Very Ireland Division 2A League

Offaly 0-16 Meath 1-10

Report by John Gavin

Offaly welcomed Meath to Glenisk O'Connor Park on Saturday in the third round of Division 2A of the Very League. 

The Faithful girls were looking to make it three wins out of three in this historic fixutre, which saw camogie return to the county grounds after a long absence,  while Meath were looking to return to winning ways having been turned over by Kerry last time out.  The teams were given a warm welcome onto the pitch by a Guard of Honour of Under 10 girls from clubs from Offaly and the bunting held aloft by the girls highlighted the stiff breeze blowing down the pitch towards the town end of O'Connor Park. 

With injuries affecting his panel, David Sullivan announced three further changes with Elizabeth Kilmartin, Grainne Kennedy and Caoimhe O'Donovan being named in the starting fifteen.

The Offaly management will be pleased to have gotten to this stage of the campaign with a 100% record but when they look back on this game they will no doubt think that their team made hard work that may not have been the case had they taken some of the goal chances available to them.  In both halves Offaly worked the ball through the lines but were unable to find the net and David Sullivan reflected on that afterwards and referred to his team butchering goal chances and overused the ball when scores were on.

Meath will have been delighted with the start they got to the game and hit 1-2 while playing against the breeze before Offaly opened their account with a point from Faye Mulrooney in the 11th minute.  Offaly then went on to dominate the majority of the first half and scored eight unanswered points with half time approaching.  Had they taken one or two of those goal chances available to them it would have left Meath with a significant lead to reel in when the sides turned around after the break.  As it happened, both teams picked up further points before the break to leave Offaly leading 0-9 to 1-3.

Boosted by the aid of the breeze, Meath started the second half well and picked off four points to Offaly's solitary one to leave the sides level with 14 minutes gone in the half.  As they have done in the previous games the Offaly management emptied the bench and Offaly responded by hitting three points but Meath continued to battle back and picked off two points to leave the minimum between the sides with five minutes to go. 

In both of the games so far in the League the Offaly management have used the competition to give plenty of game time to their panel and Saturday was no different.  It paid dividends with time running out with two of David Sullilvan's young subs, Ciara Maher and Orla Kilmartin hit two of the three points that helped seal the game for Offaly.

Afterwards when talking about the game the Offaly Manager gave an honest assessment and said that while they were not overly happy about the team's performance they were not panicking at this stage.  With twelves weeks to the start of the Championship, there was still plenty of time for his management team to work with the panel to fix the little things that are not going right.  

Looking at the positives he highlighted the teams' three wins and that he has started 20 girls and given game time to 26 players in the campaign to date.

The result leaves Offaly top of the group and while they have a break next weekend, they will then take on Carlow on 22 March

Offaly team:  Leah Gallagher, Aoife Liffey, Orlagh Phelan, Elizabeth Kilmartin, Ellen Regan, Amy Byrne, Kaitlyn Kennedy, Clodagh Leahy, Caoimhe O'Donovan, Fianait Dooley, Faye Mulrooney, Roisin Kinsella, Mairead Teehan, Grainne Kennedy, Grace Teehan  

Subs:  Aoife Hoctor for Kaitlyn Kennedy, Hannah Feenane for Grainne Kennedy, Ciara Maher for Caoimhe O'Donovan, Emma Buggy for Hannah Feenane, Orla Kilmartin for Clodagh Leahy, Aoife O'Donovan for Roisin Kinsella, 

Offaly scorers:  Clodagh Leahy 0-6 (5 frees), Faye Mulrooney 0-2, Grace Teehan 0-2 (1 free), Fianait Dooley 0-2, Aoife Hoctor 0-1, Mairead Teehan 0-1, Ciara Maher 0-1, Orla Kilmartin 0-1

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