O"Carroll the hero

WHO said there"s no fairytale stories in sport anymore? Meath earned a draw in this All-Ireland Junior Camogie Championship encounter at O"Moore Park, Portlaoise and they did it in a way that even Hans Christian Andersen might have felt was too far fetched. The highly experienced Dearbhla O"Carroll had last played for the county in September 2007 and was only brought back into the panel in the days before this encounter on Saturday evening. The Trim mother of four started on the bench and was introduced to the fray with just over five minutes remaining. With just a minute left O"Carroll won the ball out on the left, made a little space for herself before sending the ball goalwards from about 25 metres out. The effort didn"t quite have the legs to make it across the bar and instead it fell short. Laois netminder Laura Dunne may have been momentarily blinded by the sun. The sliotar bounced off her stick and into the net. The goal was Meath"s only second-half score and it put them ahead by a point as the game moved into injury time. Almost immediately afterwards Laois moved upfield and their influential midfielder Louise Mahony lofted the ball between the sticks from a long-range effort. Meath were denied victory but it didn"t matter, a draw was sufficient to ensure that they will be in the All-Ireland Junior semi-final, the kind of territory Royal County camogie has never explored before. O"Carroll"s goal and Laois" response was a dramatic end to an entertaining encounter. Throughout the second-half Laois, with the aid of a stiff breeze, had created most of the opportunities it and looked like they had done enough to win. The players kept battling even when the tide was against them and in the end they got their reward with O"Carroll"s dramatic late intervention. Meath would have psyched themselves up to produce a real backs-to-the-wall display in the second-half as they led by only 0-7 to 1-3 at the interval. It was in that opening half that Meath produced their best attacking play with Elizabeth Oakes particularly impressive in the early exchanges. The O"Mahonys player clipped over three points inside the opening 17 minutes, two from frees. Kristina Troy, Sinead Hackett, Edel Guy and Aileen Donnelly were others who worked themselves into positions to fire over superb points from play before the interval. It was hardly surprising that Donnelly got on the scoresheet as she was hugely influential for the Royal County mopping up a world of ball from her centre-back position. Neither was it a coincidence that Donnelly had a major part to play in the creation of O"Carroll"s goal. The Kilmessan player had shown characteristic skill and vision to win possession in midfield from a Laois clearance before sending the ball into space for O"Carroll to run onto it and deliver the dramatic coup de grace. There were others who gave big performances. There was goalkeeper Emily Mangan who didn"t have a great deal to do in the opening half. That all changed after the break as the Blackhall Gaels player was called upon to make a string of fine saves. Mangan was sharp to deny Aine Mahony and she excelled again when she produced a razor-sharp reaction to deny Trish Cuddy. Late in the opening half Mangan was also on hand to save a penalty from Laois"s Sarah Anne Fitzgerald after Meath full-back Lorna Donegan was deemed to have fouled an opponent on the way through. Mangan could do little about Laois"s goal as Cuddy did well to work her way into space before slotting home. Emma McNally also executed a crucial tackle at one stage to deny Cuddy who looked poised to find the net in that opening half. Meath at times lived on their luck. At one stage in the opening half Laois"s Sarah Cuddy kicked the ball against the post. Louise Mahony had an effort rebound off the woodwork. Aoife Thompson, Donnelly and Louise Donoghue formed a sturdy half-back line for Meath and it wasn"t unusual to see players such as Frances Lynch and Troy helping out the defence particularly in the second-half. Ann Marie Fagan worked hard in the engine room and Oakes showed a neat scoring touch before the supply of ball slowed down. To shore up the backline the versatile Guy was moved from midfield to left-half-back for the second-half and it did have an effect. One remarkable aspect of the second-half was that from the third to the 19th minute there was no score as each side sought to find an edge. However, Laois looked to have done enough to win when Louise Mahony put them two points up with full-time approaching. Then O"Carroll intervened with her goal and while Mahony equalised the draw was enough to make it a fairytale ending for Meath. SCORERS Meath - D O"Carroll 1-0; E Oakes 0-3, two frees; A Donnelly 0-1; E Guy 0-1; K Troy 0-1; S Hackett 0-1. Laois - L Mahony 0-5, two frees; T Cuddy 1-0, A Mahony 0-2. TEAMS Meath - Emily Mangan; Holly Geraghty, Lorna Donegan, Emma McNally; Aoife Thompson, Aileen Donnelly, Louise Donoghue; Ann Marie Fagan, Edel Guy; Laura Flynn, Frances Lynch, Elizabeth Oakes; Elizabeth Lynch, Kristina Troy, Sinead Hackett. Subs - Aine Keogh for Flynn 24 mins, Stephanie Horan for McNally half-time, Jane Dolan for Frances Lynch 46m, Dearbhla O"Carroll for Hackett 54m. Laois - Laura Dunne; Bridie Cuddy, Eimear Moynan, Denise Quigley; Maggie Hogan, Ciatriona Phelan, Rosemarie Bermingham; Eimear Delaney, Louise Mahony; Sinead Lanham, Laura Mahony, Sarah Anne Fitzgerald; Aine Mahony, Sarah Cuddy, Trish Cuddy. Subs - Amy O"Callaghan for Lanham 50mins, Sharon Moylan for S Cuddy 50m. REFEREE Morgan Conroy (Waterford).