Tyrone ladies bidding to take the penultimate step

ALL-IRELAND LADIES INTERMEDIATE CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINAL

By Niall Gartland

THE Tyrone ladies are exactly where they want to be – primed for an All-Ireland semi-final showdown against Westmeath this Sunday afternoon at Carrick-on-Shannon.

Having deservedly edged an epic extra-time encounter against Fermanagh on the final weekend of June, Tyrone are now one step away from a second successive All-Ireland Intermediate final berth, and there’s optimism tempered with a natural degree of caution as they get set to take on the Lake County.

These two teams met in the group stages with Tyrone running out comfortable 6-11 to 0-7 victors on the day, but Westmeath are well and truly back on track having squeezed past a highly-rated Cavan side in their own last-eight clash.

Tyrone manager Darren McCann was delighted with his side’s powers of persistence against Fermanagh but acknowledges that they’ll need to be on their game to rubber stamp their place in Croke Park on All-Ireland final day.

“This is where we want to be – we’ll go in as underdogs, Cavan were the favourites for the All-Ireland and Westmeath beat them so they’ll now take on that mantle. It doesn’t really matter who we found ourselves coming up against – it’s the last four of the All-Ireland, it’s going to be a massive task ahead of us and it’s one we’re really looking forward to.”

Tyrone came out on top of a seesaw battle against Fermanagh, showing tremendous resilience to bounce back from the concession of a goal deep into extra-time.

It was an enthralling game of football at Kildress and McCann was delighted with the aptitude of his players.

“The girls have been outstanding since we came on board – anything we’ve asked of them they’ve done, whether it’s Knockmanny or down on the running track and I think that stood to us.

“I think we learnt a lot from our game against Down in Ulster, we didn’t handle extra-time well on that occasion. We conceded a goal against Fermanagh in extra-time and sometimes players’ heads can drop when that happens, but we finished really strongly and I think if there had been another ten minutes, we could’ve kept on going.

“Fermanagh’s a really good team but our strength on the bench made a massive impact and it’s hard to leave girls out of the team. I can’t fault any of them – I’ve said it all along that we’ve a super 34, any of them can do a job and they proved that.”

Star of the show in extra-time against the Erne County was the exceptionally talented young forward, Sorcha Gormley, who struck an unanswered 2-1 to propel Tyrone into an All-Ireland semi-final.

McCann acclaimed her performance while emphasising that it was also a brilliant team display.

“Sorcha was brilliant – it’s great to have her in your side. In the last couple of years I was coaching club minors and we were coming up against her which isn’t easy but it’s a team effort, it takes everyone giving everything and we definitely got that – it was a great team performance.”

When Tyrone met Westmeath in the group stages, they exhibited high-quality play across the field, with crucial interceptions by Grainne McKenna in defence and quick counter-attacking play leading to scores down the other end from Gormley and Aoife Horisk and an early goal from Caitlin Campbell.

The front pairing converted two points each in the first half before Aoibhinn McHugh added to Westmeath’s woes with an impressive goal from distance, which looped over the Lake County goalkeeper.

Tyrone controlled the game’s tempo with high-pressure defending and rapid counter-attacks to maintain momentum throughout the first half, before further goals after the break from Gormley, Horisk and Niamh O’Neill.

While it was a one-sided contest, Westmeath were very impressive in their recent quarter-final win over Division Two and Ulster Intermediate Champions Cavan, so Darren McCann’s Tyrone side will be determined to produce their very best when the sides renew acquaintances this Sunday.