Lidl Ladies Football League Division Two
Roscommon 0-10 Donegal 1-7
A goal scored from a very controversial penalty awarded in the 12th minute of injury-time saw Donegal snatch a draw and deny Roscommon what would have been a sensational win in this league encounter played in poor weather conditions at Johnstown on Sunday afternoon last. As it is, their performance augurs well for their trip to Cork this weekend to take on the home side.
It was a tense affair all through with Roscommon the better team for most of the proceedings. Aisling Hanly was superb up front, kicking four first-half points. At the break, Roscommon led by 0-8 to 0-6.
The second half was a very hard-fought affair. Roscommon defended magnificently. Aisling Hanly and Laura Mannion pointed to extend the Roscommon lead to three.
Roscommon supporters, officials and players alike were perplexed as several key refereeing decisions went against them late in the game.
First Ria Lennon and Laura Mannion were shown yellow cards for what looked very minor offences. Then referee Ger Canny played 12 minutes of injury-time and awarded Donegal a highly controversial spot-kick after it appeared that Saoirse Wynne had dispossessed a Donegal player and cleared without having committed a foul.
However, the penalty was awarded and Jodie McFadden converted it to give Donegal their third draw of this league campaign.
Roscommon played ever so well and while they will have been disappointed not to have won, it shows that they can compete at this level.
Aisling Hanly, Rachel Brady, Ellen Irwin, Saoirse Wynne and Laura Mannion were all very prominent for Roscommon who now travel to face Cork away this Saturday (3 pm).
Roscommon manager Finbar Egan, while understandably frustrated with a number of key decisions that have gone against his side in recent weeks, is very happy with the effort his players are putting in during the campaign.
“We are playing well and our work rate is top class. All the big decisions went against us in the game with Donegal. We got two yellow cards and we didn’t commit a bad foul in the entire game. Then we should have been given a free out but the referee gave them a penalty, but those things happen.
“I suppose you could say we should have closed out the game when we are ahead but we were unlucky. It was a very tough day to play in the conditions and I thought we did very well overall.”
Looking forward to the game in Cork this Saturday, Finbar says that these are the fixtures that Roscommon will learn from.
“It’s a great game to have. Cork have a super senior team and would have ambitions to win All-Irelands every year. But if we can put in the work rate that we have shown so far we can do well.
“If we get a good performance out of our team and show what we can do we could surprise a few people on Saturday. It’s a huge test but one we are looking forward to” he concluded.
Roscommon: Caoimhe O’Reilly; Rachel Brady, Ellen Irwin, Megan Kelly; Orla O’Neill, Saoirse Wynne, Ria Lennon; Abby Curran, Niamh Watson; Shannon McGuinness (0-1), Laura Mannion (0-2), Caoimhe Cregg; Aisling Hanly (0-5, 1 free), Roise Lennon (0-1, free), Caoimhe Lennon (0-1). Subs: Ella Thompson for Cregg (46), Lisa O’Rourke for Curran (55), Megan McKeon for C Lennon (59), Rachel Fitzmaurice for McGuinness (62).
