Tipp slip to first loss against Laois

Tipperary 3-5

Laois 1-12

Report: Michael Heverin at Fethard Town Park

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Erone Fitzpatrick (Laois)

SCORERS – Tipperary: Emma Morrissey 2-1; Aisling Moloney 0-4 (3 frees); Angela McGuigan 0-1.

Laois: Erone Fitzpatrick 0-4 (1 free); Katie Donoghue 1-1 (0-1 free); Grainne Moran 0-3 frees; Eva Galvin 0-2; Laura Marie Maher, Sarah Ann Fitzgerald 0-1 each.

Tipperary lost their unbeaten record in the Lidl National Ladies Football League Division 2 when losing to a late winner from Laois on Sunday.

The Premier ladies went into the game with three wins from three and were looking to maintain that form but came up just short against a mobile and energetic Laois side who now join Tipp on nine points on the table.

The decisive score came four minutes into added time. The sides were tied at 3-5 to 1-11 – Tipperary’s three goals coming in the first half – when the outstanding Laois wing forward Erone Fitzpatrick decided the outcome with a brilliant late point.

Yet the Tipp women lost nothing in defeat. Roared on by a huge attendance, they cut open the Laois defence on three occasions for well-taken goals. Two were taken by full forward Emma Morrissey and the third from Angela McGuigan but the outstanding Aisling Moloney was the architect for all three.

Erone Fitzpatrick kicked the first point as well as the last, putting the Leinster side ahead in the first minute – but it was a short-lived lead. Tipperary responded immediately and Moloney created the chance for Angela McGuigan to finish to the net from close range.

Fitzpatrick was proving a real thorn in the side for the Tipp defence, and she kicked the next two points, one from a free, to push the Laois lead out to two, 1-2 to 1-0 after six minutes. After Moloney was fouled, she pointed the free herself for Tipp’s first white flag.

But from the kick-out, the Cahir player was penalised and yellow-carded and spent ten minutes in the sin-bin. The speed of the Laois attack was continuing to cause problems and Eva Galvin pointed to extend the lead.

Emma Morrissey and Grainne Moran from a free exchanged points but just after Moloney returned to the action, Erone Fitzpatrick kicked a great point to put three points, and daylight, between the sides, at 1-5 to 1-2, after nineteen minutes.

A great catch and point from the returned Moloney was followed by a Laura Marie Maher point for Laois but two goals in the space of five minutes turned the tide for Tipperary and saw them lead at the break, 3-3 to 1-6.

For the first, Moloney cut a hole down the centre of the Laois defence and off-loaded to Emma Morrissey who couldn’t miss from close range. Brilliant defence curbed the Laois threat at the other end, with Cliona O’Dwyer to the fore, before Moloney and Morrissey combined again for the Aherlow player’s second goal.

The three-point cushion was a good one for Tipperary, but they were outscored 0-6 to 0-2 in the second half, both Tipp points from Moloney frees. That’s a concern for management as they face into their remaining league games.

A 33rd minute free from Grainne Moran was cancelled out by a Moloney free but Laois then hit three without reply, frees from Moran and Katie Donoghue, and a fine score from Eva Galvin, to tie the score at 3-4 to 1-10 midway through the half.

Moloney restored the lead from a free, but and missed the chance to push the lead out to two, before a great point from substitute Sarah Ann Fitzgerald tied the sides again.

As the game moved into added time, it was a story of chances missed and chances taken. Aisling Moloney’s lung-bursting run to set up a late free looked like it left her drained and her kick didn’t have the legs, dropping short before Laois won a free out.

Erone Fitzpatrick had no such problems when her chance fell, and after another patient Laois build-up, she split the posts with the game’s last, and decisive score.

TEAMS – Tipperary: Lauren Fitzpatrick (Ballymacarbry), Cliona O’Dwyer (Brian Borus), Maria Curley (Templemore), Emma Cronin (Moyle Rovers); Sarah English (Ardfinnan), Lucy Spillane (Fethard), Neassa Towey (Templemore); Anna Rose Kennedy (Aherlow), Niamh Martin (Sliabh na mBan); Aine Delaney (Templemore), Aisling Moloney (Cahir), Ava Fennessy (Clonmel Commercials), Clara English (Ardfinnan), Emma Morrissey (Aherlow), Angela McGuigan (Eadestown).

Subs: Maureen Murphy (Brian Borus) for Fennessy; Laura Morrissey (Brian Borus) for C English; Sarah Ryan (Arravale Rovers) for Delaney.

Laois: Naomi Luttrell, Sinead Farrelly, Clodagh Dunne, Aimme Kelly, Grainne Lalor, Ellen Healy, Laura Nerney, Anna Healy, Andrea Moran, Grainne Moran; Laura Marie Maher; Erone Fitzpatrick; Kelly O’Neill, Eva Galvin; Katie Donoghue.

Subs: Sarah Ann Fitzgerald for Lalor, Aoife Kirrane for O’Neill, Shifra Havill for G Moran, Orla Hennessy for Donoghue.

Referee: Seamus Mulvihill (Kerry).