TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship semi-final: Derry v Scotland (Sunday, Fingallians, 2.45pm)
DERRY joint captain Caoimhe Moran has issued a rallying call to Oak Leaf Gaels to make the trip to North Dublin on Sunday to show their support for the county’s lady footballers as they aim to book their place in an All-Ireland final.
The Ulster side face Scotland in the Junior Championship semi-final at Fingallians in Swords on Sunday afternoon and with just 60 minutes of football between them and a first return to Croke Park on the last Sunday in September since 2008, Moran has urged everyone “to get out and support the girls”.
“I would urge everyone to get out and support the girls this Sunday,” said the midfielder. “The hard work and dedication they have put this year has been phenomenal and hopefully we can come out on the right side of the game on Sunday.
“Personally it would mean the world to get to Croke Park; it's what every player dreams of and in terms of Derry football I think it would be the boost that the county needs. But our focus is definitely on Scotland this Sunday, we have to perform to our potential as a team and earn a place in the final.”
Derry, just as they were against Carlow in the quarter-finals last weekend, will go into this last four clash as favourites, but despite being tipped to progress to the final hurdle, Moran says they need to improve on their Carlow performance.
“It was good to get a win under our belts against Carlow but we weren't satisfied with our performance as a whole,” she said. “We took our foot off the pedal at the start of the second half, plus being a player down to the sin bin we allowed Carlow to come back into the game. We also missed a lot of scoring chances so we have been working on that this week as we cannot afford to make those same mistakes again this Sunday.
“One strength that the management have taken from Sunday is the depth of our panel. They made three or four changes to the lineup from the Lancashire game and we had quality subs who came in off the bench which helped us push on in the second half.”
“I'm not sure that the favourites tag really applies, we know very little about Scotland but we are not taking them for granted as any team in an All-Ireland semi-final is going to be hard to beat.”
