Local players shine as Dubs reach semis

THE DUBLIN senior camogie team booked their place in the All-Ireland senior camogie semi-final for the first time in 27 years with a stunning victory over Wexford in Semple Stadium on Saturday.

The Blues had to play their heart out as they overcame a highly fancied Wexford outfit 1-16 to 0-12 in a cracking enncounter.

There was many heroes on the day, but St Jude’s player Faye McCarthy who started in goal, played a huge role in Dublin’s win.

Indeed she scored two vital points, saved a penalty just before the break and pulled off numerous stops and was named Player of the Match as the Dubs pulled off an historic win.

On top of this, of Dublin’s 1-16, 1-11 came from play as they battled hard throughout and registered scores at vital stages.

Wexford opted to play against the elements in the opening half and started brightly with a couple of points before Aisling Maher popped over a point on eight minutes.

This score gave Dublin a big lift and they broke through for the next seven points with Maher, Siobhan Kehoe and St Jude’s defender Hannah Hegarty pushing forward for a great point mid-way through the half.

Lucan Sarsfields Ali Twomey set up Maher for another point before the latter added another before the break.

Dublin were four clear at this stage and needed this lead heading into the second half.

In a dramatic twist to the end of the first half, Wexford were awarded a penalty but Faye McCarthy saved this effort superbly from Sarah O’Connor.

On the change over, McCarthy was called into action again when she denied Wexford a goal, but they did land a couple of points to pull back into contention.

Wexford were piling on the pressure at this stage and looked to be stretching Dublin – but then another crucial twist in the game arrived.

Wexford had hit four unanswered points before Lucan Sarsfields Ali Twomey blasted home a goal after good work from Mairi Moynihan and Emma Flanagan saw Siobhan Kehoe rifle her shot at goal, but her effort was blocked out.

Twomey was on hand to flick the sliothar to the back of the net, sending  the Dubs on their way.

McCarthy added a free and with Hegarty and Flanagan impressing, Dublin continued to push forward as they held out for a brilliant win.

“We’ve been hitting 30-minute and 40-minute games, but we hadn’t produced the 60 minutes” said Dublin manager David Herity. “We knew it was in them and they showed it there. It was an incredible performance.

“We knew how good Wexford are. They’re in the semi-finals every single year. It’s 1990 since Dublin were in a semi. We knew we were up against it.

“We were feeling very confident going in. I know people had us as 6/1 outsiders but we knew deep down ourselves what we could do when we put our minds to it. The workrate, the skill that’s in the team, we’ve been saying it all year.

“There’s a revolution happening in Dublin. The U16s, the minors, the premier juniors were all in All-Ireland semi-finals. It was up to us to stand up to the plate and get the seniors into it and we’ve done our job. I’m delighted.

“We know we’re going to have to up it again, but it’s great to be there.”