Cavan Ladies Cruise Past Down

 

It was all too easy for the Cavan Ladies as they recorded a comprehensive win over Down in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies SFC qualifiers in Clones on Saturday.

A devastating reply from the Breffni County saw them amass a 5-14 to 0-1 lead by half-time and in the second period the competition for places was evident as a number of substitutes got on the scoresheet.

Aisling Doonan was outstanding in the Cavan full-forward line, scoring 3-10, while Roisín O’Keeffe was excellent too, scoring eight points from right half-forward. The game wasn’t even three minutes old when Catríona Smith struck for the first Cavan goal, making it 1-1 to no score, and though Kate McKay’s free got Down off the mark after that, it was their only score of the first half.

In contrast, Cavan were rampant, with Rosie Crowe adding a second goal while Erinn Galligan and Donna English were among the points. Doonan added two goals in the 19^th and 20^th minutes to make it 4-9 to 0-1 and the score was 4-14 to 0-1 when the attacker completed her hat-trick with a penalty just before half-time.

Sisters Aishling and Geraldine Sheridan were introduced into the Cavan attack at the interval and both of them made strong cases for inclusion in future games. Aishling had two goals scored inside four minutes and then Smith raised her second green flag. While Natalie McKibbin and Cushla Savage scored Down points, Geraldine Sheridan made it 9-15 to 0-3 on the three-quarter mark.

O’Keeffe and Doonan continued to keep sending points over and another sub, Beth Farrelly-McGee, got the 10^th goal on 49 minutes. Between there and the end, O’Keeffe and Doonan each scored two more points, with Farrelly-McGee and Geraldine Sheridan each getting one, leaving 52 points between the teams at the finish.

 

Scorers for Cavan: A Doonan 3-10 (1-0 penalty, 0-2f), R O’Keeffe 0-8 (0-3f), C Smith 2-1, A Sheridan 2-0, B Farrelly-McGee 1-2, G Sheridan 1-1, R Crowe 1-0, E Galligan 0-2,D English 0-1.

Scorers for Down: M McKay (0-1f), N McKibbin, C Savage 0-1 each.

CAVAN: J Kane; S Lynch, G McCabe; E McDermott; S Reilly, J Moore, S Greene; M Sheridan, R Crowe; R O’Keeffe, D English, S King; A Doonan, E Galligan, C Smith.

Subs: G Sheridan for King, A Sheridan for English (both half-time), E Walsh for Kane (37), B Farrelly-McGee for Smith (57), K McIntyre for Green (45).

DOWN: D McCourt; A Greene, L Mason, K McGowan; N McKibbin, S Brannigan, S McCann (25); A Marks, K McKay; A Magee, C Hendron, L Duffy; N Toner, C Savage, E McDowell.

Subs: L Holland for Toner (half-time), B McElern for Marks (35), T McDade for Hendron (49), E Savage for McCann (50), E Madine for McCourt (55).

Referee: J Niland (Sligo).