Leinster Under 14 Championship - Kildare 1-9 Wexford 2-5

Saturday 15 March 2003
Parc Gorman Wexford 1:30 pm
Kildare 1 – 9 Wexford 2 – 5

Depleted U/14 team take the points

This was a great performance by the U/14 girls from Kildare. The team travelled to Wexford missing four of the starting lineout and came away with full points after a tremendous second half effort from all the players. Kildare played with the wind in the first half and found it very hard to get scores against a very strong and determined Wexford team. Wexford scored first after two minutes, their only score of the first half and it was not until the seventh minute that Aine Gately opened Kildares account.

The next score came in the sixteenth minute ,a great point from Maeve Ann Loftus. This was quickly followed by points from Siobhan Hurley and Joanne Cullen. During this period the defence was holding Wexford at bay. Aine Gately scored three more great points before the break to leave Kildare leading by 0-7 to 0-1 at the break. Wexford came out firing on all cylinders in the second half. They scored a point in the first minute of the second half. At this stage the signs looked ominous for Kildare but this score only helped to fire up the Kildare team. Brilliant performances in defence by Leanne Farrell and Aileen Quinn strongly supported by Karen O’Shea, Shona Farrell, Chloe Foy and Jane O’Donoghue, kept the Wexford score to a min. Caroline Lynch scored Kildare’s first point of the second half. Ann Marie Fitzgerald and Siobhan Hurley at midfield started to take control and passed the ball wide to the forwards who opened up the defence with the resulting space available to them. Ciara Dinneny won a lot of good possession during this period keeping Wexford under pressure. Wexford scored a goal in the fourteenth minute and this put great pressure on Kildare. Marie Power was moved to full forward and within five minutes had scored a great goal. Aine Gately scored Kildare’s final point in the twentieth minute.

The last ten minutes were nail biting with Wexford scoring 1-2, the goal coming in the last three minutes. Kildare held out for a great win. Wexford had very strong players in Catherine Doyle, Catriona Murray and Emma Hore.