Kildare ladies denied at the death

LIDL NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 1 - ROUND 1

CORK 1-10 KILDARE 2-7

Kildare had to settle for a share of the spoils as they were caught at the death by Cork in the opening round in Division 1 of the Lidl Ladies National Football League.

With the last kick of the game, a Katie Quirke free earned the hosts a 1-10 to 2-7 draw on the Munster Technological University campus in Cork.

It looked like Jessica Harney had won the game for Pat Sullivan’s visitors – her 57th minute point from an acute angle keeping Kildare in front until they conceded a close range free just as the four minutes of added time had elapsed.

Kildare were the better team in the opening exchanges. A pair of points from Murnane gave the visitors an early advantage.

However, Kildare were wasteful in the first quarter. With 11 minutes on the clock, they led 0-2 to 0-1 but had already notched up five wides.

Efficiency improved later in the half as Mayah Doyle and Aoife Rattigan nudged them 0-4 to 0-3 ahead after 20 minutes. At the other end, Cork were reliant on the free-taking of Aoife Quirke. One of the scores benefitted from a 50-metre advancement as Kildare didn’t retreat quick enough after the initial foul.

Kildare were hanging onto the lead at this stage and had Rachel Fennin to thank for making a sharp save to deny Cork, keeping her side in front. This was one of two superb stops the Athy clubwoman made over the course of the hour.

The impressive Alannah Prizeman doubled the Lilywhites advantage before Cork struck the games first green flag. Melissa Duggan went up the field from corner back to slot the ball low and past Fennin. This gave Cork the lead as the clock struck 30 minutes but Kildare had one last action before the interval.

And they made it count.

An errant pass across the Cork defence was intercepted by Prizeman who hand-passed over to Murnane. The Maynooth attacker then beat her marker and blasted the ball to the roof of the net, giving the visitors a 1-5 to 1-3 interval advantage.

Cork were the better team after the break notching three of the first four second half points. This levelled the game at 1-6 apiece as the tension rose with valuable league points at stake.

Both managers made substitutions as they tried to find an edge. Mistakes also crept into the game as the match went 15 minutes without a score.

Alannah Prizeman nearly ended the scoring drought when she was remarkably left free on the edge of the square. However, her goal-bound strike was well saved by Caoimhe Richmond.

Kildare did get the ball into the net minutes later though. From 15 metres out, Murnane curled the ball away from the Cork goalkeeper into the top corner – nothing Richmond could do about this one.

However, this spurred Cork into life. Three points in a row levelled the game before Harney struck what she thought was the winner.

In the end, the host’s attacking pressure was too much and Cork won a late free that saw them take a share of the spoils.

Up next for Pat Sullivan’s charges is a home game against Armagh. The Ulster county travel south on the back of a 12-point loss to Waterford in their opening game.

SCORERS:

Cork: K Quirke 0-5fs; M Duggan 1-0; A Ring 0-2; G Ni Murchu, E Cleary, L Hallihan 0-1 each.

Kildare: A Murnane 2-2; A Prizeman 0-2fs; M Doyle, A Rattigan, J Harney 0-1 each.

CORK: Caoimhe Richmond; Melissa Duggan, Dara Kiniry, Katie Horgan; Aimee Corcoran, Sadbh McGoldrick, Rosie Corkery; Aoife Healy, Abbie O’Mahony; Rachel Leahy, Grace Ní Mhurchú, Emma Cleary; Rachel O’Regan, Katie Quirke, Leah Hallihan. Subs: Aine Terry O’Sullivan for O’Regan, 42; Kate Redmond for O’Mahony, 49; Abigail Ring for Hallihan, 49; Emma Hurley for Leahy, 56; Ciara Hughes for Corkery, 58.

KILDARE: Rachel Fennin; Emma Wheeler, Ruth Sargent, Mia Doherty; Hazel McLoughlin, Lisa Shaw, Laoise Lenehan; Nanci Murphy, Gillian Wheeler; Mayah Doyle, Ciara Wheeler, Aoife Rattigan; Aoife Murnane, Lara Curran, Alannah Prizeman. Subs: Jessica Harney for Curran, 2; Molly Aspell for Doyle, 37; Meabh McDonagh for G Wheeler, 37; Roisin Forde for Rattigan, 46; Amy Mahon for Harney, 57; Abigail Cahill for Prizeman, 59.

REFEREE: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).