Kilkenny's purrrfect day!

WICKLOW 3-1. KILKENNY 6-3.

Wicklow’s U-16s girls came up against a strong
kilkenny side when they met on Saturday last in
Aughrims community field. Witin two minutes of
the throw in, kilkenny’s sharp shooter Marie Dargan
had put the ball past Paula Fox in the Wicklow
goals,Movita Murphy responded for Wicklow against
the run of play with a well executed goal in the
sixth minute, however it was a very determined
and physical Kilkenny side that were dominating
play in all areas of the field, Wicklow were struggling
with the high tempo that the visitors had set,a
tactic that paid dividends with three goals in
as many minutes from Kilkenny’s Emma Nolan, Nora
O’keefe and Marie Dargan notching up her second
goal with only ten minutes of the half played.Despite
been on the back foot Wicklow stuck to their task
and held Kilkenny scoreless for the next fourteen
minutes, with the back line of Ellen McCrea, Lorretta
Gilbert,Sinead Finn assisted by Eileen Henley
working hard together to keep Kilkenny out.

During the second quarter of the half Wicklow
did have a number of opportunities to reduce the
deficit but were unable to convert the chances.But
it was Kilkenny who continued to press finishing
the half with a well worked point from the boot
of Emma Nolan in the twenty fourth minute, the
half finished kilkenny 4-1 Wicklow 1-0, with the
Wicklow showing signs of getting to grips with
the pace of the game in final minutes of the half.

After a morale boosting team talk from their mentors
Dave Henley and Martin Linnie the Wicklow side
started the second half more focused on the task
of taking the game to Kilkenny with some excellent
interplay between Lorna Fuscardi, jenny Diny,
and Kim Cusack in the midfield area, but it was
kilkenny who were the first to put a score on
the board with a counter attack up the wing involving
Maraid Comgan, Lydia Phelan and Marie Dargan who
slipped the ball into Emma Nolan slotting over
to extend the visitors lead, a minute later kilkenny
midfielder Nora O’ Keefe drilled the ball to the
left of Paula Fox to the back of the net.Wicklow
continued to battle for their opening score of
the half and their perserverence paid off when
a long ball was dropped in by Shauna Keogh in
to the path of Kim Keogh who rifled the ball past
Kilkenny’s net minder Andrea McEvoy, Kilkenny
responded a minute later,Nora O Keefe slotting
over in the ninth minute.For the next ten minutes
the sides were dead locked, both side cancelling
each other out with scoring chances going astray
for both sides.Wicklow’s determination paid off
when sub Niamh Coleman nabbed a point for the
home side in the eighteenth minute followed by
a goal from Shauna keogh who latched on to short
free given when Movita murphy was fouled just
outside the square. But it was kilkenny who secured
victory with a goal and a point from kilkenny
sub Alisa O’Halloran in the final minutes of the
game.

The final score did not reflect the tremendous
effort that the Wicklow side put in to get back
into game.It was flurry of quick goalsin the first
ten minutes of the game that sealed victory for
a competitive Kilkenny side. Wicklow’s next outing
will be away to Carlow next Saturday.Best of luck
to them.
Wicklow Panel. Paula Fox.Ellen McCrea.Lorretta
Gilbert. Sinead finn. Eileen Henley. Lorna Fuscardi.
Lora Hogan. Jenny Diny. Lisa Commiskey. Movita
Murphy. Shauna Keogh. Kim Cusack. Stephanie Doyle.
Jenny Molloy. Roisin Linnie. Niamh Coleman. Lisa
Kavanagh. Sara McGraynor.Jenny Groume. Andrea
Birchill. Sammy McCoy. Lizzie Brophy.

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The Wicklow’s senior ladies will travel to the
Marble city this weekend to take on Kilkenny in
the Suzuki NFL Div 4. Wicklow were the victors
when the two sides met last year in the county
grounds in Aughrim,Wicklow are currently level
on points with Dublin with a game in hand, a win
over Kilkenny should see them go top of the division
four league.

Mick Forde PRO Wicklow 087 6422658 wicklowladiesfootball@eircom.net