Ladies look for first win against Donegal

LADIES NFL DIVISION 1 ROUND 3 PREVIEW Kerry v Donegal Sunday, February 19 Rathmore at 2pm HIGH flying Donegal travel to Rathmore next Sunday to take on the Kerry ladies in Round 3 of the Lidl National Football League Division One. Donegal travel with two wins out of two, having defeated Armagh on a 4-10 to 0-11 scoreline in Round 1 and Galway by 2-10 to 1-12 in Round 2. In contrast Kerry come into the game on the back of two defeats, a 5-17 to 1-11 hiding from Cork in Mallow followed by a 0-8 to 1-8 defeat to Dublin in Castleisland last weekend.

To be fair to Kerry the game against Cork came after just three weeks preparation with a new management team. You don’t go into Cork’s back yard and expect a result in such circumstances, and indeed the Cork ladies were merciless in putting Kerry to the sword that day. Manager Graham Shine learnt from the defeat and with 11 positional changes for the game against Dublin, the Kerry ladies gave a much improved performance against last year’s All Ireland finalists. Indeed, if it wasn’t for some very wayward shooting (12 wides) there’s no doubt that they would have emerged victorious.

Donegal are back in top tier league football once more having won the Division Two title very impressively last year. They have adjusted to the higher level quite easily and will travel to Rathmore with confidence after their two wins. Geraldine McLaughlin is very much their star player, the full forward contributed 1-5 against Galway in the last round and scored the winning point in injury time. Roisin Friel and Niamh Hegarty will also have to be watched, Kaneisha McKinney and Katy Heron are a formidable midfield pairing, while Nicole McLaughlin is a dynamic figure at centre half back.

It is likely that Shine will make some personnel changes to the Kerry side for next Sunday’s game. Megan O’Connell, who missed the game in Castleisland, is likely to come back into the team and there is also the possibility of Shine having a look at a couple of new players as he strives to find the winning formula. He will be hoping that players like Aislinn Desmond, Lorraine Scanlon, Emma Sherwood, Amanda Brosnan and Anna Galvin continue with the good form that they have shown in the first two league games.

Kerry have failed to score a goal in the league so far. This lack of penetration has to be a concern to the Kerry management as you will rarely win games at this level without them. In contrast Donegal have struck six in their last couple of games, including four against Armagh ,so their goal scoring opportunities will certainly have to be curtailed. In fairness the Kerry defence looked very solid against Dublin, having endured a torrid time against Cork .The positional changes certainly worked from that point of view with the more defensive structure of the line-up making it much more difficult to penetrate the Kerry backline. Shine will be hoping for more of the same on Sunday.

If Kerry take their chances and stop Donegal from scoring goals there is every possibility that they will win. Sounds simple doesn’t it! Kerry to win by 2.

Referee course

A two-day Grab your Whistle level 1 course will take place on Saturday and Sunday, February 18 & 19, from 10am to 5pm at a Killarney venue T.B.C. The Grab your Whistle course aims to increase the number of new referees, and in particular female referees, who officiate at our games.

Participants must be 17 years of age or over. We need referees for our games – there is a serious shortage out there so we need new people to sign up!It’s a matter of urgency at this stage that all clubs, especially in the Killarney area, put forward candidates for this course. To complete this course a third day involving a blitz will take place at a later date. For any further details please contact John Ross on 086 1571856.

A Level 2 course for existing referees take place at Ulicks Bar (Sherwoods) Farranfore on Wednesday 22nd at 8pm.

Inter-county teams continue preparations

All of the Kerry underage squads continued their Munster Championship preparations last weekend. The U-14, U-16 and minor squads had good workouts as fitness levels improve and intensity heightens. The U-14 and U-16 High Performance Academies were also out in force in what was an exceptionally busy weekend on the training fields for all Kerry inter-county teams.

County Board Meeting

The February County Board meeting of Kerry ladies football was held last Wednesday when the main focus was on player transfers, permissions to play and senior County League gradings. Most of the divisions were sorted and we will have a full listing of all teams and divisions next week.

Meanwhile, there will be a Bord na nÓg meeting tonight (Wednesday) at 8pm in the Dr Crokes clubhouse Killarney.