Dublin book place in Leinster decider
- Jun 29,2013
TG4 Leinster Semi Final
Dublin 3-17 Kildare 1-12
Report Sinead Farrelly
There was a slight breeze blowing around Naomh Mearnóg's ground as the Leinster women's senior football championship semi final between Dublin and Kildare got underway.
A quick start from the home side with a point from Amy McGuiness at number nine gave Dublin the opening scalp within the first 30 seconds of play. This was quickly followed up by another from Sinéad Aherne at full forward.
Kildare wasted no time in defending the attack and with possession awarded to them Maria Moolick scored their opening point of the game. As they held possession Ãine Gately scored another point and brought the scores back to a level ground.
In a very exciting opening ten minutes the scores kept coming in and Dublin quickly pulled ahead again with two points from Lyndsey Davey and Noelle Healy.
Stacey Cannon scored another point for the visitors to help narrow the gap however, shortly after Dublin were awarded a free kick from which Aherne capitalised and scored another point.
Davey scored her second point of the game bringing Dublin to 6 points and Kildare to 3. This was closely followed by Dublin's Sinéad Goldrick scoring the first goal of the day after a strong midfield performance from the home side kept the possession high and Davey wasted no time in bringing up Dublin's second goal straight after, further widening the gap between the two sides.
With the scores mounting up for the Dubs, Kildare's Moolick scored a much needed point for her side; however another quick point from Aherne gave Dublin back the dominance of the game. A good defence from Dublin stopped a possible score for Kildare and brought possession back into the home side's hands.
Kildare were awarded their first free and Cannon took her second point of the game. Kildare soon had another free awarded to them however it went wide and no score came from it.
Dublin rained possession and scored another point. Lyndsey Peat had a near shot on goal for Dublin but it whistled past the net. Niamh McEvoy soon after had another near chance, but the Kildare keeper made a fantastic block to keep it out. This dominance from Dublin was kept up and Davey got another point.
A return attack was made but some good defence kept the ball away from the goal.
A good defending performance from Kildare's Aileen Quinn kept Davey from scoring another point and Kildare regained possession and made the most of it when Gately scored the lilywhite's opening goal of the game just before the halfway mark.
At half time the score stood at 2-10 to 1-5 in favour of the home side. Dublin had played with the breeze behind them in the first half, however as it started to pick up at half time it would be interesting to see how they would defend with it against them.
Kildare made three changes at the half way mark and brought on Ashling Lambe, Louise Keatley and Gill Behan. Dublin made no changes.
Kildare wasted no time in getting their attack underway at the start of the second half and had an attempt on point from Gately which was quickly followed by another near wide from Orla Gowran.
Kildare's captain Moolick took the opening score of the second half with a point and they kept the pressure on Dublin with another near point attempt. A very strong attack from the visitors got Kildare's second point of the half from Elaine Dillon. Dublin's defence soon picked up and brought possession back to the home side.
Kildare were awarded a free and Cannon claimed another point for her side.
Dublin's first score of the half came from a free scored by Natalia Hyland.
During the second half there were some more substitutions that saw Dublin bringing on Leah Caffrey, Elaine Kelly, Orlagh Egan and Siobhán Wood. Kildare's Louise Keatley got injured and was replaced by Caoimhe Keoghegan and their final substitution was Kate Leahy coming on for Keoghegan .
There was a superb close shot on goal from Cannon but a great piece of goalkeeping from Dublin's Cliodhna O'Connor kept the ball out.
Another point from Davey was closely followed by a stunning point from Egan in her first of the game. Another quick succession of three points for Dublin with two from Hyland and one from Nicole Healy further widened the gap between the sides as the score board showed 2-16 to 1-10.
Moolick and Cannon each scored another point for Kildare; however a stunning goal from Hyland seemed to seal their fate as they now faced a huge deficit with not long left in the game.
Kelly scored another for the home side and brought the final score to 3-17 to 1-12.
With this win Dublin are into the Leinster final of the senior football championships where they will face Laois/Meath in Carlow on July 13th. It was a very exciting game overall with some good performances from both sides.
Speaking after the game, Dublin manager Paul Gilheaney said; "Absolutely very happy to have scored 3-17, there's still some work to be done though. They came back very strong at the start of the second half, so there's definitely still some work to do, but it is great to win.
Got to be honest, we are going to have to improve [ahead of the Leinster final], it'll be a tougher team to play against, but we are looking forward to it, it's a Leinster final and you always look forward to big games like these"