Powerful Kildare dispatch Royals to claim Leinster U16 title
Celebration time for the Kildare U16 team after their win over Meath Photo: Karl Gormley
Kildare put in a brilliant performance last Monday afternoon in a bright and mild Kinnegad, as they powered past rivals Meath. Helped by a Catherine Murphy goal, the Lilywhites held a six point interval lead, before a second-half brace from Anna Dillon crushed any hopes of a royal revival.
It went well from the start for Kildare, as Catherine Murphy and Anna Dillon points pushed them two clear after three minutes. Grace Byrne, after a brilliant run on nine minutes, set up Catherine Murphy through on goal, and after being denied by goalkeeper Shona McCaffrey moments before, the corner forward rifled the ball into the net.
Annabelle Lundy and Amy Wall got on the scoresheet by the 16th minute, before Riona Murphy finally got Meath on the board five minutes later, which was followed by Saoirse Farrelly’s free. Catherine Murphy got the final say for Kildare five minutes from half-time to give them a 1-5 to 0-2 half-time lead.
Meath’s revival hopes were severely dented in the 40th minute when, after Grace Byrne pointed at the start of the half, Anna Dillon turned over the ball and sent the opposing net bulging. The wind was shot out of the royals sails after that, and Catherine Murphy and Grace Byrne added further scores before the lilywhites wrapped it up in the 57th minute with their third goal, when Murphy cut along the endline to find Anna Dillon, who palmed the ball into the net.
It was testament to the efforts, pressure and tackling of the Kildare defence that it took 58 minutes for Meath to register their first and only point of the match from play, which came off the boot of Riona Murphy, who kicked all of Meath’s second-half scores. Amy Wall finished off Kildare’s scoring with the last kick of the game from a free, and the lilywhites could then be crowned deserved queens of Leinster.
Sadie Burke; Breffni Nolan, Amber Blake, Kayla Mooney; Kate Hill, Sarianna Hannick, Orlaith Dempsey; Rachel Enright, Beth O’Donoghue; Caoimhe Cully, Grace Byrne 0-2, Annabelle Lundy 0-1; Catherine Murphy 1-4, Amy Wall 0-2 (0-2frees), Anna Dillon 2-1. Subs: Kali McDonald for Beth O’Donoghue (45), Doireann Lanigan for Kate Hill (51), Grace Martin for Rachel Enright, Siah McManus for Anna Dillon and Ellen Moran for Annabelle Lundy (58).
Shona McCaffrey; Emily Gannon, Veronica Quinn, Maebh Ward; Ava McGlue, Zoe O’Rourke, Lauren Cooney; Emilia Dogocher, Léana Coyne; Anna Cole, Lillymae O’reilly, Ava Smyth; Riona Murphy 0-4 (0-3frees), Saoirse Farrelly 0-1 (0-1free), Olivia McCarthy. Subs: Kayla Chambers for Maebh Ward, Isabelle Lynch for Emilia Dogocher and Rose Martin for Lillymae O’Reilly (half-time), Róise Dorgan for Olivia McCarthy (45), Neasa Magee for Ava McGlue (58).
Kevin Phelan (Laois).
