Dublin beat old rivals Laois

DUBLIN 3-12 LAOIS 0-6

DUBLIN were as sharp as the Glasnevin breeze as they earned
their second win from two outings in Division 1B of the
Suzuki Ladies NFL on the Mobhi Road. It marked John O’Leary’s
home debut as Dublin boss, and the legendary goalkeeper
was well pleased with the genial Jackies. “It was a very
good display and it was nice to win in front of the home
support because we now have three games on the road,” remarked
O’Leary.

The All-Ireland finalists had too much pace and invention
for the team they have beaten in the last two Leinster finals.
Laois offered little, and the Dubs goalkeeeper Cliodhna
O’Connor hadn’t much to distract her from the biting chill.
O’Connor did have to react quickly to collect a flick from
distinguished full-forward Sue Ramsbottom early in the second
period, but even a player of Ramsbottom’s quality could
do little to dent the determined Dubs, who had half-forward
Karen Hopkins in majestic form. The visitors were unlucky
when Kathleen O’Reilly thundered a shot off the post in
the 11th minute, but by that stage Dublin were already 1-3
to 0-1 ahead following a smartly-taken goal from Sinéad
Ahern in the third minute.

The brilliant Blues were in front by 2-6 to 0-4 at the interval,
with their second goal coming from Bernie Finlay of the
host club, Na Fianna, after a neat pass from Ashling McCormack
on 28 minutes. Dublin had complete copyright of the second
period. Finlay drilled in her second goal on 37 minutes,
and the winning margin could have been bigger only for Elaine
Kelly’s blistering drive going narrowly wide, and Laois
‘keeper Bernie Deegan making the save of the match to foil
Ahern. With their confidence now sky-blue high, the city
girls will travel to Tyrone, Roscommon and Waterford in
their bid to top the group.

SCORERS –
Dublin: B Finlay 2-0; S Ahern 1-2 (2f); K Hopkins 0-5
(2f); G Fay, E Kelly 0-2 each; A McCormack 0-1.
Laois: T Lawlor, L Brennan (1f) 0-2 each; M O’Reilly,
S Ramsbottom (f) 0-1 each.
DUBLIN – C O’Connor; S Farrelly, L Keegan, M Kavanagh;
N Hurley, M Farrell, S McGrath; O Colreavy, N McEvoy; K
Hopkins, B Finlay, G Fay; A McCormack, E Kelly, S Ahern.
Subs: S Timmons for McGrath (52); E Murphy for Fay (55);
A Cahill for Hurley (56); D Crowe and E Redmond for Kavanagh
and Ahern (58).
LAOIS – B Deegan; L Delaney, L Buggy, M McEvoy; G
Dunne, A Casey, E McEvoy; K O’Reilly, T Lawlor; A O’Loughlin,
L Brennan, M Kirwan; M O’Reilly; S Ramsbottom, G O’Connor.
Subs: M Murphy for Kirwan (22); A O’Reilly for Delaney (38).
REF – N White (Wexford).