King’s goal proves decisive for impressive Annaghdown

Annaghdown     1-8

Abbeyside (Waterford) 0-6

IF ever there was an exercise in patience, this was it. Locked out by their Waterford opponents for long periods of this enthralling All-Ireland intermediate club ladies football semi-final, Annaghdown bided their time until striking with all the venom of a cobra. Or to be more precise, a King cobra.

For it was Rachel King who pounced for the all-important, winning goal on 45 minutes following a move that what was, in effect, a masterclass of attacking play by Annaghdown. It all began with goalkeeper Mary Kate Killilea who found impressive centre-half back Chloe Crowe with her kick-out.

Swift of foot, Crowe, as she had done all day, carried before offloading to the evergreen Niamh Duggan, who, in turn, found Grainne Barrett, who, in turn, slipped in King. Annaghdown bore their fangs and, with lightning precision, King bit hard into the heart of the Abbeyside challenge.

It was a predator’s goal and one that Annaghdown deserved given they had created far more scoring chances throughout the contest – 29 to the home side’s 17 – in sunny Dungarvan.

King’s goal was a score Abbeyside were never to recover from, the venom already taking hold as Barrett (free), King – on a superb swift counter involving Fiona Wynne, Theresa (Fahy) Keane and Barrett – and Duggan kicked three outstanding points in the closing quarter.

It was fitting that Duggan should have kicked the final score for Annaghdown in injury-time, given the 2004 All-Ireland senior medal winner had been the shining light for her side in the opening half when picking off all of their three first half points.

Duggan was one of the few who could have done that. Abbeyside had erected their own version of the Berlin Wall and, so, it required someone who kicks the ball with all of the force of a sledgehammer to pick off those scores from distance.

It was not that the other Annaghdown forwards did not have their chances. In all, Thomas Murphy’s side kicked seven wides in this time – 11 in all – and the bulk of these came from players taking on shots that were simply not on.

The key word was composure. Abbeyside, to their credit, were very good at shepherding Annaghdown down the outside channels – outside of the scoring zone – and when this happened, the tendency for the Annaghdown forwards was to take on ambitious shots.

Full coverage in this week’s Connacht Tribune.