No joy for new york ladies in allireland final

There was only heartbreak for New York this morning (11.45 thrown in) in the Ladies All-Ireland JFC decider as they were edged out by two points against Wexford at Croke Park in the curtainraiser to the intermediate and senior finals.  

Wexford held on for a hard-earned 1-12 to 1-10 victory with goalkeeper Mary Rose Kelly rightly claiming the TG4 player-of-the-match award after she produced a couple of spectacular saves in the closing stages.

Kelly produced a flying finger-tip save that denied Meath woman Alisha Jordan a goal as New York laid siege to the Wexford goalmouth in a terrific game of football.

That save, Kelly diverted Jordan's shot over the bar, left New York adrift by 0-8 to 1-10 with about five minutes remaining. Jordan added another New York point before Kelly saved again from Molly O'Rourke when a goal looked certain.

However, the goal eventually arrived when New York native Courtney Traynor from the Rockland club blasted to the net two minutes from time.

Although New York got the deficit down to the minimum soon after, Wexford found enough to add another point as they made amends for last year's defeat by Offaly in the decider.

Wexford also missed a first-half penalty and each side endured a player in the sin bin, New York's Caitlin Hynes in the first-half and Wexford's Marica Cullen after the break.

Both sides also missed an equal number of good chances and the real difference was the fact that Wexford had more competitive games with a NFL Div 3 campaign this year. New York had one competitive game, their semi-final victory over Derry at Ashbourne.

Managed by Meath man Patrick Curtis, New York certainly added to the spectacle with lots of support and colour and a swashbuckling performance.

'It's very disappointing, we gave it our best shot and I felt we could have won, we weathered the storm a player down in the first-half, I'm really disappointed for the girls,' stated Curtis who managed Seneschalstown ladies to success before going to the USA.

'It's expensive for us and we would benefit from competitive games, but that's the way it is, I'm proud of the girls,' he added.

It is understood that New York's travel and related expenses for the two games were in the region of $150,000.

In the full-bacl line Aoife O'Rourke and Jen Moran from the Donaghmore / Ashbourne club added to the Meath flavour on the New York team while Ailis Moran (Donaghmore/Ashbourne), Vivienne McCormack (Clann na nGael) and Kate Byrne (Duleek/Bellewstown) were also involved with the pnale.

See this week's Meath Chronicle for story and quotes from the manager and Alisha Jordan.