Dublin's relentless pursuit of excellence in ladies football reached another milestone as they secured their 11th consecutive Leinster LGFA Senior Championship title with a commanding victory over Meath at Croke Park on Sunday.
Despite the final scoreline of 3-17 to 0-8 in favour of the Blues, there was disappointment expressed from both managers post-match.
“Funny enough, we’re a bit disappointed…I thought we butchered a lot of chances” were the opening remarks of Dublin manager Mick Bohan after the game.
He'd later add: “defensively I just thought we were very open at times and if you look at it on a different day, Meath would have finished those chances.”
And as for the Royal County, manager Shane McCormack expressed he was “devastated” and “gutted” for the group of ladies he says “put in a lot of hard work over the past couple months.”
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A one-sided affair
In what was to be a clashing dual between provincial rivals to contrast last week’s 21-point defeat of Dublin over a second-string Meath side, ended up another emphatically dominant performance from the girls in blue.
Meath opened up the scoreline with a point from Ciara Smith in the fourth minute, where the response from Dublin came in the form of two left-footed scores from Hannah Tyrell, followed by a point and a goal from Captain Carla Rowe.
The impressive Emma Duggan for Meath scored off a free to get momentum back for the Royal County where a nice ball in towards goal from Shelly Melia was picked up cooly by Dublin’s full back, Leah Caffrey. Caffrey maintained a solid pair of hands against the eager Meath forwards throughout the game.
Possession and momentum swung heavily towards Dublin within the second quarter, characterised by storming runs by Sinéad Goldrick in the number 5 position and another point by Tyrell. The immense Jennifer Dunne forced a turnover on 20 minutes to finish off the counterattack with a palm into the goal.
“You put a ball in the back of the net and the energy it gives the team is huge,” Bohan said. This ensuing energy manifested itself in a string of points from Dublin’s Olwen Carey, Lauren Magee, Tyrell again, and Orlagh Nolan to close out the first half with a 2-8 to 0-02 advantage.
The buffer was needed for a pressured Meath side, who got the second half scoring underway with a routine Duggan free. This was answered with two blocked goal attempts from Tyrell and Rowe, who then both followed up pointing back-to-back from frees. Caoimhe O’Connor, a speedy threat down the wings, got herself on the scoreboard hitting the back of the net in the 39th minute, directly after Kate Sullivan and Goldrick had gone dangerously close to raising the green flag.
Meath got a second wind towards the end of the third quarter with a point from Aoibhin Cleary and two from Duggan. The Sky Blues switched to a clutter formation on their kick-outs rather than a zonal one, which proved ineffective as Meath continued to dominate possession. A series of challenges on the Meath players, “one or two that should have amounted to more than the yellow card” according to McCormack, reflected a temporary loss of control in this period of frantic play from Dublin.
12 May 2024; Dublin manager Mick Bohan during the Leinster LGFA Senior Football Championship final match between Dublin and Meath at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Harry Murphy/Sportsfile
However, the experienced side reclaimed possession and control of the ball with two points from Niamh Hetherton, and a point each from Rowe and substitute Chloe Darby. The tireless Duggan brought her personal tally up to 0-6 in the closing stages, and Meath forced two great saves from the commanding goalie Abbey Shields. But with another double-point burst from Hetherton and a closing score from the experienced Nicole Owens, Dublin eased to another Leinster victory.
The defeat by Dublin showcased critical wins of 50/50 balls and the execution of quick and smart off-the-shoulder runs, effectively rendering the team impossible to stop. What Meath were lacking today were speed and ideas in attack.
Bohan said he believes “Meath have gone back a bit. They're certainly not as competitive”, alluding to the reasons as to his disappointment with the Dubs' 3 wides, at least one crossbar hit and some shots landing in the arms of goalie Monica McGuirk.
“Ultimately, as the competition goes on you just don't get those number of opportunities, so you need to be taking them.”
Meath will be looking to rest, regroup and “put the head down over the next couple of weeks and work extremely hard for the All Ireland Series.”
For Dublin, they will be looking at being more clinical up front and executing those missed opportunities.
According to Bohan, “it starts now, the all the rest is irrelevant. National League, Leinster Cup, it's irrelevant. It's from here on in, we start getting judged.”
