Kerry ladies looking to bounce back with a raid on Orchard county even though League final isn’t a priority
LIDL NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 1 ROUND 5
AN away trip to the Athletic Grounds can be a daunting enough task at the best of times, but it’s even more so now in that Kerry will meet a home side that are in a rich vein of form.
It’s fair to say that Armagh have really hit this year’s league with all guns blazing and four impressive wins on the trot are an indicator of the approach that new manager Gregory McGonigle has taken to the competition.
In many ways Armagh are similar to Kerry last season in that they are taking the league very seriously, and it is paying rich dividends with wins over Waterford, Cork and Galway, as well as the surprising demolition of Meath on a 2-12 to 0-8 scoreline in the last round a testament to the fine fettle that they are in presently.
In Aimee Mackin the Orchard county has a striker who is very much at the top of her game at the moment, and she has contributed 3-10 to her side’s cause already with 1-4 of that coming against Meath. It’s stating the obvious to say that she will have to be watched, although Kelly Mallon has been flying as well, mirroring Mackin’s 1-4 in that Meath game and bringing her scoring total to 1-11.
Not that Kerry will be fearful of the Armagh challenge or anything seeing as the Kingdom have already notched up good wins over Dublin, Waterford and Cork, although their unimpressive draw against Mayo at Fitzgerald Stadium in the last round has tempered expectations somewhat.
Remarkably, Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh has notched up 1-8 so far even though she has seen sporadic game time, but it shows the quality that the current Footballer of the Year possesses in that she has made the most of her limited minutes on the pitch during this year’s league. Joint Kerry manager Darragh Long says that although Ní Mhuircheartaigh is chomping at the bit to take a full part in the action, they are managing her time along with one or two others, with the focus very much on the season.
“We will continue to rotate the squad because there’s girls that haven’t got a lot of game time over the course of the league games, Louise being one,” said Long. “We’ve been trying to manage her load and she also took a little extra bit of time off at the end of last year.
“Kayleigh (Cronin) had a bit of a niggle coming into this season from last year so we’re trying to manage her game time as well. She missed the Cork game in full, and only came on for twenty minutes of the last game so we’re later in just trying to build up the fitness gradually.”
Whereas last year Kerry went all out in pursuit of the league title, Long said that this year it isn’t a huge priority and that they’re happy to blood new players in order to gain experience.
“It would be great to get to a league final but it’s not on our priorities list. Hopefully we’ll get one or two debuts again this weekend. We said at the start of the year that making the league final wasn’t our priority and whilst we want to win every game that we play, we are glad that we don’t have the pressure
Club hurling resumes in the county this weekend with three games in Round 1 of the North Kerry Senior Hurling League fixed for Sunday at 12 noon (first named at home)
St. Brendan’s v Ballyheigue Kilmoyley v Crotta O’Neills Lixnaw v Causeway of a relegation fight.
“This weekend away to Armagh is going to be a tough game. Aimee Mackin, one of the best footballers in the country, is playing out of her skin at the moment, and they have the new manager bounce. We’re going up there full of confidence and we’ve three wins and a draw out of four games, so we have to be very happy with that. If we can get away on Sunday and be coming down the road with three points in the bag from a win we’d be delighted.”
With the college competitions in full swing Long admits that it’s
Round 2 will be played under lights on Wednesday, March 6 at 7.30pm when Ballyduff host St. Brendan’s, Abbeydorney host Kilmoyley and Tralee Parnells take on Lixnaw at Caherslee. a juggling act in terms of ensuring that players are fit and with more action to come this week the Kerry management will have to wait and see how players come through the games.
“We’re carrying a few knocks and niggles from the heavy training load and with colleges and O’Connor Cup and bits of Giles Cup coming to the end of their seasons so trying to manage girls loads at the moment, and trying to keep their energy levels as high as we can. That’s a bit of a challenge, but that’s everyone’s problem so we just have to get on with that, but we are trying our best to monitor girls. There’s nobody ruled out at the moment, but we’ll wait until the last minutes with Giles Cup on Wednesday as well and hopefully they’ll come through that and we’ll see where we are.”
The draw against Mayo was disappointing in that Kerry looked to have the game in the bag but left a three point lead slip in the closing stages and were desperately holding on in the finish. Darragh Long says that his side will bounce back from the experience.
“We’ll take a lot of learnings from the Mayo game, and we’ll try and put those right. If we do that and we end up winning two or even three of our games and we end up in a league final, then that’s brilliant, as we’ll get an opportunity then to defend our title in Croke Park.
“We want to bounce back from the Mayo performance because that wasn’t a true reflection and it hurt a lot. It nearly felt like a loss and the dressing room was very upset after the game. We were very annoyed at ourselves. It wasn’t the standard we want or have set as a group over the past number of seasons so we’re hoping to bounce back with a very good performance this weekend and hopefully get another win on the board.”
HURLING NEWS Tommy O’Connor
Scór na bPáistí
The North Kerry Hurling Board Scór na bPáistí District Finals went ahead at Abbeydorney on Saturday last before a large attendance. Winners
Solo Music: Sarah Slattery [Abbeydorney]; Solo Dancing: Caoimhe Sheehy [Crotta O’Neill’s]; Instrumental Music: Aoife Dillane, Belle Lawlor, Hannah Dempsey, Sarah Slattery, Ella Sexton [Abbeydorney]; Sean Nós Dancing: Laoise McCarthy [Abbeykillix]; Solo Singing: Erin Roche [Abbeydorney] and the Ballad Group: Erin Roche, Katie O’Connor, Aoife Rice, Sophie O’Connell [Abbeydorney].
These winners will now go forward to the County Scór na bPáistí Finals which will be held at An Tínteán Theatre, Ballybunion on Saturday, 23 March.