Dubs brush Donegal aside, Cork have too much for Kerry 

Eimear Kiely helped herself to 0-8 for Cork.

OLD FOES: Ciara O'Sullivan of Cork in action against Cáit Lynch of Kerry. Pic: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Dublin midfielder Jennifer Dunne says it was great to get another good Lidl NFL Division 1 performance under the belt at the business end of the season.

The Dubs still have a chance of reaching the Lidl NFL Division 1 Final after an impressive 2-13 to 0-6 win away to Donegal on Friday.

Mick Bohan’s side knew they needed to get a win to remain in contention and they built up a big 1-11 to 0-0 lead at half-time.

Hannah Tyrrell finished with 1-3 and although Donegal did launch a second half comeback, Orlagh Nolan’s penalty sealed the win.

“It was a good win for us. Coming up to Letterkenny for a game on St Patrick’s Day isn’t easy but we played well,” said Dunne.

“The first half went so well for us. We got our scores early and managed to build up a good lead which was what we wanted.

“That’s four wins from our six games which is brilliant and it’s great to go into the last weekend of games, and ahead of the championship, with another good performance.” 

If Mayo can even register a draw against Galway on Sunday it will doom Donegal to Division 2.

Kerry, who have already qualified for the decider, succumbed to their first defeat in a 1-17 to 2-6 reversal against Cork.

The Munster rivals clashed at Páirc Uí Chaoimh with Cork taking a 1-9 to 0-4 lead into half-time, following Hannah Looney’s goal. Eimear Kiely helped herself to 0-8 while Síofra O’Shea came on to score 2-2 for the losers.

“Whatever team Kerry put out wasn’t within our control, all we focused on during the week was what we were going to do,” said Ronayne.

“We are delighted to score 17 points as we haven’t been shooting the lights out in some games. We have been good at getting goals, missed a few again and that’s something we have to work on ahead of the Munster and All-Ireland championships.

“We have one league game left and we will prepare for another tough challenge in Meath now next weekend.” 

Kerry are still well on course for a big say in the Final but their joint-manager Darragh Long knows they need to improve after this display.

“We put ourselves in the very fortunate position of already having qualified for a league final in a few weeks’ time so we were able to change up our training routine and we expected a couple of heavy legs,” said Long.

“But still overall we wouldn’t be happy with the first half performance and there are standards we set within our group that just weren’t met.”