Clinical Kingdom have too much for Cavan
FORWARD THINKING: Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh of Kerry. PICTURE: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile
Cáit Lynch led the way as table-toppers Kerry booked a home quarter-final in the race for the TG4 All-Ireland title when they had 16 points to spare at Austin Stack Park in Tralee.
The lethal Kerry full forward line of Siofra O’Shea, Caoimhe Evans and Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh contributed 1-9 to Kerry’s total on a day when Lynch was the player in a match where both sides struggled with the strong wind.
Cavan played with the breeze in the first-half but with Kerry building a 1-10 to 1-4 interval lead, it was always going to be a difficult task for the Breffni side to get back into contention.
Two early Ní Mhuircheartaigh points and a good effort from O’Shea pushed Kerry into a 0-3 to 0-2 lead after eight minutes with Aisling Walls and Emma Halton replying for the visitors. Kerry’s Danielle O’Leary scored the first of her four points from play but the Kingdom were rocked when the dangerous Geraldine Sheridan struck for a goal after nine minutes.
Aisling Sheridan added a point but Kerry corner back Ciara Murphy struck a well worked goal for Kerry in the 14th minute to bring her side right back into the contest.
Kerry outscored Cavan by 0-6 to 0-1 for the remainder of the first half though with Ní Mhuircheartaigh, Louise Galvin, Niamh Carmody, Anna Galvin, Amy Harrington and O’Leary doing the damage, and although O’Shea was unlucky to spurn a goal chance, Kerry took a 1-10 to 1-4 lead in at half time.
Aisling Gilsenan got Cavan off the mark 40 seconds into the second half with a free but by the 46th minute Kerry had raced 1-16 to 1-5 lead. A minute later O’Shea then lobbed Roisin O’Reilly with a deft flick after a fine ball from substitute Fiadhna Tangney and at 2-16 to 1-5 it really was game over.
Geraldine Smith scored a consolation goal in the 31st minute for Cavan but the last score of the game fell to Kerry’s Erica McGlynn and Kerry march forward to a home All Ireland quarter final whilst it’s a relegation play-off that awaits Cavan.
L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-5 (2f), S O’Shea 1-2, D O’Leary 0-4, R Dwyer 0-3 (1f), C Murphy 1-0, C Evans 0-2, L Galvin 0-1, A Harrington 0-1, N Carmody 0-1, A Galvin-0-1, E McGlynn 0-1.
: G Sheridan 1-1, G Smith 1-0, E Madden 0-1 E Halton 0-1, A Sheridan 0-1, A Gilsenan 0-1f.
: C Butler; A Doherty, K Cronin, C Murphy; C Lynch, E Costello, C McCarthy; L Galvin, A Harrington; N Carmody, D O’Leary, A Galvin; S O’Shea, C Evans, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh. Subs: N Broderick for McCarthy (42), R Dwyer for Ní Mhuircheartaigh (46), F Tangney for L Galvin (47), S Fitzpatrick for Murphy (52), E McGlynn for A Galvin (51).
: R O’Reilly; C Madden S Lynch, C Charters; E Madden, C Brady, R O’Reilly; N Byrd, M Cusack; A Walls, A Sheridan, E Halton; G Smith, G Sheridan, A Gilsenan. Subs: N Keenaghan for Halton (36), K McCormack for Walls (46), A Cahill for Madden (47), C McCaffrey for Cusack (47), A Smith for R O’Reilly (59).
: Patrick Smith (Waterford)
Elsewhere, Susanne White and Karen Guthrie kicked late points at Pairc Tailteann as Donegal got the better of defending champions Meath to claim top spot in Group 2 of the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
White ended the game with an impressive haul of 0-5, while the outstanding Niamh Hegarty also registered 1-3 in an excellent individual display. Emma Duggan (0-7), Vikki Wall and Niamh O’Sullivan (0-2 each) flew the flag for Meath, but the Royals face an away trip in the quarter-finals as a result of finishing second in the group.
Although O’Sullivan and Duggan (free) pointed for Meath in the early exchanges, Donegal sparked into life after corner-forward Hegarty hammered the ball to the net on eight minutes off a Katy Herron pass.
White swiftly added to their total with a pointed free, before the in-form Hegarty also raised a white flag to give Donegal a 1-2 to 0-2 cushion at the end of the opening quarter. The influential Duggan and Katie Long cancelled each other out with points at either end, in advance of the aforementioned White and Hegarty bolstering their personal tallies.
While Meath did fire back from here with three points on the trot courtesy of Duggan (two) and Meadhbh Byrne, a White free on the stroke of half-time offered the O’Donnell County a 1-6 to 0-6 interval advantage.
Yet despite Donegal kick-starting the second period with another Hegarty point, Wall and her Dunboyne club-mate Duggan split the uprights to keep the Meath challenge alive.
Donegal interrupted this scoring sequence with another White free, only for the wind-assisted Royals to restore parity by the 46th minute thanks to three unanswered points via the boots of O’Sullivan, Duggan and Wall.
The visitors then breathed a sigh of relief when Meath’s Byrne had a goal disallowed for a square ball, but Maxi Curran's side were suddenly back in sight of a second consecutive group win when White knocked over another free on 55 minutes.
Meath also lost midfielder Aoife Minogue to the sin-bin at this juncture and having been replaced at the break, Guthrie was introduced off the bench for a second time to edge the northern outfit two points in front during the dying moments.
Duggan’s seventh point cut the gap down to the bare minimum, but Donegal held out against the reigning TG$ All-Ireland champions to earn themselves a home quarter-final.
: N Hegarty 1-3, S White 0-5 (5f), K Guthrie (f), K Long 0-1 each.
: E Duggan 0-7 (6f), V Wall, N O’Sullivan 0-2 each, M Byrne 0-1.
: C Friel; N Carr, A Temple-Asokuh, E Gallagher; A Boyle Carr, Nicole McLaughlin, T Hegarty; R Rodgers, Niamh McLaughlin; S White, K Long, K Dowds; N Hegarty, K Herron, S McGroddy. Subs: K Guthrie for McGroddy (20), N Boyle for Guthrie (h-t), C McGarvey for Long (52), Guthrie for White (58).
: M McGuirk; A Sheridan, MK Lynch, K Newe; M Byrne, S Ennis, N Gallogly; M O’Shaughnessy, A Minogue; M Thynne, V Wall, E Duggan; O Lally, S Grimes, N O’Sullivan. Sub: C Smyth for Byrne (58).
: Declan Carolan (Armagh).
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