Something else.
Tipperary and Cavan’s Division Two League final clash in Parnell Park on Sunday was as tight a game as you’ll see. Every time Cavan would score, Tipperary would go down the other end and do the exact same thing.
And that pattern continued deep into the game. In the end, Tipperary were deserving winners, scoring 20 times in comparison to their opponent’s 13. The women in black showed serious resolve in the Donnycarney sun. Three times, the Breffni County struck them for goals that would have broken a lesser team but they just came back with more, more and more again.
The whole of this Tipperary team deserve credit for their courage in the face of adversity. Orla O’Dwyer kept driving forward, Aisling McCarthy was inspired and when the kitchen sink was thrown at them they’d just steady themselves before firing it back twice as hard.
Has this ever happened before? https://t.co/a6Z6cDVqFy
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) May 6, 2018
Player of the Match Aishling Moloney was the main instigator behind it all, however. A sign of a good player is that they perform at their best when the stakes are at their very highest, and when their team really needs them to stand up.
The cool, calm and collected Cahir forward only thrives under the pressure. She gets better with it.
Every time Cavan would strike for a goal, it was the DCU student who would show for possession, who would settle the whole thing down again, who would put her teammates at ease because they know that when she’s on the ball, there is always a chance.
There’s more than a chance. As if she’s playing against a hopeless bunch of six-year-olds in her own back garden, she’d stride over them relentlessly, she’d tease them with the possibility of getting the ball before taking off and leaving them in her vapours.
On countless occasions on Sunday she collected the ball from deep and ghosted past Cavan victims as if they weren’t even there. This deep, running game saw her press forward to kick five of the finest points from play, but the number of frees she won, killer passes she provided, chances she created, was game changing.
You could actually see the Cavan players getting so frustrated as they couldn’t even lay a glove on her.
But this talent is no secret by now. Last year she was the star turn as her county won the Division Three League title and the intermediate All-Ireland. This year, she was the match-winner for DCU in the O’Connor Cup final. In truth, any team that has Aishling Moloney always has a chance and Shane Ronayne’s charges shouldn’t be underestimated by anybody this year.
While her relaxed, deceptive running is on a level similar to that of her county man John McGrath, her accuracy from the boot is also noteworthy.
Without breaking stride she winds up in a free-flowing movement, never rushing herself. She gets that yard of space, makes it look like she has all the time in the world before swinging her leg gracefully down and past the ball, before following through so purposefully.
Like a good golfer lining their shoulders at the flag, her boot follows the ball out towards the goals and that’s the direction it goes.
Watch some of the points she scored today courtesy of TG4 to learn a thing or two.
An scór faighte ag @MoloneyAishling do @TippLadiesFB @LadiesFootball #serioussupport pic.twitter.com/unn8dVTxnQ
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) May 6, 2018
That poor Cavan defender must have been dizzy.
Déanta go hálainn ag @MoloneyAishling do @TippLadies @LadiesFootball @CavanLGFA 2-07@TippLadies 0-15#serioussupport pic.twitter.com/bTi0B5oGR3
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) May 6, 2018
She’s a class act.
Laoch na hImeartha @MoloneyAishling ó @TippLadies @LadiesFootball #serioussupport pic.twitter.com/AHQUs3efQp
— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) May 6, 2018
