Tipperary ladies footballers win again thanks to hard-earned victory over Roscommon

Tipperary 0-6 Roscommon 0-4

The unique setting of Fethard Town Park’s 3G pitch, where the footballers of Tipperary and Roscommon competed on an astroturf surface that had white lines for rugby and yellow lines for gaelic games, produced a unique footballing encounter in the Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 2 Round 3 on Sunday afternoon, when Tipperary prevailed in a contest that was a long way removed from the type of freeflowing, attacking fare that one would normally associate with fields of this nature.

In a contest against a Roscommon side that earned promotion from Division Three in 2022 and subsequently lost half of last year’s panel for one reason or another, Tipperary found it incredibly tough to break down their Connacht opponents, and a yellow card for Aishling Moloney late in the game left them vulnerable to a sucker punch goal, albeit that was the type of score that the Rossies never looked like creating all day long.

Yet to say that this was one of those modern, tactical, arm-wrestle style contests – which is often just a euphemism for dreadfully dull, over-coached side-to-side football – would be incorrect too.

The action was end to end, with neither side playing what could be described as excessively “defensive” football, and yet just ten points were scored (just four from play) in a contest where Tipp wing forward Emma Morrissey was the only player in a double digit jersey who emerged from the game having had anything close to a marginal edge in her personal battle.

A blow-by-blow account of the contest could be distilled down to saying that neither side really landed a knockout punch at any stage.

However, when there were glancing blows inflicted, Tipperary’s greater athleticism and star quality was the magic ingredient, as displayed when Aishling Moloney won the throw-in and split the uprights with a powerful run and finish.

Yet from that moment until the last minute of normal time in the first half, two Laura Fleming frees were the only scores registered.

A tricky breeze favoured Roscommon in that opening half, but neither side seemed comfortable shooting from distance, and neither side had the ability to beat a defender with a straight run towards goal, albeit the zero tolerance approach that referee Kevin Corcoran took to enforcing the steps rule, with very little leeway allowed, was a key factor in this.

In a game where a goal at either end would have been transformative, the Rossies got a huge reprieve when a penalty from Moloney, awarded for a foul on Róisín Daly, struck the foot of the left-hand post and rebounded to safety.

Yet two Emma Morrissey points just before half-time, which were added to by a brace of Moloney scores after the interval, still changed the complexion of the game and gave Peter Creedon’s side an 0-5 to 0-2 lead, and more importantly some room to breathe.

Corcoran frustrated both sides with his strict refereeing on the tackle, not to mention his equally strict approach to overcarrying, but he did hand Roscommon a number of dead ball chances.

Laura Fleming was on the mark with her two opportunities in the second half, though Aisling Hanly and Aisling Feely both failed to get the requisite distance on their chances from the right side of the attack, both about 30 metres out.

If there was a ‘what might have been’ moment for Roscommon here, it was Feely’s free that hung in the air and then dropped at the far post, where both Ruth Cox and Laura Fleming were there to attack it. It’s hard to be sure which player got the decisive touch, but either way the ball was smothered on the line by Lauren Fitzpatrick in the Tipperary goal.

A yellow card for Moloney after 51 minutes gave a tiring Roscommon side a fresh jolt of impetus, but they never created the goal chance they needed.

And so Tipperary are sitting pretty with three wins from three games, and exactly where they’d want to be in advance of the first of a series of crucial showdowns, a home clash with Laois on Sunday week.

Exactly where they’d want to be, even if this last leg of the journey made for uneasy travelling.

Tipperary: Lauren Fitzpatrick (Ballymacarbry, Waterford); Cliona O’Dwyer (Brian Borus), Maria Curley (Templemore), Emma Cronin (Moyle Rovers); Neassa Towey (Templemore), Lucy Spillane (Fethard), Sarah English (Ardfinnan); Anna Rose Kennedy (Aherlow), Maria Creedon (Thurles Sarsfields); Niamh Martin (Sliabh na mBan), Angela McGuigan (Eadestown, Kildare), Emma Morrissey (Aherlow; 0-2); Róisín Daly (Moyne/Templetuohy), Aishling Moloney (Cahir; 0-4, 2 frees), Ava Fennessy (Clonmel Commercials).

Subs: Clara English (Ardfinnan) for Creedon (15 mins), Rosanna Kiely (Cahir) for Daly (45 mins), Laura Morrissey (Brian Borus) for McGuigan (45 mins), Áine Delaney (Templemore) for Martin (45 mins), Elaine Kelly (Cappawhite) for Towey (58 mins), Maureen Murphy (Brian Borus) for Fennessy (60 mins).

Roscommon: Helena Cummins; Áine McGrath, Róisín Wynne, Saoirse Wynne; Ellen Irwin, Rachel Fitzmaurice, Ruth Cox; Lisa O’Rourke, Caoimhe Cregg; Laura Fleming (0-4 frees), Aoife Gavin, Niamh Feeney; Aisling Hanly, Aisling Feely, Millie Hagan.

Subs: Sinéad Glennon for Feely (42 mins), Abby Curran for Gavin (54 mins), Ella Thompson for Hagan (58 mins).

Referee: Kevin Corcoran (Mayo).