All Ireland LGFA Intermediate Championship Quarter Final
Antrim 5-6 Monaghan 0-8
Antrim cruised to a thirteen-point victory over Monaghan in the Ladies Football Intermediate Championship Quarter Final at Davitt Park in Belfast on Sunday. The Saffrons led from within the first 10 seconds as Lara Dahunsi won the ball from the throw in and charged down the field to open her account for the day whilst the prolific Orlaith Prenter hit the back of the net minutes later.
Monaghan had a torrid first half, compounded when Shona Brady saw yellow for a dangerous foul on Maria O’Neill on the ten-minute mark. The first fifteen minutes of play was a cagey affair with Antrim holding the Farney ladies at a distance, and Monaghan – far from helping themselves were wasteful in front of the posts. When they did get in a scoring position, they missed the target on three occasions before Prenter added another point for the home side. Prenter’s point stood but she was fouled off the ball which necessitated a break in play and the Moneyglass sharpshooter was briefly replaced by Aoife Taggart as she received treatment for a blood injury.
With Prenter off the field, Gráinne McLaughlin raised the green flag for Antrim with a well driven low shot past Alanna O’Donoghue in the Monaghan goal. When she returned, now wearing the number 31 shirt, Prenter added to her tally with another well worked point to stretch Antrim’s lead to nine. In truth, the game was already out of reach for Monaghan when Maria O’Neill also hit the back of the net before Monaghan had registered a single score.
A high ball out from the Monaghan back line should have fallen sweetly for Dahunsi, but it landed awkwardly on the thumb of the St Paul’s star, who appeared to be in quite a bit of pain whilst the injury was treated. With Antrim’s momentum gone, Monaghan piled on the pressure, scoring three points before the break. Antrim were firmly in charge though, leading 3-3 to 0-3 at the interval.
The second half saw Prenter add another point for the home side before another Monaghan purple patch earned the visitors a further four points without reply. During another break in play, a rallying cry for Saff’s Maor Foirne Kyla Trainor seemed to register with the team and Maria O’Neill added her second goal of the day to wipe out most of the pressure Monaghan had inflicted.
Another point from Prenter and a goal to add to her tally had the visitors dead in the water, and the next point Monaghan scored was to be their last, and was immediately cancelled out as Theresa Mellon rounded out the scoring for the home side.
Today’s victory means that Antrim have now won all but one game this year, a narrow loss in a dead rubber match against Tyrone in the Ulster round-robin stage. The reward for this magnificent run of form is a semi-final berth with Clare as the opponents in two weeks’ time, with the venue still to be confirmed but whilst Antrim may still be considered underdogs going into the game it would be hard for anyone to write them off this year.
Antrim: A McCann, D Coleman, E Ferron, M Mulholland, O Corr, C Brown, S O’Neill, T Mellon, Á Tubridy, G McLaughlin 1-0, C Carey, L Dahunsi 0-1, B Devlin, O Prenter 2-3, M O’Neill 2-1 (0-1 frees)
Subs: A Devlin, T Mellon 0-1, A Keenan, A Mulholland, C McKenna, C Taggart, A Taggart, L Agnew, C Emerson, R Mulholland, M McGarry, N McIntosh, B Nic Cahill, A Kelly, S Tennyson.
Monaghan: A O’Donaghue, M Monaghan, J Duffy, E Clerkin, S Brady, S Coyle, B McNally, A Hamill, C McBride 0-2, R Courtney 0-1, A Garland, J McQuillan 0-2 (0-1 frees), M Atkinson, L Maguire 0-2 (0-1 frees), L Garland
Subs: Ó Kelly, A Carolan, M McCabe, H McQuaid, C Murphy 0-1
