Tyrone Ladies Hoping To Maintain Winning Run

Saturday 18.02.2017

County

LIDL NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIV 2

Tyrone V Westmeath Sunday 2pm Healy Park

Tyrone are keen to maintain their 100% winning start to their division two campaign as they welcome Westmeath to Healy Park on Sunday . There’s been wins over Sligo and Kildare so far but manager Gerry Moane is well aware that the Midlanders head North full of confidence. He has reshuffled his side too with Slainne McCarroll and Laura Kane ruled out with long term injury issues and Niamh McGirr unavailable now for several months.

While two wins from two looks good the performances have been mixed for Tyrone. They began with a quality outing against Sligo and followed that with a lack lustre showing at Newbridge against Kildare. However the two wins leave Tyrone top of the table and that’s the place that Moane could only have dreamt of after relegation last term.

Westmeath come to Omagh on the back of a win over Cavan and a loss to Sligo. Stephen Maxwell’s side lost narrowly to the Yeats girls a fortnight ago and Maxwell used the mini-break to regroup and try and get several players back in harness. The Westmeath boss is keen to see a quick response after that loss with more expected from full forward Laura Walsh, centre forward Maud Foley and Lucy McCartan this weekend. St Loman’s Aileen Martin is expected to make a return to the starting fifteen after a late withdrawal last time out and Maxwell remains focused on taking the three points.

The visitors full back Jenny Rogers could well have her hands full facing a back to her best Gemma Begley although the threat of Walsh, Foley and McCartan could leave the likes of Joanne Barrett, Neamh Woods and Christiane Hunter facing a busy afternoon. Tyrone veteran Gemma Begley says that Westmeath will prove difficult to turn over at Healy Park.

“They are always flying fit and can play football too. They ran Mayo close in the senior championship quarter final  last season. They have plenty of experienced players too and they have excellent forwards who will test our defence. They always have that scoring threat.”

Moane has confirmed that he will carry an extended squad of forty players through the year. That is a sign of changed times for the manager who admitted that it wasn’t that long ago that they struggled for numbers. The return of Begley has been a well timed shot in the arm for the manager. Tyrone have also been helped by the welcome return to the squad this week of Shannon Quinn-Cunningham after her extended honeymoon. That news has given the whole squad a boost after a poor enough performance against Kildare admitted Moane.

“ We didn’t play well against a very physical Kildare and that has to be a worry for us. We have looked at the game again. It was clear that we gave the ball away far too much and we failed to take key chances that came our way often enough. We have to be more clinical and we can’t just rely on Gemma. It’s all simple stuff and there’s no need for massive wholesale changes this week. We just have to be better and we must step it up another level,”

That said Tyrone is the only team in division two with that 100% record and with the competitive nature of this league that has to be a massive bonus even at this early stage.