Report O’Dwyers vs St Maurs
- Sep 13,2023
GO-AHEAD DUBLIN IFC GROUP A
ST MAUR’S 3-10 O’DWYERS 1-10
Report By Daire Walsh
St Maur’s produced a strong performance at a rain-soaked Bremore Park yesterday to get the better of O’Dwyers and subsequently take control of Group A in the Go-Ahead Dublin Intermediate Football Championship.
Coming into this game level on points with their opponents – both of them won their opening two fixtures in this year’s competition – Maur’s dominated the first half with Laura Carthy, Niamh Carthy and Sinead Moran all in flying form. A 12-point interval cushion had them firmly in the driving seat and even though a Shannon Richardson-inspired Maur’s made a fight of it on the resumption, a goal from Grainne Conway ensured that the visitors had enough breathing space in the closing stages of the action.
Having secured the junior title in the previous year, Maur’s claimed intermediate championship honours with a final victory at the expense of Clontarf back in 2017. O’Dwyers are attempting to replicate this feat in the coming weeks as the 2022 season saw them winning not just the Dublin JFC crown, but the Leinster junior title as well.
The Balbriggan outfit were in fine fettle as a result of their wins over Lucan Sarsfields and Parnell’s on August 23 and 30 respectively, but Maur’s had scored 5-11 apiece in their triumphs against Parnell’s and Ballinteer St John’s and attacked with great intent from the word go on a greasy surface.
Moran and Laura Carthy kicked fine points from play inside the opening five minutes and while the Rush side also dropped a couple of efforts short, Carthy’s second of the contest offered them a three-point advantage on the 10-minute mark. O’Dwyers were taking their time to settle on home soil, but eventually did so with considerable aplomb.
Squeezed in between a brace of points by Richardson – one from play and one from a free – Holly O’Rourke superbly dissected the posts with the outside of her right boot. This left the sides on level terms moving into the second-quarter, but Maur’s proved to be the dominant team for the remainder of the half.
Supplementing a Niamh Carthy free, the industrious Moran kicked two points in the space of three minutes to help her side re-establish their authority. The Carthys went on to increase their personal tallies in quick succession, before a quick blitz from Maur’s left O’Dwyers with a mountain to climb.
After a Niamh Carthy shot hit the crossbar, wing-forward Aoife Curley was first to the breaking ball and proceeded to fire beyond the reach of opposition netminder Niamh Kirby with considerable aplomb. Roughly 60 seconds later, it was the turn of Laura Carthy to raise a green flag as she delivered an unstoppable strike into the top-corner of the net.
A Niamh Carthy point kept this scoring sequence moving along nicely and Maur’s eventually brought a 2-9 to 0-3 buffer into the break.
While it had been a difficult opening 30 minutes for O’Dwyers, an improved display was expected from them after the restart. Richardson did get the ball rolling with a pointed free, though this was quickly cancelled out by a similar contribution from Niamh Carthy at the opposing end of the pitch.
Alana Kelly and full-forward Elsa Kearney reduced the gap to 10 with quickfire points in the 39th and 40th minutes, only for Maur’s to serve them with another hammer blow just shy of the third-quarter mark.
Following a scramble inside the square, the ball fell into the path of Conway, who comfortably slotted the ball home for another Maur’s three-pointer. This left O’Dwyers staring down a heavy defeat, but – to their eternal credit – they kept plugging away and cut significantly into their opponents’ lead.
Richardson was a constant threat for the home team and she rolled the ball past Maur’s netminder Jane Butterly for a goal on 48 minutes. She continued to fly the flag for O’Dwyers with three pointed frees in succession and she also added an excellent individual point from play with just over a minute of normal time remaining.
It wasn’t to be in the end for O’Dwyers, but they can take plenty of positives from the game into their final group outing against Ballinteer St John’s at Marley Park next Wednesday. Now at the summit of the table with a maximum haul of nine points from three encounters, Maur’s will face Lucan Sarsfields in their closing group game at Rush on the same night.
Scorers – St Maur’s: Laura Carthy 1-3, Niamh Carthy 0-4 (0-2f), Aoife Curley, Grainne Conway 1-0 each, Sinead Moran 0-3. O’Dwyers: Shannon Richardson 1-7 (0-5f), Alana Kelly (f), Holly O’Rourke, Elsa Kearney 0-1 each.
St Maur’s: Jane Butterly; Katie Moran, Nicola Thorne, Aoife Brady; Gemma Thorne, Jessica Kelly, Colleen Moran; Eimear Conway, Megan Benson; Sinead Moran, Niamh Carthy, Aoife Curley; Grainne Conway, Eimear Butterly, Laura Carthy. Subs: Molly Moran, Aisling McCormack, Lucy Hand, Tara Brady, Sophie Rennicks, Isobelle Lyster.
O’Dwyers: Niamh Kirby; Emma Dowling, Erica Byrne, Naomi Weakliam; Chloe Johnson, Holly O’Rourke, Aoife Breathnach; Aoife Curran, Alana Kelly; Aine Blount, Jane Kehoe, Shannon Richardson; Shannon Campbell, Elsa Kearney, Ellen Dowling. Subs: Abbie McCurdy, Erin McCormack, Sarah Barlow, Saoirse Blount, Ellie Traynor, Leah Brady, Holly Downes, Katie McGuirk, Izzy McLean, Evelyn O’Leary.
Referee: Adam Kelly (Lucan Sarsfields).