Dublin 1-13
Donegal 2-07
Dublin senior ladies footballers are through to the TG4 All Ireland SFC semi-final after a titanic battle with Donegal in Pearse Park in Longford this evening.
Dublin hadn’t played a competitive game since the Leinster Final on the 10th of July and looked a little rusty early on and found themselves down by two points at the break with the score 1-04 to 0-05 in Donegal’s favour.
But Dublin came out for the second half and upped the ante as they pressed Donegal high up the pitch and started to force turnovers as the girls from the northwest struggled to get out of their own half.
But Dublin missed a couple of early chances and there was the hope that they weren’t going to rue those misses at the end of the game.
Dublin though we’re enjoying the majority of the possession and some excellent points from Sinead Aherne, Siobhan Woods and the impressive Niamh McEvoy got the girls in blue motoring.
Thirteen minutes into the second half and the game turned on its head, Niamh McEvoy brilliantly caught a high ball under pressure, turned inside her marker and played the ball off perfectly for Sinead Aherne to slot the ball to the back of the net and the Dubs led by three.
The girls in blue kept that gap between the teams until three minutes from the end when Donegal raised their second green flag of the day scored by Geraldine McLaughlin. The goal should never have stood though as the pass that put McLaughlin through on goal was as blatant a throw ball as you will see, it was more suited to a game of bowling than Gaelic football.
Although the umpire raised his hand to get the attention of the referee, but after a consultation between the three officials the referee called for the green flag to be waved, a shocking call.
But Dublin were not to be denied today and a brilliant point from play by Carla Rowe and a Sinead Aherne point from a free sealed the deal. It was a game Dublin needed to blow away the cobwebs and it will serve them well going forward.
Dublin will next play Mayo in the semi final in two weeks time for a place in this years All Ireland Final in September.
Dublin Scorers:
Sinead Aherne 1-06
Carla Rowe 0-03
Niamh McEvoy 0-02
Siobhan Woods 0-01
Lyndsey Davey 0-01
Donegal Scorers:
Karen Gutherie 0-04
Yvonne McMonagle 1-01
Geraldine McLaughlin 1-00
Amber Barrett 0-01
Kate Herron 0-01
