Laois 3-6 Wexford 2-8
Leinster Ladies MFC Round 1
The Laois minor ladies footballers produced a wonderful second-half come back to get their Leinster championship campaign off to a winning start in Annanough this afternoon.
Trailing by 2-5 to 0-1 coming up to half time, Laois had a mountain to climb.
But a goal from the brilliant Mia Branagan from Graiguecullen – who has played League of Ireland soccer with Wexford Youths – was the lifeline they needed and the classy free-taking of Portlaoise’s Anna Mulligan meant it was 2-5 to 1-2 at the break.
Wexford had enjoyed really dominant spells in that first half and while Laois had missed a selection of decent chances, so too had the visitors. In a way, Laois were lucky that they were only trailing by six points as they headed for the break.
Early second-half points from Leah Roban and Katie ní Luasaigh, either side of a point from Branagan, had Wexford 2-7 to 1-3 by the 40-minute mark.
Yet, slowly but surely, Laois started battling back. Mulligan kicked another free and Ballyroan’s Kaylah O’Mara was unlucky to see a goal chance go astray after fine work from half-time sub Aisling Cawley from Killeshin.
A somewhat harsh yellow card for the hard-working Niamh Dundon from Timahoe appeared as if it would be a disastrous blow for Laois.
But in her absences, Laois redoubled their efforts and completely took over for the next ten minutes.
By the time she came back on, Laois were only a point down having outscored Wexford by 1-3 to no score while they had a player less.
First O’Mara got a point before Branagan tucked away a brilliant goal. Midfielder Faye Brown from Portlaoise then pointed to get the gap back to one.
Dundon’s return was a massive boost for Laois at this stage of the game and just as she was coming on, Wexford’s Caoimhe McMonigle was heading in the opposite direction after she was sin-binned.
Remarkably, Wexford had three players sin-binned in the final quarter and had only 13 players on the field for most of that stage.
They did have a couple of chances but Laois broke out brilliantly following an excellent kickout from Abi Swift from the St Paul’s club.
She picked out dual star Lara Culleton who embarked on a great run, picked out O’Mara who then offloaded to Faye Brown.
She shot from distance and her effort went all the way to the net. For the first time in the game, Laois were in the lead.
Wexford pulled one point back from a free but Laois defended excellently – with the likes of Katie O’Reilly, Clodagh Fingleton and Réiltín Hooney all to the fore.
In the end Laois held on by a point and a priceless championship win for Adrian Slevin’s well-drilled side.
Their next group game is in three weeks time against Wicklow.
SCORERS – Laois: Mia Branagan 2-1, Faye Brown 1-1, Anna Mulligan 0-3 (all frees), Kaylah O’Mara 0-1. Wexford: Megan Hayes and Eabha Martin 1-1 each, Katie ní Luasaigh 0-3 (two frees), Emma Rossiter 0-2, Leah Roban 0-1
LAOIS: Abi Swift (St Paul’s); Réiltín Hooney (St Joseph’s), Katie O’Reilly (St Brigid’s), Sarah McDonald (Portlaoise); Kathyln Timmons (Graiguecullen), Clodagh Fingleton (Park-Ratheniska), Ellen Bergin (Portlaoise); Lara Culleton (Portlaoise), Faye Brown (Portlaoise); Laoise Dunne (Ballyroan), Niamh Dundon (Timahoe), Kaylah O’Mara (Ballyroan); Anna Mulligan (Portlaoise), Katie Grant (The Heath), Mia Branagan (Graiguecullen). Subs: Caoimhe Fitzpatrick (Sarsfields) for Bergin (22), Aisling Cawley (Killeshin) for Grant (HT), Abbey Louise Byrne (Portlaoise) for Dunne (42), Ava Dempsey (Timahoe) for Cawley (injured – 50)
WEXFORD: Ava Skye-Byrne; Roisin Byrne, Lucy Buggy, Edie Byrne; Caoimhe McGonigle, Eabha Guinan, Sarah Cousins; Anna Hughes, Kaylee Doyle; Megan Hayes, Kate Ní Luasaigh, Hannah Lawless; Leah Roban, Emma Rossiter, Éabha Martin. Subs: Ellie Darcy for Lawless (HT), Johanna Chapman for Dwyer (56), Maura Doyle for Byrne (56)
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