All Ireland Ladies Semi Final - best wishes to Sinead Aherne

TG4 All-Ireland Semi-final 2009 Preview.

Dublin V Monaghan, Ardee, 6/9/2009.

Dublin meet Monaghan in this year’s TG4 semi-final at St. Mary’s GAA

pitch in Ardee, Co. Louth next Saturday at 6pm. The game will be

transmitted live by TG4. It is the first ever meeting of these two

counties at this stage of the All-Ireland Ladies Football competition.

Monaghan featured in last year’s final against Cork and lost on a

scoreline of 4-13 to 0-11. The Farnay Ladies didn’t do themselves

justice on the day and could feel somewhat aggrieved with the final

scoreline. Their panel is more or less the same as last year’s and

they have made steady progress through this year’s competition having

won the Ulster title at the expense of Armagh. Their quarterfinal

victory over Galway was one of sheer hard graft winning by 0-17 to

1-13. One of the heroes on the day was goalkeeper, Linda Martin, who

made two great saves on the day, one from a last minute penalty by

Niamh Fahey. At the other end of the pitch two of their star forwards

from their 1997 All-Ireland victory over Waterford, namely, Niamh

Kindlon and Edel Byrne, contributed thirteen of their side’s points

and Niamh was named Player of the Match for leading her side to

victory on the day. Ciara McAnespie made a significant contribution to

her side’s victory with her pacey runs at the Galway defence and

scoring two points in the process. If the Dublin defence can

neutralise the threat from these particular players then they could be

well on the way to a first All-Ireland final appearance since 2004.

The Jackies had a comfortable win over Kerry in their quarterfinal by

1-13 to 2-6 but had the superb goalkeeping of Cliodhna O Connor to

thank for her early saves which frustrated the Kingdom and kept Dublin

in the game. Once the Jackies got on top Kerry had no answer although

they did come with a late surge which caused anxiety in the camp. They

will not be able to afford the same luxuries against Monaghan this

coming weekend. Lindsay Peat was absent the last day through her

basketball commitments with the Irish International side and with

their failure to qualify for the latter stages of the European

competition, should make a welcome return to the Jackies midfield.

Amanda Casey and Isobel Kierans will be formidable midfield opponents

for whatever Dublin pairing starts and the Jackies will at least need

to break even in this quarter. The Dublin forwards have the potential

to cause major problems for the Monaghan defence but they must do it

from the off. The inter-passing must be crisp and accurate and not

over elaborate. After the early wobbles against Kerry the Dublin

defence settled down and went on the dominate their opponents.

Monaghan have the experience of Kindlon and Byrne in their forward

line and Ciara McAnespie is capable of testing any defence. If

Dublin’s defence curtails the scoring opportunities and doesn’t

concede frees then Monaghan’s options may be limited. Big displays

will be needed once again from Avril Cluxton, Noelle Comyn, Maria

Kavanagh, Colleen Barrett, Sorcha Furlong and Siobhan McGrath should

there be no changes in defence to the side that defeated Kerry. Dublin

defeated Monaghan in their National League encounter earlier in the

season and the Farnay County will see this as an chance to exact

revenge. Dublin have plenty pace in defence as well as attack and

should be more than capable of matching up to the Monaghan.

Reaching the semi-final is a not a new experience for some of the

Dublin squad although it hasn‘t happened for some time. Cliodhna O

Connor, Maria Kavanagh, Niamh McEvoy, Mary Nevin, Sinead Aherne,

Siobhan McGrath, Elaine Kelly and Niamh Hurley were all involved in

2003 when Galway beat the Jackies in the final with Amy McGuinness in

the extended squad. Most of the aforementioned were involved again in

2004 when they lost in the final to Mayo, as was Noelle Comyn and

Lyndsey Davey. This experience could be crucial to the Jackies on

Saturday next. There’s no shortage of big match experience in Monaghan

either. Their panel includes nine of the Donaghmoyne club side who

were All-Ireland senior club champions in 2006. Emyvale provides five

of the panel including sisters from the McAnespie and McNally families

and Magheracloone has four. A number of Monaghan players would also

have won the Interprovincial title with Ulster in 2008.

There is also a Dublin connection involving Monaghan team members.

Joanne Courtney from Donaghmoyne is a Games Promotion Officer with St.

Monica’s in Edenmore and St. Patrick’s in Donabate for the past two

years. She is one of four sisters who are all involved with Monaghan

this year. Her sisters Sharon and Fiona feature regularly at full back

and left half back respectively for the county team and Cora features

regularly as a sub. Sharon has also helped Joanne with the summer

camps. They would enjoy nothing more than to defeat the Jackies next

Saturday and set up a rematch with Cork once again in Croke Park on

All-Ireland final day. Dublin may have something to say about this and

one feels that the Jackies will have a slight edge on their opponents

on the day. If the Dublin forward line clicks into gear from the off