Round 2 Bord Gais Energy NFL Division 1

Kildare 0.15
Cork 4.11

Venue: Ballykelly

Following Kildares memorable win against Laois the previous week, a victory over Cork as always going to be a big task. Cork got off to the better start with a score from Juliet Murphy inside two minutes. The next few minutes were eventful with Kildare
keeper Lily Ray being sin-binned for a tackle. This resulted in a penalty and Kildare management had to respond quickly to bring on second keeper, Janice O’ Brien. The experienced Valerie Mulcahy slotted home for the rebels. It took the Kildare girls a while to settle in to their typical attractive flowing football and were wasteful at times in the forward line. Tracy Noone got the lilywhites first score after ten minutes. This was quickly followed by a Cork score from centre forward Orla Farmer. Kildare suffered an early set back loosing hat-trick hero against Laois, Cannon to a shoulder injury. Maria Moolick scored a fine long range point after 14 minutes. This seemed to be a turning point for the Kildare girls with scores coming from Hulgraine (22 and 26 mins), Earley (24 mins), O’ Malley (32 mins) and Holton (33 mins). The half time score was Kildare 0.07 Cork 1.05.

Cork notched up a quick score at the start of the second half with the speedy Orla Farmer scoring inside the opening 30 seconds. Leixlips Joanna Timmins got her name on the score sheet after two minutes. Mulcahy struck again for Cork after 12 minutes scoring a well taken goal. Kildare responded with 2 points from O’ Malley (14 and 16 mins) and one from Earley (16 mins) and drew level in the 17th minute with fine score from Robert Emmetts star, Mary Hulgraine. Nollaig Cleary goaled for Cork in the 19th minute. Two late decisions to not award Kildare a free resulted in Cork scoring on the counter attack
both times. These scores from Mulcahy (24 and 26 mins) proved to be the vital scores for the rebels. Corks 8 point victory does not reflect the Kildare girls performance. The squad will rue missed chances particularly those in the first half. Disappointment was evident in Ballykellys impressive grounds, following the final whistle. Kildare put it up to Cork for spells of the game dominating many positions on the field and they will take this as a learning process. Kildare take on Galway in the third round of the Bord Gais Energy NFL on Sunday 20th February in Ballykelly at 2pm.

Special mention to Megan O’ Connor from the Kilcock club who was Kildare mascot for the day. Megan is 10 years old and plays as a defender for her club. We hope to see her representing Kildare at senior level in the future. Well done Megan!

Kildare team: Lily Ray, Patricia Delahunt, Aishling Savage, Donna Berry (Capt), Aisling Holton (0.01), Kate Leahy, Brianne Leahy, Maria Moolick (0.01), Joanna Timmins (0.01), Deirdre Gately, Tracy Noone (0.01), Stacey Cannon, Mary Hulgraine (0.04 1 f), Noelle Earley (0.03), Catherine O Malley (0.04 2f).
Subs: Aine Gately for Cannon, Janice O’ Brien for A Gately, Angela Lyons for Berry, Aoife Jacob for Noone, Cliona Dowling for Leahy.

Scorers for Cork:
Valerie Mulcahy 3.03 (1 penalty, 2 f)
Nollaig Cleary 1.03
Orla Farmer 0.03
Juliet Murphy 0.02

Minor 2010 championship result and fixtures
Sunday 13th Feb 2010
Division 1 Semi-Final: Naas 2.10 Celbridge 3.08

Saturday 19th Feb 2010
Division 2 Play Off: Carbury v Kilcock in Carbury 2pm. Ref: Chris O’Grady
Division 3 Semi-Final: Moorefield v Kildangan/Nurney 2pm

Sunday 20th Feb 2010 12pm

Division 1 Semi-Final: Sarsfields v St Laurences
Division 2 Semi-Finals: Leixlip v Carbury/Kilcock OFF
Athy v Ballykelly
Division 3 Semi-Final: Naas v Castledermot 11am