Waterford’s Linda Wall leaves Donegal’s Teresa McCafferty trailing in her wake at Croke Park.    | Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Waterford’s Linda Wall leaves Donegal’s Teresa McCafferty trailing in her wake at Croke Park. | Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile SPO001

Donegal 2-12; Waterford 0-16

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The old nugget about goals winning games rang true once more at Croke Park on Sunday, as Donegal’s greater attacking edge saw off a wholehearted Waterford in an end-to-end All-Ireland Intermediate Final.
Despite Waterford’s best efforts, Donegal’s Geraldine McLaughlin and Yvonne McMonagle proved too hot to handle, with McMonagle’s second goal as powerfully struck as any registered at HQ this year.
And, try as they might, Waterford couldn’t find a way through at the other end, a telling statistic come the full-time hooter with only two points separating the sides.
Goal chances were few and far between for the Deisewomen, with Elaine Power’s 33rd minute toe-poke into Roisin McClafferty’s path proving as close as they would come.
Yet this was still a match Waterford could have won despite the lack of meaningful goal-scoring opportunities; with some poor shooting from in front of the upright letting them down more than once.
They certainly enjoyed greater possession and territory, particularly in the first half but had to work that touch harder for their scores than Donegal did over the hour.
And while the winners finished with only 13 players on the turf, the late yellow cardings of Geraldine McLaughlin and Karen Guthrie came too late to influence the game’s outcome.
Michelle Ryan’s accuracy from the dead ball kept Waterford in touch throughout a tense second half, with Donegal’s repeated fouling stymieing at least a dozen Deise attacks.
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