Marvellous McGregor hits hat-trick as Waterford fire six goals in big win against Tyrone

Waterford’s Lauren McGregor scored a hat-trick as the Déise hit six goals in a comfortable victory over Tyrone in round five of the Lidl National Football League on Sunday. 

Waterford 6-15

Tyrone 0-6

Lidl National Football League Division 1 Round 5

The Deise, who came into this fixture sitting in mid-table with a win over Kildare and a draw against Dublin last weekend from their previous four rounds, has taken another huge step to consolidate their top-tier league status for next season with two rounds remaining.

The pressure continues to mount for Tyrone, who, despite having three points on the board, are in relegation territory with Mayo.

Waterford dominated from start to finish at St Davog’s, their slickness in quickly moving the ball through the hands on the attack, causing Tyrone all sorts of problems and they visitors were well on their way to victory by half-time with a 3-8 to 0-2 lead.

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McGregor got the first of her side’s goals as early as the fifth minute, setting the tone for the afternoon and with further goals from Chloe Fennell, who was a late replacement for Alice Hahesy, in the 26th minute and another from Katie Murray just before the break, the home side found themselves 15 points adrift at the interval.

They also hit seven wides as Tyrone struggled to contain their fast moving attacks. Chloe McCaffrey (free) and Meabh Mallon were Tyrone’s two first half scorers while Sorcha Gormley was the Red Hands’ most dangerous player when they could get the ball to the Carrickmore club player.

McGregor completed her hat-trick from the penalty spot in the second half as she finished with 3-2 while Kellyann Hogan got her side’s other goal as she rounded off the afternoon with a personal tally of 1-8, six points from frees.

Tyrone’s cause in the second half was not helped by the sin-binning of Niamh O’Neill while the Waterford management team could afford to give their fringe players a run out as they rung the changes in the final ten minutes with victory secured.

“Happy with the overall performance and the girls are delighted to get the victory,” said Waterford manager Tomás Mac an t'Saoir. “Great to come up here and get a display like that from the team and to build on the draw last week."

Scorers - Waterford: L McGregor 3-2, K A Hogan 1-8 (6f), K Murray, C Fennell 1-1 each, B McMaugh, A O’Neill, E Murray 0-1.

Tyrone: M Mallon 0-2, S McCarroll, N O’Neill, M Canavan  C McCaffrey (1f)  0-1 each.

WATERFORD: K Gardiner; C Murray, H Power, M Ryan; Á O’Neill, K McGrath, R Casey; E Power, E Murray (capt.); K Murray, B McMaugh, C Fennell; C McCarthy, K Hogan, L McGregor. Subs: C Walsh for C McCarthy, A Brazil for C Fennell (43), A Power for A O’Neill, E Bolger for K McGrath, A Murphy for C Murray (51), L NiHarta for E Power, A Hahesy for H Power (54), L O’Shea for K A Hogan, N Wheelan for R Casey, C Reynolds for K Murray, N Power for L McGregor (55), D Beresford for M Ryan, H McGrath for B McMaugh, O Kennedy for E Murray (56).

TYRONE: A Coyle; J Lyons, E Quinn, C Campbell; M Moore, M Corrigan, A Strain; A McHugh (capt.), M Mallon; E McNamee, S McCarroll, A Horisk; C McCaffrey, A McGahan, S Gormley. Subs: E McCanny for Moore, N O’Neill for E McNamee (ht), M Canavan for E Quinn (42), A Grimes for A Horisk (58).

REFEREE: Eddie Cuthbert (Down).