All-Ireland champions end Kildare dreams
Roisín Byrne of Kildare in action against Eilís Lynch of Kerry during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship quarter-final at Austin Stack Park in Tralee, Kerry Photo: Tyler Miller/Sportsfile
Kildare’s All-Ireland dreams ended at the hands of a ruthless Kerry side at Austin Stack Park in Tralee this evening.
Síofra O’Shea showed her class with a stunning total of 3-2 but a controversial penalty decision that went against Kildare at a key moment in the first half certainly had a bearing on the outcome.
Although 10 points separated the sides at the end, the game was a tighter contest than that and Kildare will be wondering how things would have ended had Alannah Prizeman’s 36th minute shot found the net rather than being blocked on the line by Kerry captain Cáit Lynch.
In front of a crowd of over 5,000 people, Kildare made a flying start and scored the first four points of the game, Alannah Prizeman scoring her first two of a total of seven points during that spell.
That home support were wondering if they would be witness to a major upset but they urged their team on and got a response when O’Shea tapped home her first goal in the 10th minute after Mary Hulgraine had saved Emma Costello’s initial shot.
The game’s controversial moment arrived in the 27th minute. Mia Doherty’s pass out of defence was intercepted and Kildare were caught shot as the ball was played into O’Shea. However, Lia Reilly made up huge ground to get back and force O’Shea into shooting wide. The referee seemed to be in a perfect position to make the call himself and made no signal and it was only after a lengthy discussion with his umpires that he awarded the penalty.
O’Shea converted and Kerry led 2-5 to 0-7 at half time.
After Prizeman scored the first point of the second half, her shot was cleared off the line shortly after and that proved the turning point. Kerry quickly scored two points down the far end and when O’Shea completed her hat-trick in the 40th minute, the game was up for Kildare.
They kept pushing and Prizeman and Róisín Byrne went close to a consolation goal in the dying minutes but the final whistle signalled the end of a wonderful season for the team and the hope will be that they can use this experience to push on to bigger and better things next year.
KERRY: Mary Ellen Bolger; Eiís Bolger, Deirdre Kearney, Cáit Lynch, Aishling O’Connell, Anna Galvin 0-1, Aoife Dillane; Mary O’Connell, Emma Costello; Niamh Carmody 0-2, Niamh Ní Chonchúir 0-1, Caoimhe Evans, Rachel Dwyer 0-1, Síofra O’Shea 3-2 (1-0pen, 0-1f), Danielle O’Leary 0-4. Subs: Róisín Rahilly for Galvin, 46; Katie Brosnan 0-1 for Dwyer, 46; Fay O’Donoghue for Kearney, 51; Kayla O’Connor for Lynch, 53; Niamh Quinn for Carmody, 58.
KILDARE: Mary Hulgraine; Mia Doherty, Molly Aspell, Lia Reilly, Lauren Murtagh, Ruth Sargent, Laoise Lenehan; Ciara Wheeler 0-1, Lisa Shaw; Gillian Wheeler 0-1, Aoife Rattigan 0-1, Ciara Moran, Lara Curran, Alannah Prizeman 0-7 (5fs), Róisín Byrne 0-1. Subs: Miah Ryan for Moran, 37; Amy Mahon for Murtagh, 41; Ellen Dowling for Rattigan, 48; Siofra Galvin for G Wheeler, 51; Claire Sullivan for Shaw, 53.
REFEREE: Kevin Phelan (Laois).
