Quirke inspires Cork to victory in testing conditions

Lidl National Football League

Cork 1-6

Galway 0-5

By ANTHONY NEWMAN

A superb individual display from Katie Quirke ensured Cork got their Lidl Ladies NFL Division 1 off to a winning start at Bishopstown.

The Bride Rovers player got all their scores, with all her points coming in the first half and the goal at a critical time in the second.

Both sides must be applauded as they tried to play decent football in dreadful weather which saw the wind gusting up to 80km an hour at times.

Cork won the toss and elected to play with the elements, and they made it count with Quirke getting them off the mark from a free with Aoife O’Rourke on target for Galway, again from a free.

This proved their only score of the half as they battled against the elements as well as Cork.

Quirke got her second to put Cork ahead and with 21 minutes gone they were 0-4 to 0-1 in front.

Four minutes later and she increased their lead and just before half-time she got her, and Cork’s sixth, to make it 0-6 to 0-1 at half-time.

Galway came much more into the game after the break, and it took some quality defending from the likes of Melissa Duggan to keep them at bay.

The crucial score came in the 38^th minute when Quirke battled past several players to score the only goal of the tie.

But Galway kept going right to the end with Ailbhe Davoren pulling a point back. Aoife Molloy made it 0-3 to 1-6 after 45 minutes as they were now well in the game.

Roisin Leonard came off the bench and show her class with a magnificent point from distance and she hit a second to make it 0-5 to 1-6.

But try as Galway did, they couldn’t break through for the all-important goal as Cork held on for a deserved win.

Scorers for Cork: K Quirke 1-6 (3f).

Galway: R Leonard 0-2, A Davoren (f), A O’Rourke (f), A Molloy 0-1 each.

CORK: S Murphy; M Duggan, L Coppinger, D Kiniry; A McDonagh, M O’Callaghan,  D Kiely; A Healy, S Cronin; E Jack, K Quirke, S O’Leary; L McDonagh, H Looney, E Cleary.

Subs: S Kelly for S Cronin (42), K Redmond for L McDonagh, E Hurley for S O’Leary, R Corkery for E Cleary, K Smith for E Jack (both 60).

GALWAY: D Gower; M Jordan, S Lynch, E Gavin; K Geraghty, C Trill, A Ní Cheallaigh; M Glynn, L Coen; M Walsh, A Davoren, S Hynes; C McCarthy, A O’Rourke, A Molloy.

Subs: E Reaney for C McCarthy, C Cleary for M Glynn (both 36), R Leonard for S Hynes, L Booth for M Walsh (both 49), A Hynes for L Coen, L Finnegan for A Ni Cheallaigh (both 60).

Referee: Barry Redmond (Wexford).