Westmeath star Dowdall torments gutsy Kildare in Leinster quarters
Kildare's Aoife McCarthy breaks away from crowded ruck.
Goals proved the undoing of Kildare as they lost out to a Megan Dowdall-inspired Westmeath when the two sides clashed in the quarter-finals of the Leinster Intermediate Camogie Championship at Manguard Park on Sunday.
The talented corner forward emerged with a haul of 4-7 on the day and had a hat-trick of goals chalked up before the half-time break as the visitors powered to victory.
It was, nevertheless, an encouraging start to this game for Kildare as they accounted for the opening two points after Rebecca McDermott converted a free before Louise Murphy broke two tackles and fired over with just three minutes gone.
Dowdall got Westmeath off the mark seconds later and, while Kildare responded with a second point from Murphy, it was to prove their last score for the next 12 minutes, during which time Westmeath overtook into a four-point lead.
Dowdall inflicted all the damage in that particular surge, firing over three frees, while also rattling the net 12 minutes in.
Kildare’s cause was certainly not helped by the loss of defender Áine Conway to a bad injury just nine minutes in, but they continued to battle with further scores from Murphy and McDermott reducing their arrears to just two points by the 20th minute.
But Westmeath’s distribution into their full forward line was constantly improving and it was not long before it started to show on the scoreboard, despite passing up several goal-scoring opportunities as Dowdall saw her attempt closed down by goalkeeper, Róisín Roche after Ashley Ruane struck over when a goal appeared to be very much on.
Dowdall was again denied by the Kildare netminder when she had another go from further out, but she popped over the resulting 45 and finally netted her second major of the day four minutes later when she latched on to Shelia McGrath’s off-load and fired home.
There was still enough time for Westmeath to tag on a further two goals before the break, Amelia Shaw’s lofted ball in deceiving everyone in the goalmouth as it dropped in over the line before Dowdall again demonstrated great agility to turn her marker and hit the target.
Facing a 4-8 to 0-7 deficit at the interval, Kildare needed to act fast if they were to have any chance of hauling themselves back into contention, and they did card the opening point of the second half through Murphy just seconds after the restart.
But Westmeath responded with interest, McGrath firing the ball home both sides of the crossbar to help tighten her side’s grip on this tie.
Still, there was no faulting Kildare’s endeavour, as they hit three points without reply courtesy of Aoife McDermott and Rebecca McDermott.
But there was no doubt as to who would prevail in this contest, as Westmeath kept the scoreboard ticking thanks in no small measure to Dowdall who served up a delightful lob for her fourth goal of the day, before Caoimhe McCrossan and substitute, Olivia Kelleghan fired over to complete the scoring.
Despite the defeat, Kildare manager Rob O’Neill remained upbeat and told The Kildare Nationalist “There's a lot of positives that we can take from this. People tend to forget that this team have been together for probably three, maybe four months in total.
“The likes of Westmeath, they're an intermediate team and they're going to come with expectations. I've known them for a long time, and they’ve quality throughout.
“They emptied their bench as well today, similar to us. They want to have a look at their players as well.
“But we aspire to be in the Intermediate Division Two and, hopefully, what we're going to do in the All-Ireland Championship will go a long way in deciding that” he said.
Róisín Roche, Shauna Dunne, Áine Conway, Sadhbh Horgan, Aoife McCarthy, Laoise Mimnagh, Kate Murphy, Laura Edwards, Aoife Stynes 0-1, Louise Murphy 0-4, Allie McGrath, Rebecca McDermott 0-6 (0-3 f, 0-1 45), Niamh Mortell, Lea Sutton, Aoife McDermott 0-1.
Niamh Hegarty for Conway (9), Caoimhe O’Sullivan for Dunne and Gráinne Dowling for Mimnagh (both HT), Sophie Hazzard for Edwards and Molly Berns for Louise Murphy (both 36), Hannah Davis for Horgan (42) and Caoimhe Ní Bhuircéal for Mortell (49).
Fiona Keating, Katie Coleman, Dearbhail McLoughlin, Emily McCabe, Maria Kelly, Julie McLoughlin, Laura Doherty, Aoife O’Malley 0-1, Erin Core, Ella Reilly, Caoimhe McCrossan 0-3 (2f), Amelia Shaw 1-0, Shelia McGrath 1-1, Ashley Ruane 0-1, Megan Dowdall 4-7 (0-3 f, 0-1'45).
Olivia Kelleghan 0-1 for Ruane (33), Karen Keegan for Reilly (37), Aisling Doyle for Core (42), Orlaith Dolan for Shaw and Ellen Shaw for McGrath (both 50), Caoimhe Clarke for Dowdall, Eva Cawley for Kelly and Becca Ruane for Coleman (all 52).
Jason Buckley.
