28 July 2009 Kilkenny 3-4 Roscommon 1-10 Share this Article 0 0 0 Shares! 0 Shares! All Ireland Intermediate Championship Sunday 26th July 2009 (Michael Forde Leinster PRO) Kilkenny 3-4 Roscommon 1-10 Kilkenny played host to Roscommon on Sunday last, and after an intense, high tempo game, the sides shared the spoils when the sound of the hooter brought the game to an end. Despite being with out their inspirational captain Catriona Corr and full back Sara McCarthy Kilkenny were up for this encounter, the Cats sheer determination and work rate saw them give their best performance to date against the recently crowned Bord Gais Energy NFL division 3 champions, and although they trailed by four points at the end of the first quarter 0-6 to 0-2, the home side continued to turn the screw on the visitors, with Breena Fennelly being called off the bench and in to the thick of the action in the second quarter. While Roscommon were kept scoreless for the remainder of the half, Marie Dargan and Miriam O Keeffe capitalised on the hard work being done by the Kilkenny backline, the Duo raised the green and white flags respectively to level the scores at the break 1-3 to 0-6. Going in to the second half, Roscommon knew that they would have to pull out all the stops if they had any hope of collecting all three points from the clutch’s of the Kilkenny ladies. The cats were still licking their wounds after their defeat to Roscommon in the Bord Gais Energy NFL semi-final last April, but it was the Connacht side that went ahead with a point from Rachel Ryan, but minutes later Jenny Reddy restored order after she came storming through the centre to collect an accurate pass from Laurena Murphy and the Thomastown girl drove the ball to the roof of Carol Manning’s net from fourteen metres to put the cats in front (2-3 to 0-8) for the first time in the game, minutes after Reddy and Manning went face to face and once again the Roscommon keeper had to retrieve the ball of the back of her net. The cats were four points clear (3-3 to 0-8), but Roscommon had not thrown in the towel just yet, the Westerners lifted their game by an extra notch, and five minutes from the end The cats were dealt a body blow when a speculative shot from Roscommon’s Tara Taylor dropped beyond Aine Sheehy’s out stretched fingers and hit the Kilkenny net to leave a point between the sides (3-4 to1-9) and with just minutes remaining, Roscommon launched a wave of attacks, Sally Teehan and Angela Kennealy excelled in the Kilkenny back line keeping Sheehy’s goalmouth secure. With the minute hand going in to its final lap of the clock, only a single point separated the sides in Kilkenny’s favour, Roscommon’s Tara Taylor gave the knife a final twist, firing over a great point to equalise, and bring the game to an end. The Kilkenny mentors and players can be very happy with their performance, but will have to up the tempo again next Sunday when Waterford visit Mullinavat. Kilkenny; Aine Sheehy, Andrea Murphy, Sally Teehan, Martina Maher, Miriam O Keeffe(0-1), Noreen O Keeffe, Niamh Whelan, Helen Murphy, Linda Cotterell, Angela Kenneally, Jenny Reddy (2-0), Laurena Murphy, Emma Nolan, Niamh Spratt, Marie Dargan (1-3). Subs: Breena Fennelly (for N. Spratt), Emer Roantree (for E.Nolan), Emer Kelly, Claire Kelly. Roscommon; Carol Manning, Feena Beirne, Louise Tully, Maria Keenahan, Lorraine McNulty, Sinead Cooney, Claire Kelly, Marla Condon, Caroline Conway, Rachel Ryan, Tara Taylor, Michelle Carey, Claire Grehan, Martina Freyne, Laura Sharkey. Referee: Richie O Connor (Tipperary). Share this Article 0 0