Castleisland Desmonds Senior Ladies Gaelic Football team took on the Dunedin Connollys GAA Club team in Edinburgh on Saturday, November 1st.at 2:30 pm.
They took on the defenders of Édin’s Fort in their home city and came away with a great victory which ensured them qualification for the All-Ireland Intermediate Ladies Football Championship semi-final.
Desmonds, playing against the wind in the first half, started extremely well with two goals in quick succession by Andrea Murphy.
This burst was followed by two points from Leanne Mangan and one from Stephanie Murphy.
The Scottish side upped the ante then but Elaine Guiney saved what looked like a certain goal for them.
This was followed by a period of dominance by the home team and it resulted in a scoring spree which yielded a goal and four points for them.
Fortunately, Leanne Mangan and Lorraine Scanlon scored a point each before half time and it left the scores at 2-5 to 1-4.
The second half started with both sides pointing with Leanne Mangan on target for Desmonds. The visitors looked set for an easy second half when they added points by Stephanie Murphy , Rachel Cronin and Leanne Mangan.
However, things started to look shakey when Dunedin put away another goal – leaving just four points between the teams.
Dunedin had the momentum now but a narrow wide and a quick pick up by Marion Shine helped steady things for Desmonds.
Leanne Mangan went on to score two more points and Lorraine Scanlon, playing her usual captain’s part, capped her performance with three welcome points.
Dunedin could only pull one point back before time ran out on them on a score-line of: 2-14 to 2-6.
A ‘Desmonds at home’ semi-final against the Leinster champions looks likely and the Saturday / Sunday of November 15th / 16th is being looked at as a possible date – but we’ll keep you posted on that.
What a great occasion it will make if it comes true. It will give the locals, who have never seen these fantastic young women flying the blue and white, an opportunity to appreciate the dedication and skill involved.
