Reigning TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate champions Laois guaranteed their senior status for edging out Cavan in their relegation play-off.
Laois winning out 10 points to 1-5 in Kiltoom, writes Kevin Egan.
Laois started strong with three points on the spin. Including a good strike off the outside of the right boot from Eva Galvin with the first play of the game.
Laois were handed a huge opportunity when Cavan wing-forward Aisling Walls became the first of five players to be yellow-carded.
Yet by the time the Killygarry player returned to the field, the score was 0-3 to 0-2. Cavan had found their feet in the contest.
The Ulster county were handed further boosts when Laois talisman Mo Nerney was also given ten minutes on the side-line. Followed by dual player Sarah-Anne Fitzgerald saw yellow for sliding along the ground in a bid to toe poke the ball away from a Cavan player.
However, her protestations resulted in referee Eddie Cuthbert upgrading her card to a red. Resulting in Laois starting the second-half with just 13 players on the field, and a slender 0-4 to 0-3 advantage.
Undoubtedly, it was the midlanders’ play over the next 20 minutes that secured their win.
Clodagh Dunne and team captain Ellen Healy anchored a rock solid defence while Donal Brennan’s side controlled the ball very well, retaining possession and gradually engineering the chances that led to Gráinne Moran (one) and Mo Nerney (three) kicking the points that moved them 0-8 to 0-3 in front.
With time running out, another yellow card, this time for Laois’s Andrea Moran, gave Cavan hope as they looked for a win.
Cavan looked for victory
Aisling Gilsenan chipped over a free. Then finally got a direct running play going. Muireann Cusack found Ellyanna Madden, whose clever sidestep and composed finish reduced the gap to the bare minimum.
Given that Laois had just hit the post through Shifra Havill, it felt like a little bit of luck was going Cavan’s way.
Madden attempted to repeat the trick in the 60th minute. However, this time was adjudged to have charged with the ball and so she too was sent to the side-line. That proved crucial.
A fast break out of defence saw Nerney and Eva Galvin combine to set up Orla Hennessy for a crucial score. Gilsenan again cut the gap to one with a free, Laois held their nerve, held the ball and set up one last attack.
Whereas, Andrea Moran used her rest to good effect as she drove at the Cavan defence, earning the free from which Nerney kicked the insurance point, her sixth score of the afternoon.
Cavan now go into the relegation play-off final next weekend hoping to preserve their senior status.
Laois: E Barry; S Farrelly, C Dunne, A Kelly; S Havill, E Healy, L Nerney; SA Fitzgerald, LM Maher; O Hennessy, E Galvin, A Healy; K Donoghue, G Moran, M Nerney. Subs: A Moran for Donoghue (23), R Williams for G Moran (54)
Scorers: M Nerney 0-6 (0-4f), E Galvin 0-1, SA Fitzgerald 0-1f, G Moran 0-1f, O Hennessy 0-1
Cavan: Róisín O’Reilly; N Byrd, N Keenaghan, C Brady; Rebecca O’Reilly, C Charters, E Halton; C Madden, E Madden; A Walls, A Sheridan, K McCormack; M Cusack, G Sheridan, A Gilsenan.
Subs: C McCaffrey for McCormack (h-t), S Lynch for Walls (h-t), A Cahill for C Madden (47).
Scorers: A Gilsenan 0-4f, E Madden 1-0, M Cusack 0-1.
Referee: Eddie Cuthbert (Down).
