Minors impress in Deise destruction

MUNSTER MINOR LADIES FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP Kerry 5-13 Waterford 1-2

IT was all too easy for the Kerry minor ladies as they completely put Waterford to the sword in the first round of the Munster Championship in Mallow last Friday night. Waterford had no answer to Kerry’s power, skill and fitness, and they made very little impression on a night that was perfect for football.

It would be very easy to pick out the Kerry forwards as the star performers in this game and indeed they did contribute hugely to an impressive clinical performance. Leah Henry with two goals and two points was the star of the show, Liz Mohan scored 1-4, Labhaoise Walmsley put away 1-1 and Aoife O’Callaghan chipped in with 1-2 on a night that the Kerry attackers had their shooting boots on.

Indeed there were eight Kerry scorers throughout the contest, a statistic that manager Jonathan Griffin will be happy with when he looks back over the recording of the game.

Highlighting the forwards scoring power would serve as a slight injustice to the excellence of the Kerry minor team as a whole. Tara Breen was a colossus at centre half back while Sarah Leahy and Ciara Murphy had impressive games all through.

Emma Dineen put in a great hour at midfield and Siobhan Burns got through a huge amount of work until injury forced her out of the game. Fiadhna Tagney had her usual high tempo game with her foot passing out of the top drawer at times.

The ineptitude of the Waterford challenge could be highlighted by the fact that it took them until the 25th minute of the first half to get on the scoreboard when midfielder Aisling Bauman pointed. Waterford scored only twice more during the contest with the goal from Shauna Coakley a rather fortunate one as she punished an error in the Kerry full back line to palm the ball into an empty net. Waterford certainly appeared to lack some of the skills of the game required for this level, and bar Chloe Fennell and Aisling Mullaney, who played well at times, they were second fiddle to Kerry throughout. In contrast Kerry were able to run their complete bench in the second half of the game, and the strength of the squad was evident from the way that each player fitted seamlessly into the team game plan. The Kerry minor team will face Cork in the next round on April 15/16.

KERRY: Laura Teahan, Caoimhe Teahan, Laoise Coughlan, Sarah Leahy, Anna O’Reilly, Tara Breen, Ciara Murphy, Siobhan Burns (0-1), Emma Dineen, Elizabeth Mohan (1-4, 1f), Leah Henry (2-2), Labhaoise Walmsley (1-1), Fiadhna Tagney (0-1), Aoife O’Callaghan (1-2, 1f), Kate Maher Subs: Fay O’Donoghue, Sophie Lynch,

Seili Ann Lynch, Moira Flaherty, Niamh Griffin, Hannah O’Donoghue (0-1), Jadyn Lucey, Erica McGlynn (0-1), Brid Ryan, Kate Stack.

Photo by Sporstfile Kerry’s Labhaoise Walmsley who scored 1-1 against the Deise in the Munster minor championship last week