Antrim 1-12 Derry 2-17
LGFA
Antrim senior ladies suffered a heavy defeat to Derry in this second round robin game of the All Ireland JFC
Derry were deserved winners on the day and certainly avenged their Ulster final defeat 3 weeks ago. The Saffrons never really got going and no matter what they tried, it just wasn’t working.
Antrim were minus a number of regulars, mainly due to injuries but it was no excuse for this under power performance
Playing against the strong wind in the first half Antrim went in at the break 5 down. They missed a catalogue of chances in the second half and that didn’t help their cause and Derry raised two second half green flags and that extinguished any hope Antrim had of getting back into the game.
In the end it must be the Saffrons they were beaten by a superior team on the day and the Antrim management will be keen to put this defeat behind them and hope that they will have some of their injured players back for their next game.
There were changes to the Antrim line-up, but take nothing away from the hosts, who took the game to them with some outstanding displays.
Sarah Heron was excellent at centre half-back, with Claudy pair Blaithin Donelly and Kate Hargan tireless at midfield.
Steelstown’s Orlagh McGeough came off the bench, while Anna Donnelly also performed well.
The Antrim management weren’t too critical of their side “This group give so much time and are so committed and will certainly be keen to get back on track and better performances will certainly come their way. They have had more good days than bad and there will certainly be no panic after one defeat”
On a day when things didn’t quite work out for Antrim Alyssa Davison, Laura Agnew and Maeve Blaney were their best performers.
Derry seemed to take motivation from that earlier Ulster final defeat and performed admirably all over the field.
Manager Seamus Shivers said “There was no need either for extra motivation. We all felt that we had a point to prove in terms of our own performance regardless of how the result would go, but thankfully we were able to get both the performance and the result.”
Derry led 2-3 to 1-0 at half time with their goals coming from J Slevin and J Shivers with Ni Lochlainn adding the three points as they led 2-3 to 1-0 at the break, Maria O’Neill beating Thomasina Cassidy for Antrim’s only score.
Antrim did improve on the restart but were always chasing the visitors.
Bronagh Devlin, Aoibheann Monaghan and Aine Tubridy tagged on points, but Orla McGeough, Clodagh Moore and Ni Lochlainn kept the scoreboard moving for the home team.
Ni Lochlainne would finish the game with an impressive 0-11 as the Oak Leaf girls ran out fairly convincing winners in the end.
Scorers:
Derry: A Ni Lochlainne 0-11 (3tp); A Duffy 0-3; J Slevin & J Shivers 1-0; Orlagh McGeough 0-2; C Moore 0-1
Antrim: M O’Neill 1-1; A Monaghan 0-3; A Davidson 0-3; B Devlin 0-2; A Tubridy, A Taggart & L Agnew 0-1 each
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