Galway girls are on song with emphatic victory over Royals

Meath falter in opening league assignment

Galway...0-16

Meath...0-8

There was 'only' eight points between the teams when this Ladies NFL Div 1 encounter ended at Grangegodden today but the margin of victory could, and arguably should, have been a few points more - at least.

The visitors from the west, without a plethora of quality performers including Allstars Nicola Ward and Olivia Divilly, were by some distance the better side. They led all the way building on an 0-9 to 0-4 interval advantage before pushing on to claim their victory with relative ease.

Originally the game was due to be played at Summerhill but, following the heavy rain on Saturday, it was switched to the extensive complex these days that is Grangegodden - and the Gaeil Colmcille officials did well to have everything in place considering they received such shot notice.

A large crowd of supporters showed up hoping to seen new manager Wayne Freeman get his term in charge off the ground with a victory under the new rules. Apart from the opening minutes, that never seemed to be a likely scenario.

This was a lacklustre display from Meath. A day when so many things they tried backfired. A day when many passes went astray or turnovers were conceded. A day when they really struggled to find space in the Galway defence while at the other end they found it difficult to contain the visitors' marquee forwards particularly Kate Slevin, who ended up with seven points.

She tormented the home defence all game. Mairead Glynn, Andrea Trill and Roisin Leonard landed two points apiece for the Connacht side with Leanne Coen, Niamh Divilly and Aoife Molloy others to score.

Some measure of the problems encountered by the Meath defence could be seen in way five of the starting Galway forwards scored.

Meath simply could build enough roadblocks to their goals although having pointed that out home 'keeper Robyn Murray didn't have any significant saves to make. The Allstar 'keeper even had time to make a few forays outfield.

The home contingent worked and fought for everything but moves that started off so promisingly all to often lead nowhere. The ball was invariably swallowed up by tenaciously-tackling Galway defence who had the pace and the power to break quickly and garner a score of their own at the other end.

Emma Duggan ended up as Meath's topscorer with three points but one of those was from a free. Galway had a plan to close her down, deny her space and it worked efficiently. Too many Meath players couldn't escape the attentions of their markers in maroon often enough to cause real and sustained damage.

The other Meath scores were taken by Rachel Cassidy, Meadhbh Byrne, Megan Thynne, Niamh Gallogly and Orla Finnegan with each of them landing a single point. The fact that Duggan was the only player to get more than one score should cause some concern for manager Freeman as assignments against Dublin and Kerry await.

All too often also, good approach work by Meath was undermined by wrong pass options or shots that sailed the wrong side of the posts from their perspective with the home side 'winning' the wide count, 6-2.

There were occasional little flashes of creativity produced by Meath in the gloom of the January afternoon such as the move that lead to the team's first score after nine minutes.

After a multi-phase move Orlaith Sheehy was fouled and Duggan converted the free from close range.

The score evoked a loud cheer from the home support who had precious little to shout about after that.

Meath - Robyn Murray; Aine Sheridan, Mary Kate Lynch, Olivia Gore; Orla Smith, Sarah Wall, Katie Bermingham; Orlaigh Sheehy, Niamh Gallogly (0-1); Megan Thynne (0-1), Ciara Smyth, Marion Farrelly; Emma Duggan (0-3 one free), Rachel Casserly (0-1), Meadhbh Byrne (0-1). Subs - Orla Finnegan (0-1) for Byrne, Lara O'Neill for Smyth both 41m, Ciara Lawlor for Farrelly 42m, Amy Gaffney for Gore 47m, Lauren Woods for Smith 52m, Meena McConnell for Duggan 53m, Orlaith Mallon for Casserly 60m.

Galway - Leah O'Halloran; Riona Quinn, Sarah Ni Loingsigh, Bronagh Quinn; Sophie Healy, Chellene Trill, Aoife Molloy (0-1); Niamh Divilly (0-1), Aisling Madden; Mairead Glynn (0-2), Kate Slevin (0-7, one two-pointer, one free), Kate Thompson; Andrea Trill (0-2 free), Leanne Coen (0-1), Roisin Leonard (0-2). Sub - Eva Noone for Leonard, Aoife O'Rourke for Glynn both 43m, Elllen Power for Molloy, Hannah Noone for Molloy both 52m, Shiofra Ni Scanlain for B Quinn 56m, Siun McGovern for R Quinn, Katelynn Mee for C Trill, Emma Mitchell for A Trill all 59m.

Referee - Ray McBride (Dublin).