Lidl NFL- Kilkenny Ladies remain competitive in Derry defeat

They may be the league’s newcomers, but the Kilkenny adult ladies Gaelic footballers won’t make life easy for anyone, as Derry found out when the sides met in the third round of the Lidl national football league at the MW Hire Training Centre, Dunmore.

Limerick and Leitrim proved to be tough opponents in the opening two rounds with the young team suffering heavy defeats.
However, it was clear from the throw in that the Kilkenny side were not going to let those past losses affect Sunday’s performance.

Within five minutes the home side had a two point advantage with both scores coming from the boot of Muckalee’s Kate Purcell. For the first time in their league campaign Kilkenny had the lead in a game.

Derry answered with four successive points which were followed by another two points for free-taker Purcell, meaning that the teams were level after 15 minutes.

Derry then began to settle into the game and rack up a few well-taken scores, including a superbly placed goal by corner-forward Annie O’Loughlin. The first half brought one more score from Kilkenny midfielder Kate Furlong, leaving Derry ahead by 1-9 to 0-5.

Kilkenny built up some great attacks in the second half with Hazel Moore finding form but they found it difficult to convert scores.

The defensive efforts by the team, notably Emily McCarthy of Kilkenny City, kept Derry at bay early on in the second half.

However, the sin-binning of corner-back Siobhan Farrell by referee Eoghan O’Neill for a third personal foul meant they were at a disadvantage for 10 minutes.

The second half kept a fast paced momentum for these 10 minutes with good scores coming from both sides including a perfectly timed goal by Clara Doheny, the first goal of Kilkenny’s campaign.

With 10 minutes left to play the scoreline was Derry 1-13 and Kilkenny 1-8.

It was at this stage that Kilkenny began to fade, perhaps a sign of the lack of county standard matches the past four years.

Derry finished off the game with five more scores to take the spoils.

Despite the defeat the Kilkenny management will be pleased with the progress made to date with the squad.

As pointed out by manager John Gorey these league matches are not about the scoreline.

This is a team rebuilding itself and each fixture fulfilled by a full squad is a success in its own right.

The fact that at only match three in their rebuilding,  the players enjoyed a somewhat closely competitive match is a very positive omen for the squad.

Next up for the ladies is Wicklow away next Sunday in the final round of the Division 4 National League.

Kilkenny - Niamh Sheehy; Siobhan Farrell, Ailish O’Neill, Aine Rohan; Sarah O’Gorman, Emily McCarthy, Sarah Smith; Kate Furlong, Ellen Lawlor; Kate Purcell, Hazel Moore, Caitlinn Moore; Jennifer O’Keeffe, Shauna Coady, Louisa Gilmore.

Subs: Clara Doheny, Eadoin Cody, Eabha Carroll, Emily Carroll, Colleen Booth, Katie Grace, Becky Lomax, Laura Power, Margaret Mary O’Shea, Kym Ryan, Jessica Scriven, Lauren East, Kelley Comerford.