Report: Kildare come away with the points against Offaly on Edenderry visit

Lidil NFL Div 3 Rd 2
Offaly v Kildare
Edenderry Gaa club. 
Referee S.Curley

H.T score Offaly 2.02 Kildare 1.05
F.T score Offaly 3.02 Kildare 2.11

Kildare belatedly began their National Football League campaign when they made the short trip to Edenderry for an away tie against Offaly on Saturday afternoon. With the Lilywhites getting a walkover in their first scheduled game against Leitrim, there was plenty of intrigue surrounding a fresh looking side that took to the field against an Offaly team that were beaten by 21 points against Roscommon last weekend.

Kildare let a commanding first half lead slip before the break as Offaly enjoyed a brief purple patch in this tie, but the Lilywhites were much superior in the second period and eased to a six-point win in the end.

It was an exquisite individual goal from Molly Price that got the Lilies off to a superb start as she took on the Offaly defence before slotting the ball past goalkeeper Lauren Dunne. New captain Roisin Byrne followed that up with a point from a free three minutes later, but Aoife Norris responded for the Faithful county to get them off the mark after 13 minutes. Kildare piled on the pressure in the opening third of the game, with the bulk of their attacks coming down the right wing via the lively Niamh Sinnott and the influential Byrne, and the former almost fortuitously struck a second goal when her attempt for a point dropped short, but Dunne managed to claw it away. Grace Clifford pointed before Offaly could clear the ball.

Offaly dominated the remainder of the half however, and they plundered two goals and could have had a couple more if luck was on their side. Their first chance came when Mairead Daly intercepted Triona Duggan’s line ball, but she overcarried the ball and was penalised before she could shoot at goal. It was only a brief respite for the Kildare defence as the home side netted their first goal on 20 minutes when Amy Kerrigan fisted a pass over an exposed Kildare full-back line to Norris, who fired a powerful shot past Rebecca McGuirk.

A couple of frees from Byrne got Kildare back into a commanding position by dispatching two frees, but Offaly finished the half the stronger as they bagged a second goal when McGuirk failed to control a dropped shot from a Daly free, allowing Maebh Coleman to tap in from close range. The hosts could have gone into the break on front but the post denied Kerrigan from close range, though she did fist over the rebound to leave the scores tied at 1-5 to 2-2 ahead of the second half.

Kildare immediately assumed control upon the restart, and by the time the game reached the midway stage of the second half it looked like there would be only one winner. The impact of half-time substitute Eadaoin Connolly was key to their upturn in fortunes as she won numerous frees thanks to Offaly losing a certain amount of discipline that were converted by Ellen Dowling. The Lilies also got a lucky break when Grace Clifford’s tame shot dropped short and looped into the top corner of Dunne’s net, and that goal was followed up by a free from Byrne as they pulled four points clear.

Dowling then converted a couple of close range frees to give the visitors some real breathing space, but they were almost reigned in when Sarah Kehoe got in on goal only to be denied by a fine block from Kildare ‘keeper McGuirk. Kildare managed the game quite well from that point onwards as they continued to tag on points, with Dowling and Byrne both landing frees shortly afterwards. They looked to be easing towards the win as they entered the final eight minutes with an eight-point advantage, but an Ellee McEvoy goal gave the Faithful ladies some hope late on. She almost grabbed a second a minute later when she broke through on goal once again, though McGuirk denied her with a smart stop.

Offaly threw the kitchen sink at Daniel Moynihan’s side late in the game, but the Lilies held out to ensure they have six points after two rounds of the league.

Scorers for Kildare: R Byrne 0-6f, G Clifford 1-2, E Dowling 0-3f, M Price 1.0.

Scorers for Offaly: A Norris 1-1(1f), E McEvoy and M Coleman 1-0 each, A Kerrigan 0-1.

Kildare

Rebecca McGuirk; Rachel Cribbin, Amy Horan, Rachel Corrigan; Louise Scully, Caoimhe Keoghegan, Triona Duggan; Siobhan O’Sullivan, Aisling Curley; Niamh Sinnott, Roisin Byrne, Grace Clifford; Emer Fogarty, Ellen Dowling, Molly Price.

Subs used: Eadaoin Connolly for E Fogarty HT, Shauna Kendrick for C Keoghegan HT, Aine Nash for S O’Sullivan 45mins, Rose Mernagh for R Corrigan 45mins.

Offaly

Lauren Dunne; Annie Kehoe, Sarah Cummins, Sinead Byrne; Sarah Bracken, Emer Nally, Grainne Dolan; Aoife Norris, Amy Gavin-Mangan; Mairead Daly, Amy Kerrigan, Lisa Gorman; Maebh Coleman, Ellee McEvoy, Marie Byrne.

Subs used: Dawn Hannon for S Byrne 34mins, Sarah Kehoe for M Byrne 40mins.