Kildare 0-12 Donegal 0-10

TG4 All Ireland Ladies Senior Football Championship Qualifier

 

Kildare 0-12

Donegal 0-10

 

By Alan Gunn

 

KILDARE advanced to round two of the All Ireland Qualifiers thanks to a two point victory over Donegal at Kingspan Breffni Park on Monday.

Coming off the back of 19 point mauling by Laois in the Leinster championship not many had given the Lily Whites much hope against a Donegal side who had a fantastic victory over Armagh and pushed eventual Ulster champions Monaghan to a single point.

But Kildare dug deep in what was a very disappointing and low key encounter. Noelle Early was outstanding while Lisa Higgins excelled in the forward line. Pat Ryan also welcomed back Brianne Leahy from injury and the All Star played a major part.

Donegal though will be kicking themselves as they shot 14 wides over the hour. Kildare led at the break 0-5 to 0-3. It was a first half that will be remembered mainly for the two wonderful saves Donegal ‘keeper Roisin McCafferty pulled off to deny both Gillian Behan on 18 minutes and then four minutes later saved a Noelle Early effort from point blank range.

The standard of play from both sides did not improve much after the resumption. A three minute spell in the middle of the half saw Kildare take a strong hold of the game with four unanswered points. Inspirational in that period was player of the match Noelle Early who fired over the first of those points. The same player was involved in two of the other three in setting up both Lisa Higgins and Gillian Behan while Higgins added the other.

Trailing by six Donegal lifted their game with three points in a row. Treása Doherty, Aoife McDonnell and Yvonne McMonagle all on target. Noelle Early steadied the Kildare girls. Donegal though battled to the finish but could only cut the deficit to two.

Donegal: Roisin McCafferty, Diane Toner, Lorraine O’Sullivan, Therese McCafferty, Mari Herron, Maria Devenney, Grainne Houston, Nora Stapleton (0-1), Aoife McDonnell (0-2), Niamh Hegarty, Nadine Doherty, Treása Doherty (0-1), Bridget Gallagher (0-1, f), Roisin Friel, Yvonne McMonagle (0-4, 3f)

Subs: Karen Guthrie, Eilish Ward (0-1)

Kildare: Catriona Dolan, Donna Berry, Melissa O’Brien, Louise Conlon, Brianne Leahy, Kate Leahy, Louise Keatley, Noelle Early (0-2), Elaine Dillon (0-3, f), Hazel Mulligan, Stacey Cannon (0-2), Gillian Behan (0-1), Aodhin McBride, Simone Gilabert (0-1,f), Lisa Higgins (0-3)

Subs: Helen Sexton for Conlon, Dervla Duffy for McBride

 

 

TG4 All Ireland Ladies Senior Football Championship Qualifier Rd 2 Draw

 

Laois v Galway

Sligo v Kildare

Kerry v Down

Tyrone v Armagh