Tears at Croke for the pride of Down

Tears at Croke for the pride of Down

19 September 2012

THE road from Dublin was littered with broken hearts on Sunday evening as Down camogs solemnly returned home from Croke Park empty-handed after defeat by Meath.

The bitter taste of defeat was all too evident at the final whistle after Down just came up short for the second year in succession as Meath held on in yet another pulsating finish to lift the Kay Mills Cup.

This was Down’s third All-Ireland final defeat in only eight years and the bridesmaid tag is one that is going to be hard to shift.

Fionnuala Carr opened the scoring to settle the Mourne girls in the first minute when she converted a 21m free, but Meath had a big surprise in store.

They immediately worked the ball up field and Sinead Hackett was on hand to drill the sliotar to the net when an Aileen Donnelly free was lofted into the danger zone.

Down responded positively and Sara-Louise Carr plucked the sliotar out of the air before firing it over the bar after six minutes to reduce the difference to the minimum.

Undaunted, Meath hit three quick points of their own from Donnelly, Hackett and Jane Dolan to take a 1-3 to 0-2 lead after 13 minutes.

Down wrestled the initiative back for a while and unanswered points from Sara-Louise Carr, a brilliant individual effort, and two frees from Fionnuala Carr left them trailing by a single point again.

Down blinked at this stage and brought on Karen McMullan for Niamh Mallon at corner forward and and also introduced Orla Maginn for Maria McNally at midfield just before the break.

However, Meath’s Kristina Troy and Fionnuala Carr exchanged points before Donnelly lofted the Royal County into a 1-5 to 0-6 interval lead.

Both sides missed several good chances at the start of the second half before Sara-Louise Carr ended a superlative solo run with a stunning finish to the back of the net and give her side the lead, 1-6 to 1-5, for the first time since the opening minute.

Meath looked a worried side, but they steadfastly refused to be intimidated and points from Aoife Maguire and Dolan eased them back into a 1-7 to 1-6 lead after 45 minutes.

The reliable Fionnaula Carr levelled matters in the 46th minute with a converted free, but Meath responded with a series of points from Donnelly, Lizzy Oakes and Hackett to move smoothly into a 1-10 to 1-7 lead with only four minutes remaining.

Fair play to Down, they were staring down the barrel, but produced a dramatic finish to the game, just like last year.

Nicola Braniff pointed from play in the 58th minute and two minutes into added time Fionnaula Carr converted a free to leave a point between the sides with two minutes remaining.

Down had their heckles up and Carr was denied a certain goal and victory by a brilliant save from Emily Mangan. Meath rode this storm out and finished the game off in style when Dolan tapped the ball over the bar from a 21m free after a swift Meath counterattack.

Down: C. McCrickard, K. Tinnelly, G. O’Higgins, C. McGovern, C. Rocks, L. McCrickard, E. McCormick, L. McPolin, M. McNally, C. McGourty, L. Hughes, P. Gribben, N. Mallon, S. L. Carr (1-2), F. Carr (0-6). Subs: K. McMullan for Mallon, O. Maginn for McNally, K. O’Higgins for Hughes, N. Braniff (0-1) for McPolin.

Meath: E. Mangan, H. Geraghty, C. Coffey, F. O’Neill, A, Keogh, A. Thompson, L. Donoghue, A. M. Fagan, K. Troy (0-1), E. Guy, J. Dolan (0-4), A. Donnelly (0-3), A. Maguire (0-1), S. Hackett (1-2), K. Hackett. Subs: L. Oakes (0-1) for Guy, E. Lynch for Maguire.

Final score: Meath 1-11 Down 1-9