Kildare 4-8
Meath 1-10

by Daire Walsh

Gillian Wheeler, Mayah Doyle, Alannah Prizeman and Aoife Murnane all bagged goals at Manguard Park on Saturday as Kildare bolstered their Lidl National Football League Division 1 survival hopes with a deserved triumph over Meath.

Despite their provincial rivals creating a number of scoring opportunities during the early exchanges, it was Meath who eventually broke the deadlock in this initially slow-burning encounter with a 14th minute point from full-forward Rachel Casserly.

Yet Kildare were eager to respond to the concession of this score and moments later midfielder Wheeler powerfully drilled the ball to the back of the net at the end of a fast-paced attack.

This helped to ease the nerves amongst the Lilywhites ranks and they opened up a five-point cushion courtesy of unanswered points by Aoife Rattigan (two) and wing-back Hazel McLoughlin.

Even though Meath halted this scoring sequence with a pointed free from Marion Farrelly, Kildare raised another green flag on 24 minutes when a speculative effort by Doyle floated beyond the reach of opposition netminder Robyn Murray.

The impressive Rattigan found the range either side of an Orla Finnegan point for Meath and with the Cappagh attacker also cancelling out Casserly’s second of the game, Kildare brought a commanding 2-6 to 0-4 buffer into the interval.

Meath – managed by Kildare native Wayne Freeman – reduced their deficit on the resumption with a third point from Casserly, but the Royals suffered a set-back when Sarah Wall was yellow carded on 36 minutes. Meath captain Niamh Gallogly was also sent to the sin-bin a short while later and before her temporary departure, Kildare had bagged a third goal when corner-forward Prizeman displayed great composure to fire home with a low shot.

The Lilywhites’ eye for the target was very much in by this stage and a fourth green flag score ultimately followed when Murnane found the net in the 43rd minute. Rattigan later joined her Meath counterpart Emma Duggan in registering a pointed free during the third-quarter and Casserly also maintained her fine scoring form by knocking over her fourth score of the tie.

Rattigan and Duggan proceeded to trade points as the action progressed, but even though Gallogly and Duggan points were supplemented by a Casserly goal for Meath, it couldn’t deny Kildare a maiden win in this year’s league.

Scorers – Kildare: A Rattigan 0-7 (5f), G Wheeler, M Doyle, A Prizeman, A Murnane 1-0, H McLoughlin 0-1.

 Meath: R Casserly 1-4, E Duggan 0-3 (1f), M Farrelly (f), N Gallogly, O Finnegan 0-1 each.

KILDARE: C Nallen; L Shaw, A Mernagh, M Doherty; H McLoughlin, R Sargent, L Lenehan; N Murphy, G Wheeler; M Aspell, C Wheeler, M Doyle; A Murnane, A Prizeman, A Rattigan. Subs: R Dillon for Prizeman (44), L Dunlea for Doyle (50), M McDonagh for C Wheeler (54), S Galvin for Shaw (55), A Irhue for Murphy (61).

MEATH: R Murray; A Sheridan, O Smith, K Kealy; S Murphy, S Wall, K Bermingham; O Sheehy, N Gallogly; M Farrelly, M Byrne, M Thynne; E Duggan, R Casserly, O Finnegan. Subs: MK Lynch for Smith, C Smyth for Finnegan (both h-t), L Woods for Farrelly (39), C Lawlor for Kealy (48), M McConnell for Byrne (49), A Reilly for Murphy (50), O Gore for Sheehy (52), A Farrell for Bermingham (56).

Referee: Anthony Marron (Monaghan).

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