Angry Kildare won't settle for last eight berth

The Lilywhites stunned Armagh on Saturday but manager Pat Sullivan wants more.

Mon, 23 Jun, 2025 - 07:20

John Fallon

Kildare manager Pat Sullivan said reaching the quarter-finals of the TG4 All-Ireland Championship is the stuff of dreams — but they are not going to settle for that after seeing off Armagh to reach the last eight.

“It’s hard to put into words. Nobody outside of our circle gave us any chance. We drew with teams and beat teams in the league but we were still given no chance. We had a lot of anger and this is a really good squad. Our first year in Division One, there’s no player in this circle has ever been in an All-Ireland quarter-final.

“So for them to achieve what they’ve achieved is a dream and we’re not there to make up the numbers, we’re there to give it everything and we’re delighted to be there,” said Sullivan after their superb 1-12 to 1-10 away to Armagh.

The sides were deadlocked at 0-6 apiece at the end of the opening half. Kildare captain Laoise Lenehan edged them in front after the restart and then after an exchange of points struck a major blow when she finished to the net after being set up by Roisin Byrne.

Armagh responded well after Kildare extended the lead to five and captain Lauren McConville fired home a goal after being set up by Niamh Henderson, before Aimee Mackin cut the gap to the minimum but Mia Ryan’s second point wrapped up the win for the Lilywhites.

Tipperary never trailed as they beat Donegal by 0-11 to 1-6 in Bansha to set up a quarter-final against Meath after their best performance of the year.

A superb display from Anna Rose Kennedy helped Tipperary to 0-8 to 0-3 lead at the interval before extending it with a couple of points from Aisling Moloney after the restart.

“In the first half we really controlled the game,” said Tipperary manager Ed Burke. “We kicked some lovely scores from distance, we were patient, and we restricted their scoring. It was a real serious Tipperary team performance.

Goals in each half from Katie Quirke sent Cork into the quarter-finals as they held off a late Mayo fightback in Castlebar to advance by 3-8 to 1-10.

“The goals were crucial scores,” said Cork manager Joe Carroll. “We started fairly well but I thought we rushed the play a small bit. We got our kicks blocked down a few times and took a few shots we needn’t have, that’s something we need to work. We were better at it in the second half.

“We’ll just have to get ourselves ready for Dublin, an exceptional team. They won the Leinster championship, so we’ll have some work to do to beat them.”

Cork led by 2-3 to 0-6 at the break with Máire O’Callaghan shooting to the net in the opening seconds of the contest. Mayo fought back in the second half and points from Sinead Walsh and a goal from Annie Gough reduced the gap but Cork held on to set up a quarter-final against Dublin.

“The last few weeks at this level, we haven’t been aggressive in the second half,” said Mayo manager Liam McHale. “We went down to Kerry and played well in the first half but only scored a point in the second half against the wind. We had a couple of goal chances but we couldn’t seem to catch a break.”

Waterford had six different goalscorers as they ousted Leitrim by 6-16 to 3-4 in Carrick-on-Shannon to book a quarter-final date with Galway.

“The first 15 minutes their backs were on top of us the whole time and we were finding it hard to get our shots off,” said Waterford full-forward Clare Walsh. “Any shots the first few minutes their keeper saved them. Once we got into the flow, the points and the scores came. There were loads of scorers and some of our backs were up there too.”

Lauren McGregor and Karen McGrath found the net in the opening half to lead by 2-7 to 1-1 at the break, with Laura O’Dowd getting the Leitrim goal.

Waterford pushed on for victory with further goals from Brid McMaugh, Katie Murray, Clare Walsh and Megan Dunford sealing the win, with Leitrim pushing them all the way with goals from Rachel McIntyre and Aisling Quinn.