Dublin Ladies made it a hat-trick of wins for the County over the weekend as they defeated Kerry 2-14- 1-6 in a 11 point win in the opening round of the Lidl Ladies NFL.
The Dubs started the game well the scoring 3 points within three minutes with Noelle Healy, Lyndsey Davey and Sinead Aherne getting the hat-trick of points for Dublin.
Bernie Breen the former Kerry skipper got the Kingdom on the board with a classy point in the 4th minute which was helped by the fierce wind blowing around Parnell Park.
Dublin’s were showing how good the can be upfront with players moving for the ball the trio of Aherne, Niamh McEvoy and Amy Ring demonstrating the textbook way to move off the ball.
Dublin’s first goal came in the 18th minute when McEvoy who was played in and rifled the ball into the Kerry net.
Ring and Healy expanded Dublin’s lead out to 9 points with 22 minutes gone on the clock with some fine scores. But Kerry kept at the Dubs trying to get back into the game but were wasteful and clocked up a number of wides.
Kerry got a much needed stroke of luck in the 29th minute outrageous cross field pass by Anna Galvin dipped over the head of Dublin keeper Ciara Trant and into the back of the Dub’s net.
This seemed to be the spark that Kerry needed as they finished the half strongly with Louise Ni Mhuirtcheartaigh scoring Kerry`s 3rd point, reducing Dublin’s lead to 5 points. At the interval the score board read Dublin 1-08 Kerry 1-03.
The first half was entertaining despite the poor weather the first half was quite entertaining. Despite having the assistance of a strong wind Kerry were guilty of some wayward shooting notching up 10 first half wides opposed to just 2 by Dublin.
Dublinonce again started the second half bringing the game to Kerry and scored 4 unanswered points courtesy of Carla Rowe, Aherne (free), Siobhan Woods and Aherne.
With under 20 minutes to go McEvoy once again broke Kerry hearts with a smartly taken goal. The pass for McEvoy’s score coming at the end of a well worked passage of play involving Aherne and Davy.
With the game out of the Kingdoms reach Alan O’Neill gave some of his players on the bench some valuable game time as they look to stake a claim as a regular starter.
Likewise, Dublin introduced a number of players with Rebecca McDonnell, Amy Conroy and Niamh Ryan making their senior debuts when brought in to demonstrate what they can do with the gane all wrapped up.
Gregory McGonigle and his management team will be happy with his side’s performance going into next Sunday`s game against Mayo.
Dublin: Ciara Trant, Olwen Carey, Muireann Ni Scanaill, Fiona Hudson, Carla Rowe, Sinead Finnegan, Leah Caffrey, Lauren Magee, Noelle Healy (Captain), Lyndsey Davey, Siobhan Woods, Nicole Owens, Sinead Aherne, Niamh McEvoy, Amy Ring.
Dublin Subs: Amy Connolly for Magee, Olivia Leonard for Woods, Niamh Collins for Caffrey, Martha Byrne for Owens, Rebecca McDonnell for McEvoy, Amy Conroy for Aherne, Niamh Ryan for Ring (Injury)
Dubs Scorers: N McEvoy 2-00, S Aherne 0-4 (1f), C Rowe, N Healy, L Davey, A Ring 0-2 pts each, S Woods, N Owens 0-1 pt each, wides 5 (2-3).
Kerry: Maria Quirke, Caroline Kelly, Aisling Leonard, Ciara Murphy, Kate O’Sullivan, Aislinn Desmond, Aisling O’Connell, Denise Hallissey, Bernie Breen, Laura Rogers, Lorraine Scanlon, Louise Ni Mhuirtcheartaigh, Patrice Dennehy, Amanda Brosnan, Anna Galvin.
Kerry Subs: Eilis Lynch for Dennehy, Gina Crowley for Leonard, Rheanne O’Shea for Rogers, Aileen Sheenan for K O’Sullivan, Jane Lynch for Galvin, Megan O’Connell for Ní Mhuirtcheartaigh (Injury).
Kerry Scorers: A Galvin 1-01, L Ní Mhuirtcheartaigh 0-2, B Breen, L Scanlan, R O’Shea 0-1 each, wides 12, 45’s 1
Referee: Colm McManus (Meath)
And it`s over the bar 