Ladies prove no match for the Kingdom
Kildare’s Alannah Prizeman and Molly Aspell after the game against Kerry in Cedral St Conleths Park Photo: ©INPHO/George Dawson
Kildare succumbed meekly to a far superior Kerry side in their opening game in Group 2 of the TG4 Ladies All Ireland Senior Football Championship in part one of the double-header at Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Saturday afternoon.
With a win against Tipperary behind them already, the Kingdom hit the ground running and were far more clinical than their hosts in a wind-assisted opening half.
Sadly, for the home side they never rose to the heights they had shown against Dublin in the Leinster Final a month previously, and looked nervous in front of the sizeable crowd, often turning over possession with sloppy passes and poor skill execution in the opposition half.
Manager Pat Sullivan made three changes to the Leinster final team with Corla Nallen replacing Rachel Fennin in goal and Meabh McDonagh and Aoife Murnane also starting in attack.
Twelve times champions Kerry had a couple of early half-chances for goal but opened their account with a point from marauding centre-back Emma Costello after six minutes.
Aoife Rattigan, set-up by the lively Aoife Murnane, equalised for Kildare but Kerry went into over-drive to add 1-5 to the scoreboard with no reply from the home side between the 8th and 17th minutes.
Livey inside forward Jadyn Lacey kick-started that scoring spree and there were further points from play from Danielle O’Leary and Niamh Ní Conchúir before O’Leary put daylight between the teams in the 15th minute, finishing to the net after Aoife Dillane and Caoimhe Evans had cut open the Kildare defence.
Síofra O’Shea and Mary O’Connell added further points to leave Kildare adrift by 1-6 to 0-1 and somewhat shell-shocked. Remember, they had only lost out by a single point when the sides met in the league in Manguard Park.
They did create half-chances for goals during that Kerry scoring spree with Murnane unable to control the ball after rounding her marker and Gillian Wheeler shooting straight at ‘keeper Mary Ellen Bolger after doing well to force the opening.
Still, they battled on and fired over quick-fire points in the 17th and 18th minutes through Molly Aspell and Alannah Prizeman and a speculative Rattigan effort crashed back into play off the corner of post and crossbar but that was the cue for Kerry to finish the half strongly. But a wide from a 13-metre free from Rattigan summed up the Kildare performance.
Lacey made it 1-7 to 0-3 before two frees from O’Shea gave the visitors a commanding nine-point advantage.
Clearly, Kildare needed a fast start to the second half to get the home crowd behind them, but it was Kerry who pushed on with four of the first five points of the half putting the game well and truly out of the Lilywhites’ reach.
Two O’Shea frees sandwiched points from play from Aishling O’Connell and O’Leary with Kildare’s only response coming from Rattigan with a free won by Murnane, leaving Kerry 1-13 to 0-4 ahead.
Aspell, playing as an attacking wing-back and one of the better Kildare players on the day, got forward to curl a beauty just inside the right-hand upright but Niamh Carmody and Roisín Rahilly pushed Kerry further ahead and after a Rattigan point O’Shea and Carmody responded for the visitors who now led by 1-17 to 0-6.
Once more, Murnane was the one who earned another Rattigan pointed free but unfortunately that was the Maynooth girl’s last act as she pulled up injured, leaving Kildare to play out the last five minutes a player down having used all five of their substitutes.
Rattigan took a quick free to try to engineer a late goal, but her shot was well-saved by corner back Éilís Lynch and O’Leary pointed down the other end before the home side responded with a superb point from Aspell after winning her own ball in defence and playing a one-two with Prizeman. Kerry substitute Kiera Furey rounded off the scoring as Kerry eased into the knock-out stages with two wins from two.
The Kingdom remarkably ended the day without having kicked a single wide, though a number did drop short.
Kildare now face a huge battle to recover in time for a winner-takes-all battle with Tipperary in the Premier County next weekend, their opponents having lost by 2-16 to 0-4 in the group opener last week.
Mary Ellen Bolger; Roisín Rahilly 0-1, Deirdre Kearney, Eilis Lynch; Aishling O’Connell 0-1, Emma Costello 0-1, Aoife Dillane; Anna Galvin, Mary O’Connell 0-1; Niamh Carmody 0-2, Niamh Ni Conchúir 0-1, Caoimhe Evans; Jadyn Lacey 0-2, Danielle O’Leary 1-3, Siofra O’Shea 0-6 (4fs).
Leah McMahon for Lacey 50, Eabha Ní Laighin for O’Connell 50, Niamh Quinn for Evans 52, Mikala Mulvihill for Ní Conchúir 55, Kiera Furey 0-1 for Kearney 57.
Corla Nallen; Hazel McLoughlin, Emma Wheeler, Lisa Shaw; Molly Aspell 0-3, Ruth Sargent, Laoise Lenehan; Nanci Murphy, Gillian Wheeler; Lara Curran, Jessica Harney, Meabh McDonagh; Aoife Rattigan 0-4 (2fs), Aoife Murnane, Alannah Prizeman 0-1.
Maya Doyle for McDonagh 39, Abaigh Cahill for Murphy 48, Amy Mahon for Shaw 48, Lia Reilly for Harney 51, Siofra Galvin for Curran 51.
Conor McCarthy (Cork).
