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You are > Home > McGeeney and Hopkins stuff Dubs
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Wednesday, March 10, 2010
McGeeney and Hopkins stuff Dubs
Roscommon 6-13 Dublin 0-5
Roscommon got their National Camogie League campaign back on track last Sunday with a comprehensive victory over Dublin at Athleague.
The Metropolitans were no match for the home side on the day.
In truth the game was over as a contest by the end of the opening quarter with Roscommon leading by 3-5 to 0-1.
Roscommon began their Division Three League campaign in positive fashion with a win over Kildare but they slipped up against Meath in their second outing at the end of February.
It meant the game against Dublin was vitally important if they were to retain any hope of reaching the knockout stages.
The Roscommon ladies were well up for the challenge and Kelley Hopkins, in particular, was on fire during the opening quarter.
The full forward opened the scoring on two minutes with a free from 40 metres. Sixty seconds later she was latching onto a rebound to score Roscommon’s first goal of the game.
The initial shot from Claire Curley was blocked under the crossbar by the ‘keeper but Hopkins showed good anticipation to continue her run into the square and avail of a tap-in to the net.
Two minutes later, an identical scenario presented itself and once again the full-forward took advantage. This time the initial shot came from the stick of Patricia Lennon.
Hopkins added another free in the seventh minute before Dublin broke their duck with a point from Dearbhla Brennan three minutes later.
A good ground strike from 16-year-old debutant Ciara Kelly sailed over the bar to restore Roscommon’s eight-point lead in the 11th minute.
Further points came from Curley and Niamh Coyle before Annette McGeeney hit Roscommon’s third goal of the game in the 15th minute.
Dublin switched their goalkeeper, Hannah McInerney, into the half forward line during the first-half and brought midfielder Aine Power back to the Number One position.
The Roscommon onslaught subsided for a while but the Dubs still faced a mammoth 13-point deficit at half-time, 3-6 to 0-2.
The away side did show some spirit in the early stages of the second period but they could not make an impact on the scoreboard.
They hit four wides in the opening ten minutes before centre forward Mairi Moynihan finally found her radar with a sweet strike from 50 metres.
Roscommon, meanwhile, kept notching up the points with strikes from Curley, Sinead O’Brien and McGeeney.
Then McGeeney hit her second goal of the game, and Roscommon’s fourth, in the 42nd minute.
The Athleague sharpshooters completed their hat-tricks in the closing quarter of the game.
Hopkins was first to the three-goal mark, firing a close range shot to the net in the 45th minute. Ten minutes later, McGeeney caught up with her club colleague as she drove through the centre before flicking the ball past an onrushing Power.
With the game long over as a contest, Niamh Coyle gave supporters something to cheer about with a wonderful piece of skill near the touchline in injury-time.
With three Dublin players around her, last year’s Soaring Star shielded the ball before proceeding to flick it into her hands by jumping with the ball held between her feet.
She then burst out of the pack and fed McGeeney for the final score of the game.
Coyle’s piece of skill summed up the gulf in class between the sides but there will be much sterner tasks ahead.
Roscommon welcome an unbeaten Laois side to Athleague next week so there will be no room for complacency against the highly fancied Leinster outfit.
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