Tyrone push Tipp into the last chance saloon

LADIES FOOTBALL: TG4 All Ireland Senior Championship Relegation Semi-Final

Tyrone 0-16

Tipperary 1-9

Report: Michael Heverin at St Loman’s Park, Mullingar

MATCH DIGEST

Player of the Match: Chloe McCaffrey (Tyrone)

SCORERS – Tyrone: Chloe McCaffrey (2 frees), Niamh O’Neill (3 frees) 0-5 each; Slaine McCarroll 0-3; Méabh Mallon, Cara McNamee, Sorcha Gormley 0-1 each.

Tipperary: Emma Morrissey 0-4 (3 frees); Anna-Rose Kennedy 1-0; Kirsty Crotty Ryan 0-2 frees; Tara Hoare, Sarah English, Anna Carey 0-1 each.

A performance full of passion, pace and pride in the jersey came up just short for Tipperary in their senior football relegation semi-final defeat to Tyrone on Saturday.

The only area where they didn’t match the Ulster side was in converting chances, with Tipp lacking the scoring threat carried by Tyrone’s Chloe McCaffrey, Slaine McCarroll and Niamh O’Neill, who scored eight points from play between them, with one each from Cara McNamee and Sorcha Gormley ensuring that five of the Red Hand’s starting six forwards got on the scoresheet.

Tipperary’s 1-4 from play couldn’t match that return, but that bare statistic shouldn’t disguise a brave and battling display as the players gave every pound of energy and endeavour to retain their senior status. The disappointment etched on their faces at the final whistle reflected their mood.

But they have one more chance to remain a senior team when they meet Waterford – surprise losers to Donegal in the other relegation semi-final – in an all-Munster shoot-out final this Saturday. The hope is that the feelings they took away from Mullingar will inspire a performance that will avoid the drop to intermediate.

Turnovers that have blighted many of their games this season were absent against Tyrone. There were some misplaced passes and wrong decisions taken but their play was crisp and pacey, avoiding taking the ball into contact, and troubled a highly rated Tyrone side.

When two Emma Morrissey frees in the space of five minutes left just one point between the sides, 0-13 to 1-9, with six minutes to go, the game was still there to be won. But Tyrone showed the accuracy in attack that had been a feature all game to hit the last three points, from a McCaffrey free, McCarroll and Gormley, for a somewhat flattering four points winning margin.

Gormley, who had been player of the match in the league meeting between the sides, showed all her speed and wizardry again with jinking runs, but the goal she was looking for never came thanks to the brilliance of Tipperary goalkeeper Lauren Fitzpatrick.

A double save midway through the first half highlighted the Ballymacarbry player’s shot-stopping ability – she dived full-length to her left to parry away a Gormley shot and then jumped up to block a second goal-bound shot into the other corner.

Earlier she had set up one of Tipperary’s best scores of the game, taking the ball as far as the halfway line before Sarah English finished with a superb point.

The sides had been level three times in the first quarter in an evenly matched contest. Tyrone captain Aoibhinn McHugh set up Niamh O’Neill for the game’s opening score in the third minute, but the sides were level within a minute when lively cornerback Tara Hoare, in a break from her marking duties on Sorcha Gormely, made her way up field to finish off a lovely move, in which Anna Carey was central, with a point.

McCarroll restored the Tyrone lead but Carey was also involved in the next move that led to a Tipp equaliser, the Clonmel Commercials player fouled for Kirsty Crotty Ryan to tap over the free. Back came the Ulster side to lead again with a McCarroll point, but a smart equaliser from Emma Morrissey, after the Aherlow player burst through the centre, demonstrated the Tipp side’s intent.

Two in a row for Tyrone put some daylight between the sides for the first time, the points coming from Méabh Mallon and Niamh O’Neill, but not before a vital intercept from Tipp centre-back Maria Curley denied what could have been another score.

Tipperary needed a response before the game started to drift from them – and they got it with a superb goal. Sarah English was the architect with a lofted ball into the Tyrone square, and team captain Anna-Rose Kennedy drifted in behind the cover to tap the ball to the net.

It gave them the lead for the first time but before they could build on it, Tyrone hit back in the next move with an equalising point from McCaffrey. Gormley’s first goal chance followed when she cut through the Tipp defence to shoot low just outside the post, but she was on an advantage and O’Neill pointed the free.

Tipp were level from a Crotty Ryan free, but Tyrone outscored Tipp by three points to one over the closing three minutes for a 0-10 to 1-5 lead at the break – their points from McCaffrey, an O’Neill free and McNamee, to an outstanding team score for Tipp, Ava Ryan and Lauren Cunningham involved in the build-up before Anna Carey tapped over.

There was a cross-field breeze that slightly favoured Tipp in the second half, but it was Tyrone who enjoyed the better start, with O’Neill from a free and McCaffrey from play pushing the lead out to four points within three minutes.

Tipp’s first score in the second half came from Sarah English seven minutes in following Lauren Fitzpatrick’s great run from goal, but then following Fitzpatrick’s heroics in goal, McCaffrey from a free restored Tyrone’s four points advantage.

It was then that three pointed frees from Emma Morrissey ensured a grandstand finish. The frees resulted from outstanding play, with Angela McGuigan, Sarah English, Anna Carey, Lauren Cunningham, and Morrissey running at the heart of the Tyrone defence.

But Tyrone managed to stall the Tipp momentum by turning defence into attack, and their own three points on the trot secured their own senior survival and consigned Tipperary to one more chance to do the same.

TEAMS – Tyrone: Laura Kane (7); Eimear Quinn (7), Grainne McKenna (8), Jayne Hearty (7); Claire Canavan (7), Méabh Corrigan (7), Caitlin Campbell (7); Méabh Mallon (8), Aoibhinn McHugh (7); Emer McCanny (7), Chloe McCaffrey (9), Slaine McCarroll (8); Niamh O’Neill (8), Cara McNamee (7), Sorcha Gormley (8).

Subs: Maeve Maxwell (6) for McNamee (46); Áine Straine (6) for McCanny (52); Katie Rose Muldoon (NR) for Canavan (60).

Tipperary: Lauren Fitzpatrick (Ballymacarbry 8); Tara Hoare (Templemore 8), Ellen Moore (Moyne/Templetuohy 7), Emma Cronin (Moyle Rovers 7); Angela McGuigan (St Sylvester’s 8), Maria Curley (Templemore 8), Sarah English (Ardfinnan 8); Laura Morrissey (Brian Borus 7), Anna-Rose Kennedy (St Sylvester’s 8); Ava Ryan (Moyne-Templetuohy 7), Lauren Cunningham (Holycross/Ballycahill 7), Heather Spillane (Fethard 7); Anna Carey (Clonmel Commercials 8), Emma Morrissey (Aherlow 8), Kirsty Crotty Ryan (Moyle Rovers 7).

Subs: Clara English (Ardfinnan 7) for Crotty Ryan (HT), Kate Cashman (Templemore 7) for Moore (HT), Aoibhe O’Shea (CJ Kickhams Mullinahone 7) for L Morrissey (48), Lily Maher (Arravale Rovers 7) for Spillane (50)

Referee: Angela Gallagher (Meath).