Ladies raid Orchard for important victory

KERRY came away with maximum points after making the long journey to the Athletic Grounds in Armagh on Sunday. Due to weather and bereavement Kerry’s last game in the competition was against Laois on February 24. Kerry made one change from the match program. Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh making her first start of the campaign coming in for the injured Erica McGlynn. It would have been easy to suspect that Kerry would be slow off the mark considering their lack of game time but they were first to raise the white flag.

Miriam O’Keeffe with her first of the afternoon inside the first minute. Kerry soon added there second through Sarah Houlihan before Armagh full forward Aoife McCoy scored in the fourth minute. Points from Sarah Houlihan and Hannah O’Donoghue’s first of the afternoon extended Kerry lead to three before Laura Fitzgerald pulled off a great save in the tenth minute to prevent Armagh from drawing level.

The Kerry defence was working well as a unit in snuffing out any threat that Armagh were throwing at them early on in the game something they were regularly doing early on in the game to little effect. Aimee Mackin scored Armagh’s first free of the afternoon in the eleventh minute before Kerry struck for the first decisive score of the afternoon.

Kerry midfielder Lorraine Scanlon found Hannah O’Donoghue who with space and time to run at the Armagh defence coolly found the back of the net giving Caroline O’Hare no chance. Kerry had now opened up a five-point lead by the 13th minute a lead they truly deserved. There endeavours were further rewarded with points from Hannah O’Donoghue (play) and Sarah Houlihan (free) and with ten minutes remaining in the half Kerry had a seven-point lead and were looking good to keep that lead until half-time.

Armagh where not about to throw in the towel and scored the next three points The Mackin sisters with one each with midfielder Caroline Ni Anluain getting in on the action to reduce the deficit to four. Louise would add a further point from a free as the home team would outscore the Kingdom 0-4 to 0-1 in the last five minutes to reduce the deficit and finish the half only two points behind. Kerry 1-8 Armagh 0-9

Upon the restart Armagh had the deficit down to a single score, Blaithin Mackin from play. Anna Galvin, who is back from Australia and making her first competitive start in the league, raised the first white flag for Kerry in the second half. Both sides were guilty of missing scorable chances as Kerry introduced Fiadhna Tagney for Niamh Carmody. The sides exchanged scored Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh for Kerry and Kelly Mallon for Armagh. With six minutes gone in the second half Kerry extended the lead to a goal with another point as Armagh where guilty of some missed chances. Aimee Mackin reduced the deficit to a single score before points for the away side from Louise and Miriam extended the away sides lead to three once more. Armagh kicked the following two wides but kept plugging away and were awarded for their persistence with a goal by Aimee Mackin. Prior to this Kerry made a temporary substitution with Laoise Coughlan coming on for Lorraine Scanlon. Kerry soon retook the lead through Sophie Lynch as the remaining 10 minutes were full of plenty of action at both ends. Armagh added there second goal in the twenty third minute to give the home side a two-point lead. But credit to Kerry with Louise leading the line and responding with 2-1 to turn the fortunes once again in Kerry’s favour and despite Armagh finishing strong with a surge of points it was the away side who went home victorious fully deserving of the three points. Kerry’s next out is against Wexford in Mallow on Sunday March 31 at 2pm, KERRY: L Fitzgerald, T Breen, K Cronin, A O’Connell, S Murphy, A Desmond, A Galvin (0-1), L Scanlon, A Brosnan, N Carmody, S Houlihan (0-3, 1f), S Lynch (0-1), M O’Keeffe (0-3), L Ni Mhuircheartaigh (2-7, 0-2f), H O’Donoghue (1-2). Subs: F Tagney for N Carmody, L Coughlan for L Scanlon (temp), A O’Callaghan for M O’Keeffe

IN the Munster U-16 A Championship Kerry had a 4-9 to 2-9 win against Cork to qualify for the final.

LGFA Fundamentals Course

A REMINDER on the fundamentals course next Saturday in John Mitchels GAA Complex 9am to 2.45pm Can clubs e-mail Debbie childrensofficer.kerry@lgfa.ie with names and the age group that the coaches are coaching before close of business Thursday 28 as we need minimum numbers to run the course.