out Louth’s lead to two points. Flood’s strike came in the fifth of what incredibly turned out to be eight minutes of stoppage time.

In the end, Louth held on to get over the line, despite a worrying end to the game from their perspective. Early on, it was the visitors who struck first when Bronagh Nolan raised the opening white flag almost straight from the throw in.

But that first 10 minutes saw Louth go goal crazy. First, Ceire Nolan and Kate Flood combined beautifully for Mischa Rooney to calmly slot low to the net for their opening goal, before the same player capitalised on a defensive mix up from Carlow for Louth’s second major, with forward Ciara Woods playing her part in forcing the turnover.

On eight minutes, goal number three arrived through captain Aine Breen, after she latched onto a Ceire Nolan pass over the top, before finding the back of the net, in a move started by Shannen McLaughlin who got her hand to a breaking ball on a Carlow kickout.

Three strikes Kate Flood (2fs), ensured that Louth were in the ascendency by the end of the first quarter, leading by 3-3 to 0-5.

Despite being behind, Carlow did show signs of scoring potential themselves, with Elaine Ware, Ella Molloy and in particular Cliodhna Ní Shé all finding the range in that period.

In fact, Ella Molloy came close to getting one goal back for Carlow, after Louth keeper Katie Halligan got a hand to her close range effort, which was eventually hooked off the line by defender Victoria Fee, how crucial that intervention would ultimately prove to be.

Cliodhna Ní Shé’s point taking did keep Carlow in touch in stages in that first half, but Louth ruthlessly managed a fourth green flag before the break, through Shannen McLaughlin.

This came about after her Clan na Gael clubmate Ciara Woods had been denied by Carlow keeper Nicole Hanley, as Louth continued to find joy moving the ball through the hands, shooting into that first half breeze.

McLaughlin saw plenty of the ball from centre half back, with 21 possessions to her name. Third midfielder, Ceire Nolan was also hugely influential, with 27 touches of the ball over the hour.

Lucy White traded scores with Tara Lyons for Carlow, to leave Louth very much in charge at the break, leading by 4-5 to 0-7.

Second Half:

Not long after the restart, Louth struck for their fifth goal through Mischa Rooney, who collected an Aoife Russell pass before firing to the top corner to seal her hattrick.

Aoife Russell was another player to see plenty of the ball for the Reds, finishing with 25 possessions overall.  At this stage, Louth were ahead by thirteen points with 35 minutes on the clock, with many expecting to home side to ease to victory.

But the home side were somewhat guilty of a drop in intensity, and Carlow took advantage to rattle off 1-4 without reply.

Carlow began to turn the screw on Louth, winning 10 out of 18 kickouts contested, and running at Louth’s centre, with Tara Lyons, Aoife Carroll and in particular, Roisin Bailey at midfield, a thorn in the Louth side. The visitors were also accurate in attack, with 2-8 from 14 second half shots, despite a tricky breeze.

It was Aibha Kiernan’s goal which gave them hope, following points from Ní Shé and Kate Burke. Kiernan then added a point to go with her goal to close the gap to six after 45 minutes.

Kate Flood (free) ended Louth’s 11 minute wait for a point, which was badly needed at that stage for a shellshocked Wee County. Carlow really set the cat amongst the pigeons, with a second goal from Kate Burke, leaving the game firmly in the melting pot.

Cliodhna Ní Shé (2) and Megan Townshend then left just one between the sides heading into stoppage time.

Louth’s backs were firmly to the wall at this point, with long balls into the square from Carlow creating some heart stopping moments for a stunned home support.

However, to their credit, Louth weathered this storm to get over the line, with Shannen McLaughlin, Aine Breen and Ceire Nolan all producing key challenges and interceptions in that time.

When a cool head was needed to see them through, upped stepped Kate Flood who landed her sixth point of the afternoon to assure Louth prevailed and assured their place in the Leinster Junior Championship final for the second year running, with plenty of scope for improvement.

Louth: Katie Halligan; Seoda Matthews, Eimear Murray, Caoimhe Boyle; Louise Byrne, Shannen McLaughlin (1-0), Victoria Fee; Aoife Russell, Aine Breen (1-0); Lucy White (0-1), Kate Flood (0-6) (3f), Emma Gartlan; Mischa Rooney (3-1), Ciara Woods, Ceire Nolan.

Subs: Holly Lambe Sally for Boyle (HT), Zara Sweeney for Gartlan (48), Laura Collins for Rooney (53), Rachel Leonard for Woods (61), Caitlin O’Reilly for Fee (61).

Carlow: Nicola Hanley; Sinead McCullagh, Aoife Carroll, Clodagh Mahon; Tara Lyons 0-1, Ruth Bermingham, Beibhin Nolan; Roisin Bailey, Edel Hayden (0-1); Ella Molloy (0-2), Aoibhín Webb, Bronagh Nolan (0-1); Cliodhna Ní Shé (0-6) (5f), Elaine Ware (0-1), Kate Burke (1-1).

Subs: Marie Cranny for Hayden (41), Aibha Kiernan 1-1 for Beibhin Nolan (41), Megan Townshend (0-1) for Webb (46), Sinead Hayden for Mahon (52), Maeve O’Neill for Burke (61).

Referee: Henri Clifford (Co Meath).