Injury to key player adds to FloMAX Liffey Celtic woes after first defeat of the season
Liffey Celtics' Katie Williamson tries to close down Wildcats' Brooklyn Grey Photo: Noel Browne.
FloMAX Liffey Celtics hit the first bump on the road this season after they came undone in their Domino’s Women’s Super League top-of-the-table clash against SETU Waterford Wildcats in Mercy College on Saturday evening.
The pain of that defeat was compounded by the loss of Lynn Tunnah to a bad shoulder injury early in the second period, leaving Liffey shorn the services of a top guard, who has made a strong impact for the team since her arrival in the summer.
Both Celtics and Wildcats were coming into this game looking to protect an unbeaten start, but it was Waterford who moved to 3-0 at the summit, helped no end by the game-high 30 points that Brooklyn Gray served up, together with the combined 33 from Sanija Brikmane and Sarah Hickey, the latter also hoovering up 11 rebounds.
Katie Williamson did have a big game for Liffey with 21 points, while Nya Epps weighed in with an additional 15, but Celtics never once held the lead in this context, and consequently suffered their first reversal this term.
“It was a tough game playing against Waterford” admitted Liffey head coach, Hillary Netsiyanwa. “They performed really well, and they set the tone physically from the start.
“It was a really poor performance from us compared to where we were last week. We had a slow start before we made some changes and came back into the game, but then Lynn Tunnah got injured.
“It was tough to be fighting the deficit, and then seeing one of your players, seeing one of their teammates and friends go down injured and then have to continue fighting, trying to produce a performance” he sighed.
A treble by Gray, followed by a bucket from Hickey saw Waterford 5-0 up before Liffey opened their account almost three minutes in when Williamson latched on to an assist by Sorcha Tiernan and put the ball through the string.
Wildcats, however, set about establishing some breathing room by way of a nine-point run that featured free throws and a strike from downtown by Brikmane, as the hosts ended the opening quarter with a 21-14 lead.
And they drew first blood in the second period, when Gray picked up a couple off the line only to see Celtics, despite the loss of Tunnah, cut the gap to two with the aid of buckets from Williamson, Tiernan, Nya Epps and Ciara Brogan together with O’Connor’s effort from beyond the arc.
But just when it looked like they might be overtaken, Waterford pushed on again with a further nine unanswered points, Brikmane again picking up scores from the field and free-throw line, before Kaitlyn Flanagan got in for a deuce that helped propelled them 42-29 ahead by the half-time break.
The Kildare side struggled to eat into that deficit in the third, with Waterford, instead, managing to increase the gap slightly to 16 (58-42), with the aid of a seven-point run.
Celtics required something special over the closing 10 minutes if they were to threaten their opponents’ grip on this tie, and they did account for the opening six points of the fourth through O’Connor and Epps, cutting the gap to 10.
But, following a timeout, Waterford managed to steady the ship with Gray and Hickey inflicting enough damage down the homestretch to ensure their side bagged the spoils to go clear at the top of the table.
Looking ahead to another tough road trip to Killarney to face Utility Trust St. Paul’s next Saturday, Netsiyanwa stressed “We need to park this game, take the lessons from it and move on as quickly as possible, so we can be ready to produce again for the game against St. Paul's which will also be very challenging.”
Kate Hickey, Orla Dullaghan, Helena Rohan, Sarah Hickey, Kaitlyn Flanagan, Sanija Brikmane, Aisling McCann, Brooklyn Gray.
Brooklyn Gray (30), Sarah Hickey (19), Sanija Brikmane (14).
Brooke Kane, Nya Epps, Katie Williamson, Ciara Brogan, Lynn Tunnah, Clara Boyce, Sorcha Tiernan, Áine O’Connor.
Katie Williamson (21), Nya Epps (15), Áine O’Connor (8).
