Last gasp goal breaks Laois hearts

Leinster Ladies U-16 FC 'B' semi-final 

Laois 2-5 

Westmeath 2-6 

THE Laois U/16 ladies footballers were mere minutes away from a Leinster final, only to have their hearts broken with a last gasp goal from Westmeath. Laois were behind for large parts of the game, despite having far more chances; they finally got their noses in front late on but they simply could not hold out for the win.

The game had been originally scheduled for the LOETB Centre of Excellence, Portlaoise, but heavy rain forced a change of venue to the always robust pitch in Annanough. Laois secured a place in the provincial semi-finals with a hard-fought win two weeks ago against Carlow and this game turned out to be an even closer affair.

The hosts started the brighter of the two and opened the scoring in the fifth minute through a fine score from captain Lucy O'Reilly, but Westmeath were level seconds later through their captain Alex Kelly.

Laois took over again and raised a green flag ten minutes in with O'Reilly pouncing on a rebound to smash the ball into the net after Laura Carroll's initial shot had come back off the upright. Chloe Malone pointed for the visitors midway through the half with Kelly adding a free shortly afterwards - the game's first score from a placed ball.

Laois had a lot of possession in the first 20 minutes but failed to make that show on the scoreboard, with the visitors just a point behind. Westmeath went in front five minutes before half time when Amelie Henson beat two defenders before firing a left-footed strike beyond Aoife Mullins.

O'Reilly was leading from the front and pointed for Laois's first score in 15 minutes. The captain then slotted a free on the stroke of half time to leave the sides level at 1-3 apiece at the interval.

Westmeath were dealt a heavy blow four minutes after the restart when full forward Evie Kilmurray was shown a yellow card meaning she would spend the next ten minutes in the sin bin.

Despite the numbers disadvantage the visitors did a good job of keeping the ball in Laois territory and grabbed the first score of the half five minutes later with another free from Kelly. O'Reilly replied with another free of her own - Laois's only score with Kilmurray off the field. A lovely score from Kelly followed meaning Westmeath actually won the ten-minute period with a player less.

Restored to a full complement, Westmeath found themselves behind when Laura Carroll charged through the defence before a wonderful strike from the St Conleth’s player found the top corner of the net.

Laois's second goal was followed by a lovely strike from O'Reilly to put Laois three points in front with just seven minutes left on the clock. Kelly knocked over a point to cut the gap to two points with as many minutes left, but with the clock in the red it was an unstoppable run through from the exceptional Amelie Henson that raised a second green flag for Westmeath to put them back in front.

The visitors kept the ball magnificently in the four minutes of injury time to see out the game and book their place in the final.

SCORERS:

Westmeath: Amelie Henson 2-0, Alex Kelly 0-5 (0-3fs), Chloe Malone 0-1.

Laois: Lucy O'Reilly 1-5 (0-1f), Laura Carroll 1-0.

WESTMEATH: Sally Ryan; Katie McDonnell, Jane Byrne, Alisha White; Ericka Higgins, Sophie Padden, Lucy Martin; Emma Killian, Erin O'Faolain; Chloe Malone, Amelie Henson, Niamh Purtill; Alex Kelly, Evie Kilmurray, Eleanor Corcoran.

Subs: Maya Russell for Padden (55m), Molly Conlon for Purtill (55m).

LAOIS: Aoife Mullins (Killeshin); Kayla Lawlor (St Paul's), Lucy Whelan (St Brigid’s), Lily Brophy (St Joseph’s); Sarah Hibbitts (Sarsfields), Niamh Kehoe (Timahoe), Niamh Ryan (Shanahoe); Cara English (Killeshin), Kara Powders (Portlaoise); Jessica Horan (Killeshin), Lucie O'Reilly (St Brigid’s), Laura Carroll (St Conleth’s); Freya Jones (Crettyard), Maya Donoghue (Shanahoe), Chelsea Dooley (Killeshin).

Subs: Ashley Smith (Graiguecullen) for Ryan (47m), Aine Conroy (Clonaslee/St Manman's) for Lawlor (55m).

Referee: Ciaran Groome (Offaly)