DLGFA Junior ‘A’ semi-final

RAHENY………………..1-12 TEMPLEOGUE SS………..1-10

Raheny will face O’Dwyers in the Dublin Junior ‘A’ Ladies Football Championship decider after overcoming Templeogue Synge Street in a nail-biting semi-final at Dolphin Park last Wednesday.

They were pushed all the way by the hosts, but the northsiders ultimately prevailed to set up an intriguing showpiece encounter with the Balbriggan side at Lawless Park in Swords tomorrow evening.

Dublin senior footballer Siobhán Woods chipped in with a brace of points to help keep TSS at bay, while her midfield partner Aoibhín McCarthy amassed an impressive tally of 0-3.

Substitute Orlaith Walsh contributed the same haul to complement a crucial second-half goal from Chloe Monahan.

Kelli Taite (0-6) and Claire Hiney (1-2) led the scoring charts for ‘Synger’, but their bid to reach a first Junior ‘A’ final came up just short.

TSS had earned home advantage for this game after wins over Clontarf ‘B’, Ballyboden St Enda’s ‘B’ and Naomh Barróg helped them to finish on top of Group B.

Raheny, on the other hand, finished second to O’Dwyers in Group A.

In a tentative opening to the contest, Rosie Maguire and Carla Fitzsimons found the target to move the visitors two points clear by the 10th minute.

When the TSS men’s team recently drew with Raheny in the Senior One Championship, it was a goal from Dublin footballer Lorcan O’Dell that sparked a dramatic second-half fightback.

On this occasion, it was his sister Jennifer who got ‘Synger’ up and running with a superb individual score from play. She also split the posts off a 35-metre free to cancel out a McCarthy effort at the far end.

Whereas TSS passed up a number of scoring opportunities, Raheny established daylight with unanswered points courtesy of Fitzsimons (free) and McCarthy (two).

Nevertheless, their southside counterparts had cause for optimism when a speculative shot from Hiney drifted into the net just shy of the interval.

This reduced Raheny’s lead to the bare minimum (0-6 to 1-2) and set the game up nicely heading into the second half.

Although Woods signified her growing influence with a brace of points shortly after the resumption, Taite – following a superb catch – and Hiney did likewise to keep TSS in touch.

Raheny remained calm, however, and regained a stranglehold on the action when Monahan shook the net on 43 minutes.

This offered Jimmy Woods’ charges considerable breathing space as the final whistle fast approached.

While Taite kicked three points in the space of six minutes, Raheny were quick to respond each time she raised a white flag.

Either side of another dead-ball strike by Fitzsimons, Walsh split the uprights to keep Raheny in line for victory.

TSS persevered with their challenge and cut the deficit to a point deep into stoppage-time thanks to three successive frees from Taite (two) and Hiney.

Yet Raheny were not to be denied and Walsh’s third score of the tie on 67 minutes squeezed them into tomorrow’s final.

Match file

Scorers – Raheny: C Monahan 1-0; C Fitzsimons (3f), A McCarthy, O Walsh 0-3 each; S Woods 0-2; R Maguire 0-1. Templeogue Synge Street: K Taite 0-6 (3f); C Hiney 1-2 (0-2f); J O’Dell 0-2 (1f).

RAHENY: C Dolan; A Filan, B Fagan, J O’Dwyer; C Fitzgerald, L O’Hare, E Joyce; A McCarthy, S Woods; C Monahan, C Fitzsimons, C McDunphy; A Murphy, C McHugh, R Maguire. Subs: J Murphy for Joyce, O Walsh for A Murphy (both 40), A Peake for Maguire (51).

TEMPLEOGUE SYNGE STREET: H Quinn; L Leacy, O Paterson, C Bell; A Hughes, N Leacy, R Kamvar; S Murphy, E Browne; J O’Dell, C Hiney, L Cahill; B Leitch, R Seery, A O’Byrne-Hadjami. Subs: H Curran for O’Byrne-Hadjami (40), L O’Reilly for Leitch (63).

MENTORS – Raheny: Jimmy Woods, Alan Fitzsimons, John McCarthy, Emer Kiely. Templeogue Synge Street: Barry Quinn, Paul Hudson, Gabrielle Ruane.

Referee: David Murphy (Robert Emmets).

WIDES – Raheny: 2 (1+1). Templeogue Synge Street: 8 (3+5).

CONDITIONS: Breezy with sunny intervals.

PLAYER OF THE MATCH: Aoibhín McCarthy (Raheny).