Hard work leads to league points for Kilkenny

A sharp attack and a hard-working defence proved to be a winning combination as the Kilkenny Ladies First team picked up some precious Leinster League points at the weekend.

The Cats welcomed Avoca to Kilkenny College on Saturday for a much anticipated league game.

The visitors started strongly, giving Kilkenny few opportunities to break into any scoring chances.

Avoca’s persistence almost paid off after eight minutes when a well worked ball was shot into the goal mouth only for goalkeeper Kate Freeman to lay down the gauntlet and send it crashing back out to a relieved defence.

Freeman again came to the rescue moments later when she saved an aerial shot to the top left corner. The first quarter came to an end scoreless, the break giving Kilkenny a chance to regroup.

The Cats duly responded with a much more attacking mindset at the start of the second quarter. Their just reward came after five minutes when they were awarded their first penalty corner of the game. A crashing shot from Anna-May Whelan, Kilkenny’s MVP, from the top of the circle gave Kilkenny the lead.

Kilkenny’s defence were made to work hard and that they did sustaining a massive amount of pressure from the Avoca attackers.

With the game moving into the second half Avoca showed they were not going to lie down easily. However, Kilkenny weren’t about to fold. Their fortunes doubled when again Whelan took a quick free and crashed a ball into sharpshooter Sue Shirley who deflected past the goalkeeper with exact precision.

In the final quarter Avoca looked to claw back the 2-0 deficit. They did manage to pull a goal back from a well worked penalty corner routine and, despite being awarded three more corners in the dying minutes, they could not manage to take a share of the spoils.

Coach Gavin Bourke, along with a huge cohort of Kilkenny supporters, could not contain their joy at the final whistle as the Cats managed to bag themselves three vital points.

Next up is trip to Clontarf in a fortnight’s time where Kilkenny will hope to keep up their winning streak.

Kilkenny Firsts - Kate Freeman, Lynn Chadwick, Ciara Clarke, Niamh Spratt O’Shea, Emma Simmons, Sarah Wilson, Anna-May Whelan, Sinead Connery, Lily Grace, Laura Walsh, Claire Phelan (C), Paula Farrell, Gemma O’Dwyer, Sass Thompson, Sarah Browne, Sue Shirley.

Coach - Gavin Bourke.