Details

Date Time Competition Season
18 June 2023 2:00 pm All Ireland Intermediate Championship 2023

Match Report

Second Half Surge Hands Westmeath Opening Win

A strong second half performance from Westmeath saw them record their first win in the All-Ireland Ladies Intermediate Championship against their neighbours Longford at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.

After losing to Antrim in their opening game the pressure was on Westmeath coming into this game. Longford are a side re-building with just a number of experienced players available to them. They had to call in members of the Minor panel for this game. They battled hard but Westmeath were just too strong.

Westmeath made the perfect start and within the opening 10 minutes were three points in front; three points from the boot of Sarah Dillon. Longford got their first score in the 12th minute through Grace Shannon. Her sister Kate fired over her first point one minute later to cut the gap to one.

The Lake County responded with points from Dillon, Ciara Blundell and Vicky Carr to extend the lead to four points in the 21st minute. Despite Westmeath looking strong in attack, Longford’s Leanne Keegan was excelllent. 

Kate Shannon kicked over two great points for Longford while Dillon’s effort just went wide as Westmeath looked for a goal as half-time approached.

The goal eventually came in the 30th minute; Blundell played the ball to Aoife Connolly and she made no mistake to leave her side ahead 1-07 to 0-04 at the break.

A free from Kate Shannon and a fine effort from Edel Sheehy cut the gap to four points in the 33rd minute but they were to be Longford’s final scores in the game. In the 41st minute Sarah Dillon’s shot came off the crossbar and Anna Jones finished it to the net.

Westmeath kept the scoreboard ticking over. Points from Sarah and Rachel Dillon, Connolly and Blundell extended their lead to 11 in the 50th minute. Blundell scored her third point in the 54th minute as Michael Finneran’s side finished the game well.

Connolly grabbed her second goal and Westmeath third in the 57th minute and the same player who scored the first ‘45 that was worth two points for her side, scored a ‘45 right at the end to leave 17 points between the sides in the end

Longford

1Rianne McGrath Goalkeeper
23Rachel Fallon
3Leanne Keegan Defender
4Emma Doris Defender
5Caoimhe McCormack Defender
6Emer O’Brien Defender
7Maria Kelleher Defender
8Fumni Talaba Midfielder
9Grace Shannon Midfielder 12'
10Hannah Glennon Forward
11Aisling Cosgrove Forward
12Katie Crawford Forward
13Kate Shannon 18 Forward 14', 24', 29', 32'
14Ella O Reilly Forward
15Edel Sheehy Forward 33'
16Ruth Jones
17Kathlyn McKeon Forward
18Grace Kenny 13 Defender
19Ciara Mulligan Defender
20Teni Alaba
21Ella Duggan
22Ellie Lynn Forward
24Sion Gallagher
25Tessa Tiernan
26Lauren McGuire Forward
27Camille Burke Forward

Westmeath

1Lauren McCormack Goalkeeper
17Ayesha Roche Defender
10Laura Kiernan Forward
3Lucy Power Defender
5Kelly Boyce-Jordan Defender
6Tracey Dillon Defender
7Chloe Kelly 18 Defender
8Vicky Carr Midfielder 21'
9Ashley Ruane Midfielder
11Ciara Blundell Forward 14', 50', 54'
12Rachel Dillon Forward 45'
13Johanna Quinn 30 Midfielder
14Anna Jones 22 Forward 41'
19Sarah Dillon 26 Forward 3', 3', 10', 16', 43'
15Aoife Connolly Forward 30', 57'
28', 49', 59', 59'
16Aoife Temple Goalkeeper
4Melek Fagan Defender
2Mary Dunne Defender
18Aoife O’Malley 7
20Mairéad Newman
21Caoimhe Clarke McMahon Forward
22Karen Hegarty 14 Forward
23Susanna Buckley
24Niamh Nolan
25Ciara Scally
26Annie Dolan 19
27Pip Ruane
28Meadbh Monaghan
29Kate Whyte
30Caoimhe Kilmurray 13

Ground

Glennon Bros Pearse Park
Pearse Park, N4 Retail and Business Park, N4 Axis Centre, Aghadegnan, Longford Rural ED, Longford, County Longford, Leinster, N39 V9W3, Ireland

Deniese is a freelance sports journalist/broadcaster. She has worked for several local and national media outlets. GAA and soccer are her great loves and she also follows rugby league and snooker. She's a big supporter of her local clubs St. Mary's GAA Granard and Longford Town. She also follows Celtic, Liverpool and Leeds Rhinos. She presented and produced a popular sports podcast last year where she interviewed Ray Houghton, Chris Kamara and John Hartson. Deniese is currently Head of Communications for Boccia Ireland