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Dublin Minor Ladies snatch a draw in All Ireland Final

After another fantastic week of Gaelic Games in Croke Park we traveled to McDonagh Park Nenagh Co. Tipperary to see two fantastic Minor Girls finals and absolutely great value for money. The B Final was a thriller between Clare & Laois with the O'Moore County winning by two late points in the end.

dublin minor girlsPeter Hickey pictures at gaapics.com

The Minor A final was even more exciting between Dublin the 2012 All

Ireland Champions and Galway who had knocked out Cork in the Semi Final.

Sylvester's had Niamh Harney starting at left corner back and Ciara Lynch

listed with number 18 on her back as third sub. This game started at a very

fast pace with the favorites Galway running into a very big first half

lead. For some reason the Dubs seemed to suffer stage fright at the start

and with Thomas Davis talented corner forward Ciara McGuigan double marked

the Dubs were 9 points down at half time. Some changes were made in the

second half and Dublin began to find a bit of form. They had had a good

deal of the play in the first half but seemed to have left their shooting

boots in Dublin.

 

Galway were fairly physical but were giving away frees outside the 20 meter

area on both wings which the Dubs in the first half were failing to

convert. Sean Kavanagh would be proud of the Galway backs, but I don't

think Joe Brolly will be taking them out for a drink any time soon.

 

The plan as far as the Dubs were concerned changed with a couple of big

girls going into the full forward line. Aoife O'Brien & Maria McGrath of

Ballyboden St Enda's, Margaret Mohan Clontarf & Kate Dwyer St Margret's all

came in and made a big impression in the second half. However the player of

the match Carla Rowe of Clan Mhuire put in a man? of the match performance

in pushing the whole team forward to come back into this game.

 

Our own Niamh Harney also made the big St.Sylvester's following very proud

with her effort at pushing the Dubs team forward. Unfortunately Niamh

suffered a calf injury and was carried off in the second half. Apparently

she will receive the best treatment next week and there is a good chance

she will be back for the replay.

 

As the title of this article indicates the Dubs came back with two late

goals to provide one of the most exciting finishes to a game we have seen

for a long time. The replay should be another great game. The date will be

decided in the next couple of days.

 

Our own Peter Hickey will post some very good photographs of this game.

 

Suas Leis Na Dubs.

 

Eddie Ó Mórdha