Louth Ladies leave it late to snatch victory against Longford

Two late points from captain Aine Breen saw Louth snatch victory against a stubborn Longford in Pearse Park, to start their Leinster Junior Championship campaign on a winning note.

Prior to this, Louth were looking at an opening round defeat, having trailed their opponents by three points heading into the last quarter, with a first half goal from Kamille Burke keeping Longford’s noses in front.

Louth were struggling to break their opponents down, amassing 0-4 from 16 second half shots at the posts, shooting into a tricky second half breeze.

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But crucially for the Wee County, those four points came in the last 10 minutes, which saw them emerge from Pearse Park with the win, thanks to Aine Breen’s late intervention, with sub Lucy White also playing a key role following her introduction.

First Half:

It was Louth who opened the scoring when championship debutant Zara Sweeney got on the end of a flowing Louth move involving Eimear Byrne. That was cancelled out by Longford’s Lauren McGuire after 3 minutes.

In that first half, Louth were keen to kick early ball into their inside line, and following an impressive Caoimhe Boyle turnover in defence, a long ball over the top from Aoife Russell, found the marauding Eimear Byrne in space running straight at the Longford goals, and the St Mochtas player drove the ball over the bar to put Louth back in front.

Defensively, Louth appeared somewhat suspect down their right hand side, and Longford exposed that several times in that opening period, with Ella O’Reilly and the lively Clodagh Lohan putting the hosts ahead at 0-3 to 0-2 after 7 minutes.

Longford gave Louth plenty to think about, with Clodagh Lohan’s fierce strike stinging the palms of Louth keeper, Rebecca Lambe Fagan.

Louth were guilty of coughing up possession 17 times in that first half, with several kick passes going astray in the final third. But a neat move through the hands saw Ceire Nolan and Eimear Byrne tee up Kate Flood for a badly needed score for Kevin Larkin’s side.

Ella O’Reilly and Katie Crawford combined again for Clodagh Lohan to put Longford 0-4 to 0-3 ahead, with the home side continuing to punish Louth’s right side.

However, Louth responded with three scores without reply, thanks to a Kate Flood brace (including 1f), before Zara Sweeney clipped over her second point of the day, to put Louth 0-6 to 0-4 heading into the last 10 minutes of the first half.

But with Louth continuing to needlessly give away possession with aimless kicking, Longford took advantage, after Kamille Burke collected a longball from Ella O’Reilly before slotting low to the Louth net to put her side ahead.

Louth were then given a huge let off when Katie Crawford smashed the crossbar, moments after Kamille Burke had put two between the sides from play.

Longford stretched that lead out to three through Katie Crawford, but Louth grabbed a crucial point before the break from Zara Sweeney to leave it at 1-6 to 0-7 at the interval.

Second Half:

Neither side managed to register a score in the third quarter, with both guilty of some wayward shooting and missed frees.In this period, Longford keeper Aoife Cooney also kept out Louth’s Ciara Woods from close range, as Louth struggled to make inroads into the deficit.

A free from Kamille Burke increased Longford’s lead to three points, heading into the final quarter, leaving Louth with it all to do. But when they needed a response, Louth came up with the answers, with sub Lucy White, and Kate Flood (f) narrowing the gap to one with 5 minutes left.

Following this, it was captain Aine Breen who made the telling contribution, alongside Ceire Nolan, while Caoimhe Boyle also impressed at the back.

But Breen, who finished with 33 possessions in this game, produced the match winning moments. First, she equalised from close range, following impressive foraging by Ceire Nolan and Eimear Byrne.

Minutes later, Breen gave Louth the lead in stoppage time, a lead they would hang onto, despite a lengthy stoppage following injuries to Gemma McCrave and Aoife Halligan.

Under the cosh, Louth prevailed, getting their Leinster Junior Championship campaign off to a winning start.

Louth: Rebecca Lambe Fagan; Holly Lambe Sally, Eilis Hand, Caoimhe Boyle; Caitlin O’Reilly, Shannen McLaughlin, Aoife Russell; Gemma McCrave, Aine Breen (0-2); Zara Sweeney (0-3), Eimear Byrne (0-1), Rachel Leonard; Kate Flood (0-4) (2f), Ciara Woods, Ceire Nolan.

Subs: Lucy White (0-1) for Leonard (HT), Aoife Halligan for O’Reilly (38), Emma Gartlan for Woods (46), Louise Byrne for McCrave (52), Mischa Rooney for Halligan (68).

Longford: Aoife Cooney; Grace Kenny, Leanne Keegan, Aibhe Brady; Caoimhe McCormack, Eimear O’Brien, Ella Duggan; Sian Gallagher, Shauna Hagan; Ella O’Reilly (0-1), Katie Crawford (0-1), Katelyn McKeon; Lauren McGuire (0-1), Kamille Burke (1-2) (1f), Clodagh Lohan (0-2).

Subs: Ciara Mulligan for McGuire (30), Aoife O’Brien for O’Reilly (56), Emily Reilly for Keegan (63), Funmi Talabi for Gallagher (64).

Referee: Ian Howley (Co Dublin).