GAA - Ladies football round up

BY JACKIE CAHILL

MEATH bounced back from their TG4 Leinster Ladies SFC defeat to champions Dublin with a 1-13 to 0-10 victory against Armagh in Sunday’s first round of All-Ireland qualifiers.

The Royals succumbed to rampant Dublin in the provincial semi-final but they showed good form at Kingspan Breffni Park on Sunday evening to account for Armagh by six points.

Meath used the first half breeze to rack up a comfortable 0-13 to 0-4 lead and although the winners managed just a goal in the second half, it was enough to see off the challenge of the Orchard County.

Armagh lost to Tyrone in Ulster and appeared to be suffering from a provincial hangover as they trailed by nine points at half-time.

Armagh did make a fight of it in the second half but Meath sealed the win when Gráinne Nulty goaled in the closing stages after Elaine Duffy’s penalty had been saved.

In the first game of a double-header at the Cavan venue, there was a dramatic finish as Down edged past Ulster rivals Donegal, with just a single point to spare.

Down, Division 2 champions this year, squeezed home by 1-9 to 0-11 as Aileen Pyers landed the winning point in stoppage time.

Donegal led by 0-5 to 0-2 at half-time but Down fought their way back into contention in the second half as Lisa Morgan struck for a superb individual goal just four minutes after the restart.

Michaela Downey and top-scorer Pyers stepped up to the mark as the Mourne County came on strong and it was Pyers who scored her fourth point in injury time to seal a sensational win and book Down’s place in round 2.

At Ballyshannon in Donegal, Sligo ran out 2-11 to 0-8 winners against fellow Connacht outfit Leitrim to book their place in the next round.

Stephanie O’Reilly led the charge for the Yeats County as the centre half forward contributed 2-3 of her side’s winning tally.

Sligo led by 0-8 to 0-6 at half-time before O’Reilly burst into life with two goals within the opening five minutes of the second half to effectively seal the victory.

Noelle Gormley was also central to this Sligo victory as she marked her return from injury with a fine display which yielded three points from play.

Gormley started the game on the bench but was brought on with just eleven minutes gone after Therese Marren was stretchered off.

Sligo produced an impressive display to bounce back from the Connacht championship defeat to Mayo and can now look forward to their next outing with renewed optimism.

ends

Results:

Sligo 2-11 Leitrim 0-8.

Down 1-9 Donegal 0-11.

Meath 1-13 Armagh 0-10.

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Sligo scorers: S O’Reilly 2-3, N Gormley 0-3, S Melvin, T Marren, A Gormley, J Mulligan & B Byrne 0-1 each.

Leitrim scorers: M Reynolds 0-4f, D McDermott 0-2, S Fowley & S McManus 0-1.

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Donegal scorers: A Doherty & N Hegarty 0-3 each, E Ward 0-2, K Guthrie, G McCafferty A O’Donnell 0-1 each.

Down scorers: L Morgan 1-1, A Pyers 0-4, K Trainor 0-2, O Fegan & M Downey 0-1 each.

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Armagh scorers: C O’Hanlon & S O’Hagan 0-3 each, M Tennyson 0-2, C Malone & M McAlinden 0-1 each.

Meath scorers: G Nulty 1-1, E Duffy 0-4, G Doherty & J Ristin 0-3 each, A Bennett 0-1 & K O’Brien 0-1 each.