Laois and Armagh justified their favourites tag with comfortable semi-final victories over Wicklow and Roscommon respectively at Kingspan Breffni on Saturday afternoon to set up a blockbuster Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Premier Junior Championship final in Croke Park.
These two counties, both of which lost out to Tipperary by a single point in last year’s championship final and semi-final respectively, were the leading contenders before a ball was pucked in this year’s campaign and their wins in Cavan today will ensure that the first game on the bill on All-Ireland final day (August 10) should be a titanic battle.
Last year’s beaten finalists took care of business against Wicklow with a facile 4-15 to 0-3 victory, while Armagh turned on the after-burners in the second half of their match against Roscommon to prevail by 2-17 to 1-8.
Laois were pretty much assured of their final berth at half-time, building up an unassailable 3-9 to 0-3 lead at the interval.
The die was cast inside two minutes when Susie Delaney found the net after the Portlaoise forward’s initial effort was saved by Wicklow goalkeeper Leane Lifely.
Wicklow competed well in the opening quarter and were given encouragement when Ciara Connolly, Sophie Bermingham (free) and Sive Byrne found the target.
But Laois flexed their muscles further, hitting an answered 2-5 before the break. Both goals came from full-forward and player of the match Aimee Collier — the first coming from the penalty spot after the elusive Delaney was fouled bearing down on goal.
Then, in the 28th minute, Eimear Hassett’s long-range point attempt was batted into the path of Collier, and she made no mistake from close range.
There was still time for the full-forward line of Collier, Hassett and Delaney to add further points to leave Laois in the box seat at the change of ends, leading by 15 points.
Laois never relented defensively in the second half, so much so that Wicklow didn’t have their first attempt on goal until the 17th minute of the half.
Gráinne Delaney demonstrated her side’s intent with a score less than ten seconds after the throw-in. Collier added a free before Eimear Hassett grabbed a score that summed up her side’s tenacity, winning back possession before splitting the posts from 30 metres.
Collier stretched her side’s lead with another free before Hassett produced a tidy finish for Laois’ fourth goal in the 38th minute. Lifely produced a smart save to deny Kirsten Keenan but the Laois centre-forward did get her name on the scoresheet when she pointed after great work from Hassett and Collier.
Amy Daly marked her introduction with a point as the one-way traffic continued — Laois leading by 4-15 to 0-3 entering the final ten minutes.
Wicklow kept plugging away and Aedin Lowry had to produce a smart save to deny Sive Byrne, while a close-range free from Sophie Bermingham was snuffed out by the Laois defence. There were no further scores as Laois returned to the final.
In the second game, Armagh eventually got the better of a competitive, albeit inexperienced, Roscommon outfit that ran out of steam in the second half.
Rachael Merry opened the scoring for the Orchard ladies with a second minute free but Roscommon received a huge boost when Tara Naughton’s long-range free was misjudged by Ciarraí Devlin and ended up in the net.
But the Armagh goalkeeper made amends soon afterwards, saving a penalty from Naughton after Oonagh Kelly was pulled back by Gemma McCann.
Armagh, led by their captain and player of the match Ciara Hill, took over and hit the next five scores. Eimear McGeary found the net in the fifth minute after her initial shot was snuffed out by Roscommon goalkeeper Michaela Fallon.
Merry nailed two frees and added another point from play, while the impressive Sinead Quinn also split the posts to leave Armagh 1-5 to 1-0 ahead after 15 minutes.
Roscommon subsequently gained some traction, with Oonagh Kelly doing well as sweeper. Rachel Fitzmaurice will be disappointed that she didn’t find the net but she couldn’t get her shot away as she rounded Devlin.
Lily Murray and Naughton (free) eroded the deficit to three points but Merry, with a spectacular free near the sideline that bounced of the crossbar and over, Hill and another Merry free brought Armagh’s tally to 1-8 at the break.
But Roscommon weren’t out of it as Sarah Dooley and Naughton — from a 45 — left Mary Grehan’s side trailing by four points at half time.
However, Armagh put the game to bed early in the second half, aided by Quinn’s well-taken goal from an acute angle in the 33rd minute.
Indeed it took a number of outstanding saves from Fallon to prevent Armagh from adding to their goals tally as Merry — who ended up as the game’s top scorer with 0-10 — Quinn, Hill (a long-range free) and McGeary kept the scoreboard ticking over.
Naughton, Dooley and Sally Bolger tagged on points for Roscommon but Armagh were already thinking about renewing their rivalry with Laois in this year’s national decider.
