Fermanagh 0-2 Kerry/Donegal 5-08

The first game of this rainy day began without much of a bang.  Six minutes in Kerry/Donegal was on the board with a point, put over handily by Louise McMahon.  

That effort was quickly canceled out by a Marie Dunlevey score. Kerry/Donegal continued the pressure, creating a goal chance for Denise Dunnion, which was put wide and a free, which was put wide by Sue Bennett.  

It wasn’t until six minutes later that another point was added to the tally, this time by Denise Dunnion for KD, again only to be canceled by Nicola King.  

21 minutes in, KD went into cruise control, scoring two goals off the boots of Denise Dunnion and Allie Kelly in quick succession.  

Then, off a long free by Sue Bennett, an unlucky bounce off the full back’s hands and the ball was in the back of the net for a third goal in five minutes.  

Fermanagh kept trying to retaliate, but their efforts were thwarted repeatedly.  KD finished the half with another two scores from Allie Kelly and Michelle McVann to end the half ahead 3-04 to 0-2.

The second half began much the same as the first ended, with KD taking control again and not relenting.  

KD opened the scoring with a pair of points in the 11th and 12th minutes of the half by Denise Dunnion and Louise McMahon.  

They managed to keep constant pressure, giving Sue Bennett the chance to score another goal, making the final result even more predictable.  

Kerry/Donegal’s dominance was emphasized with a finish by Allie Kelly, once more shaking the net with a goal.  

Benny Touhy put another point over the bar, followed by a Sue Bennett free finishing the game 5-08 to 0-2 in favor of Kerry/Donegal.

Fermanagh

1 Kelsey Boyle 2 Anne Dunlevey 3Annmarie Kelly 4 Kaitlin Slattery 5 Olive Kennedy 6 Caroline McArdle 7 Noelenn Fitzpatrick 8 Tracyanne McCullough 9 Claire McElroy 10 Kaitlin McGuigan 11 Saoirse Finnegan 12 Molly Boyle 13 Nicola King (0-1) 14 Anne Doherty 15 Marie Dunlevey (0-1)

Subs: Shanna Corson, Ciara McHugh, Shauna Gibney, Megan Fitzsimmons, Jillian Meaney

Kerry/Donegal

1 Tina Dengler 2 Niamh Britton 3 Una Burke 4 Aoife Gibson 5 Siobhan Neville  6 Colette McElligott 7 Anita McKenna 8 Kelly Roche 9 Louisse McMahon (0-1) 10 Michelle McVann  (0-1) 11 Allie Kelly (2-2) 12 Loretta Cunningham 13 Denise Dunnion (2-1) 14 Sue Bennett (1-2) 15 Sharon Mulligan

Sub Benny Tuohy(0-1)

Referee Frank Brady

Player of the Game Allie Kelly

Cavan 4-13 Rockland 2-06

Cavan started the match with control, quickly taking the first score courtesy of Rosie O’Reilly.  

Cavan maintained constant pressure throughout most of the half, allowing Emma Clark a pair of chances that she methodically tipped over the bar.  

The opportunities kept piling up for Cavan, but the scores did not do likewise, with shot after shot going wide, and once having Rosie O’Reilly denied by the upright.  

The work effort proved fruitful when Linda McKeon drove on goal and finished in style, seeming to put Cavan comfortably in the lead.  

Caroline McRyan followed soon after with a point, again showing the benefits of constant pressure.  

A goal and four points down, Rockland finally seemed to arrive and in quick succession scored two goals from Courtney Traynor and Sarah Rowley.  

Kerry Anne Galvin soon put over Rockland’s first point, to pull even, showing an apparent change in momentum, only to have Cavan’s Emma Clark slot in a pair of goals to thrust Cavan again into a comfortable position.  

Not to finish the half on a down note, Rockland’s Siobhan Pearson and Nadine Loughnane both added points to finish 3-04 to 2-03 in favor of Cavan.

The second half continued with Cavan’s Dominance, with Linda McKeon and Kelly McArdle scoring points each and Emma Clark tipping over two of her own before Rockland was able to make a return.  

Mary Anne Gormley put one over to put Rockland on the scoreboard again after a long wait.  

