WA teams capitalise in Semi Finals

Gaelic Games - Perth 2006 - Day Five Review

Semi-finals day saw all the local teams perform well, with Western Australian sides going through to grand finals in all divisions.

The senior WA side, after beating Queensland in the first semi final, will now face Victoria in the grand final, after the southerners ended New South Wales’ campaign for a fourth consecutive title in the second semi.

The Western Australian women are looking strong for their title defence against Queensland, in what will be a rematch of the 2005 grand final.

The WA minors’ grand final will be an all-WA affair, after Queensland was knocked out in the semis by the WA Black Swans, who will now face WA Gold.

The hurling final will take place between Western Australia and New South Wales, as they are the only two teams in the competition.

Seniors: Qld v WA

The locals made their mark early on semi-final day, with the WA seniors taking a strong win over Queensland to go through to the grand final.

The WA side showed dominance from the start, with Michael O’Callaghan on fire scoring three goals and four points to help his side along to a strong 4-8 (21) 0-1 (1) lead at half time, with Martin Kennedy contributing the other goal.

The home side continued to control the game in the second half, keeping Queensland from scoring at all.

The Queenslanders worked hard to get the ball into their own territory, but the WA defence was too tight, forcing a number of turnovers.

While WA only managed one goal for the second half, from Kris McEntee, the over count was high, leading to a fulltime score of 5-18 (33) to 0-1 (1).

Women: WA v WA Black Swans

The defending champions didn’t give their WA counterparts the Black Swans as much grief as they did the Queenslanders, but took away a comfortable 1-15 (18) to 0-1 (1) win nonetheless.

Play was fairly even to begin with, but WA emerged to take control of the game, with the ball remaining mostly in its own half for the end of the first half and much of the second.

The titleholders only held a 0-6 (6) to 0-1 (1) lead at half time, but held their opponents scoreless for the second half to increase the winning margin to 17.

Kelsey Jones scored the only goal for the match in the second half, also contributing two points, while Renae Campbell again scored well with five points.

Other scorers were Shelley Matcham and Lydia Padgett for the winning side, while Anna Haynes scored the only point for the Black Swans.

Minors: WA Black Swans v Qld

The Western Australian Black Swans got off to a good start and seemed to have the edge in the opening stages of the game against Queensland, scoring the first points and holding the visiting side scoreless until around 15 minutes into the game.

However the Queenslanders soon caught up and brought the score level at two all, before WA’s Daniel Alsop scored a goal to put the Black Swans ahead.

Then a Nick Black goal for Queensland right on halftime had the scores deadlocked at 1-3 (6) to 1-3 (6) at the break.

The Black Swans came out strongly again in the second half, putting the first points on the board and managing to maintain the upper hand of the game for most of the half, only allowing Queensland two more points for the match.

Goals to Scott Lewis and Sean Doyle in final stages of the match put the result beyond doubt as the locals posted a final score of 3-8 (11) to 1-5 (8).

Hurling: NSW v WA

The first hurling match of the Championships was a competitive one with Western Australia bringing home a win after New South Wales led for most of the game.

New South Wales opened the scoring and soon had a goal on the board thanks to David Walsh, putting the visitors ahead 1-7 (10) to 0-3 (3) midway through the first half.

Play continued evenly and New South Wales kept up its lead to go into the break 1-9 (12) to 0-6 (6).

New South Wales continued to have the upper hand in the opening stages of the second half, scoring the first points again.

However, as the visiting side tired the WA side picked up, with a goal from Dermot McDermott turning the tables midway through the second half to threaten the New South Wales lead.

A second WA goal, this time to Diarmaid Grace, put the home side ahead in the dying stages of the game, and stayed ahead to record a 2-11 (17) to 1-12 (15) win at the final whistle.

Women: Qld v Vic

The Queensland women set themselves up for a rematch of the 2005 grand final against Western Australia after taking away a 3-10 (19) to 0-5 (5) win over Victoria in the semi final.

Queensland appeared to have the upper hand in the first half, although the scores remained close.

However, goals to Grainne Heduan and Michelle Cubis and three overs by Mel Cowie gave the Queensland side a good lead heading into the break, with a halftime score of 2-6 (12) to 0-3 (3) giving the girls in red some breathing space.

The second half saw the Victorians gain more possession and pressure the goal area, but the hard work didn’t convert into points as the Queenslanders forced the turnovers, with Megan Oliver performing well at fullback, backed up by Karen Edgerton.

Cowie scored Queensland’s third goal to consolidate her side’s lead, while Cubis and Jen Smith added two overs each to the scoreboard, increasing the Queenslanders’ winning margin to 14 points at fulltime.

Seniors: NSW v Vic

The last match of the day saw Victoria end New South Wales’ campaign to be the first senior team in Australasian history to win four consecutive championships, with the Victorians coming away with a 0-15 (15) to 1-6 (9) win to put themselves in the grand final.

It was New South Wales who got off to a good start, with Paddy Matthews opening the scoring with a goal in the first few minutes of play.

Both teams played evenly for much of the first half, but Victoria began to hold more territory towards the end of the half, chipping away with one-pointers as New South Wales gave away some turnovers.

The Victorians held a narrow 1-1 (4) to 0-6 (6) lead at halftime, and managed to hold onto the lead for most of the second half.

Danny Bourne contributed well for the Victorian side with five points, while Eoin Quinn kicked four and Ciaran Rabbit and Kael Downes helped out with two each.

Connor Evans worked hard at fullback for New South Wales, while the Victorian backs played well to keep the ball up the other end of the field, with Paddy O’Farrell effective at centre halfback and Joe Kelly a stand-out in the midfield.

Paddy Matthews added two overs to his points tally while Mal Cunningham was the other main contributor for New South Wales with four points.

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