All-Ireland Intermediate
Championship
Group Two, R1
Westmeath v Down
Sunday, Ballynacargy, 2pm
Down ladies must hold onto the ball to stand any chance of winning their All-Ireland Intermediate Championship opener against Westmeath on Sunday. That’s the analysis of manager Colm Donnelly ahead of what will be a very difficult game against a Westmeath side who recently beat Laois in the Leinster Intermediate final.
Colm said, “The only thing we need to do well is to keep the ball better. We gave away too much cheap possession last week. We did the same against Tyrone. But it is something that we have highlighted to the girls continuously — that it is a possession-based game and it is very hard to win the ball, but we are giving it away too easily.”
Down are coming into this game after a disappointing Ulster final where they lost to Cavan by 6-10 to 1-8. “The thing for us is that they never gave up, even when the game was well out of their reach, the girls kept playing to the final whistle. In fairness, with a wee bit of luck, we could have scored a few more goals in the second half. The scoreline probably doesn’t reflect the second-half performance from the girls.”
“The result was disappointing because we thought we would be a lot closer to Cavan. Basically, the game was over after 15 minutes. For some reason, we didn’t perform in the first 15-20 minutes. The second half was all about trying to get back into the game, playing with a bit of pride, and getting some momentum for the All-Ireland series.”
But the response from the girls after that defeat was impressive. Colm said, “We went straight back to training on Tuesday night. It was a joint decision by players and management to get back on the pitch. If you had given them a few days off, then it would have been harder to get them back in and motivated. We had a really good session. There was a good effort by the girls. They played with their clubs tonight (Wednesday) and then they were back training with the county.”
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