Cavan could not be held however and retaliated with a flurry of scores, with Kelly McArdle, Carol McNichols and Rosie O’Reilly all scoring points before Emma Clark took the game into her own hands with three straight points and a goal.

Again, Rockland were not content and rallied to score two more points from Melissa Loughnane and Kelly Wein to finish out the game 4-13 to 2-06 for Cavan.

Rockland
1 Brianna Fogarty 2 Mary Keane 3 Majella Woods 4 Kate Kirwan 5Kim Hurley 6 Margaret Moore 7 Sara Rowley (1-0) 8 Siobhan Pearson 9 Melissa Loughnane (0-2) 10 Nadine Loughnane (0-1) 11 Jemma Mahoney 12 Marryanne Gormley (0-1) 13 Courtney Traynor(1-0) 14 Kelly Wein (0-1) 15 Kerry Anne Galvin (0-1)

Cavan
 
1 Bridget Mulligan 2 Aisling Carthy 3 Kate McEvary 4 Katie Kilkenny 5 Amy Gomez 6 Sharon Brady 7 Linda McKeon(0-1) 8 Rosie O’Reilly (0-2) 9 Carol McNichols (0-1) 10 Emma Clark (1-9) 13 Kelly McArdle (0-2) 15 Caroline McRyan (0-1)

Referee Eugene Kyne

Player of the Game Emma Clark

Kerry 1-7 Mayo 1-6

In a back and froth contest, Kerry did just enough to secure the points in this Intermediate game.  A brilliant goal by Willie O’Donnell when he linked with four other players in a 60-yard move was the clincher.  

Despite a furious comeback by Mayo, Kerry prevailed by the slimmest margin.  The teams swapped the first four points of the game, with O’Donnell and the Mayo Free-taker Billy Curtain doing the honors.  

Kerry had two further scores from Tommy Quaid and Kevin O’Shea, both frees, to move into a small lead as the first half wound down.  

Again, Curtain was the Mayo scorer to tie the game at the end of a low scoring first half.  While certainly plenty of heart was shown, the defenses at both ends were in an unyielding mode.  

Dermot Caine and Eoghan O’Mahoney playing full-back at either end were in particularly good form.  

Kerry added points to open the second half from Niall Moran and another Quaid free, before Billy Curtain had his fifth point of the day for Mayo.  

With an increasingly wet ball and greasy surfaces, the scores were still at a premium, but the gem of the afternoon arrived in the sixtieth minute when Kerry veteran Paudy Mullvihill had a steal at his own 45.  

He fed Willie O’Donnell who carried the ball 40 yards with the help of Niall Moran and Mulvihill with a short hand passing game.  From the 14, the former New York player calmly delivered the ball to the back of the net with a lovely finishing move.  

Points were swapped which left Kerry leading 1-7 to six points with five minutes left in the contest.  Mayo worked furiously to try and come from behind and was rewarded when Brendan Finn found the net with a low shot to put the minimum between the sides.  

Despite five attacks in the last four minutes, Mayo could not get the final score that was needed with good defense from O’Mahoney and Justin O’Halloran nullifying their efforts.  The final Buzzer sounded to the relief of the Kerry fifteen and the despair of Mayo.  

Kerry

1Ger Sullivan 2Patty Brennan 3Eoghan O’Mahoney 4Damien Clogher 5Shane Coffey 6Justin O’Halloran 7Dolan Walsh 8Willie O’Donnell (1-2) 9Conor O’Shea 10 Alan Lyng 11Tommy Quaid (0-3) 12Kevin O’Shea (0-1) 13Mike McKenna 14Shane Langan 15Brian Newman sub Niall Moran (0-1) Paudie Mulvihill

Mayo
1Finbar Flood 2Darren Cribby 3Dermot Caine 4Emmot Cooney 5Padraig Higgins 6Ryan Doherty 7Padraig Tulley 8Liam McDonald (0-1) 9Brenden Finn (1-0) 10Martin McLaughlin 11Dave Colloran 12Glen Ryan 13Billy Curtin (0-5) 14Austin Cunningham 15 Kieran McAndrews

Referee Tommy Fahey

Player of the game Willie O’Donnell