Waterford made the long trek to Sligo on Sunday last for
round 5 of the Tesco Homegrown National Football League and came away empty
handed with a six point defeat to the home team. This was a disappointing
result for a team who had impressed in their performances to date in the league
and as a result lost their 100% record and their place at the top of the table.
From the start Sligo were much the
sharper and Waterford were exceedingly wasteful in the number of chances
they missed in the first half. Sligo attacked from the throw in and were on the
score board after 45 seconds with a point. Margaret Revins levelled things for
the Deise in the 3rd minute only for Sligo to take the lead again with a point
on 5 minutes. Hannah Landers got Waterfordâs second point in the 6th minute
before some sloppy play resulted in the Sligo corner forward getting the first
goal of the game in the 9th minute.
Immediately after the goal Waterford played
their best football of the half with three unanswered points from Aileen Wall,
Elaine Power and Aileen Wall again to bring Waterford back to within one point
at the end of the first quarter. Sligo took control of the game and scored five
unanswered points before Michelle Ryan steadied the ship some what by scoring
two points in the 22nd and 25th minutes respectively to leave the score at half
time Sligo 1-8 Waterford 0-7
Sligo opened the scoring on the 2nd minute of the second
half with a well taken point before Waterford got throw a life line when
Michelle Ryan was taken down in the large parallelogram for a penalty which
goalkeeper Aimee Jordan duly dispatched to the Sligo net to leave only two
points between the sides. This was as good as it got for the Deise ladies as
the Yeatsâ county girls kicked six unanswered points in the next fifteen
minutes to virtually end the game as a contest.
Margaret Revins got her second
point in the 18th minute and Michelle Ryan kicked another consolation point
with four minutes to go to leave the final score Sligo 1-15 Waterford 1-9. This
was undoubtedly a set back for Pat O Brien and his charges. It was a poor
display by a team that have performed impressively in their other league games
to date. The team face a number of big tests in the run-in in the league with
two home ties against Leitrim and Armagh and the girls know that they have the
ability to knuckle down and get this result out of their system.
Waterford lined out as follows: Aimee Jordan(1-0), Nora
Dunphy, Ciara Dunphy, Mary Foley, Louise Ryan, Karen Mc Grath, RoisÃn Tobin,
Michelle Mc Grath, Elaine Power(0-1), Linda Wall, Michelle Ryan (0-3), Mairead
Wall ,Aileen Wall(0-2), Margaret Revins(0-2), Hannah Landers (0-1).
Subs Used: Shauna Dunphy, Liz Devine and Megan O Connor.
By Michael Gildea Waterford PRO
