Defeat for ladies
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SLIGO DOWN
Lidl NFL Division 3 rd 3
AS Storm Dennis swept across the country on Sunday, Sligo and Down ladies braved the cold temperatures for their Lidl Division 3 round 3 encounter at IT Sligo. The fixture had fallen foul the previous week due to Storm Ciara but an earlier pitch inspection in Ballinode gave the match the go ahead.
Despite trailing by 2 points at the break, Micéal Bohan’s Sligo were quick off the mark following the resumption and two goals from Rachel O’Brien and the excellent Ciara Gorman gave them a 3-4 to 1-6 advantage. However, their opponents, led by the sensational Natasha Ferris at full forward and the wind at their backs, found another gear and outscored Sligo by 2-9 to 0-3 for the remained of the half.
Ferris finished with a tally of 1-14 as she posed a threat all afternoon.
Sligo had an early goal chance go narrowly wide in the first half before they overturned possession with Megan McCormack fouled and Gorman duly tapping over the game’s opening score.
Caoibhe Sloan’s Down then settled with Ferris getting her first from a placed ball on 13 minutes followed by Mairead Kavanagh finding the net a minute later.
Their lead was short-lived however, a brilliant move from Sligo midfielder Sinead Regan saw her attempt at pointing bounce off the upright fortuitously into the path of
Gorman who reacted quickest to finish past Shannon Reilly in the Down goal.
The visitors then hit four points in a row, three from frees, with Ferris certainly impressive on the attack.
Gorman got Sligo’s first score in 12 minutes, a foul on captain Nicola Brennan as a goal separated them. Fine scores from Jade Lyons and McCormack from play was responded to by another Ferris free as Down led 1-6 to 1-4 at the interval.
The visitors, who had wing forward Lauren Cunningham sin binned before half time, were somewhat shell-shocked by Sligo’s intensity after the resumption.
A quick move up the field by Ruth Goodwin found O’Brien lurking and she got their second goal a minute into the second period. Down the other end and Sligo keeper Rachel Quigley pulled off a fantastic save to deny midfielder Aoibheann McCarvill.
Then, on 34 minutes, Sligo went 4 points in front, again O’Brien involved in setting up the lively Gorman who struck the back of the net, Sligo ahead by 3-4 to Down’s 1-6. That seemed to awaken Down and they scored 2-3 without reply, Ferris with the points (2 frees) with Aoife Keown getting their second goal and Ferris then adding the third putting Down 5 points ahead with 45 minutes played.
That lead had increased to 7 points with ten minutes remaining as the victory never looked in doubt. Quigley pulled off a fine save on substitute Orla Swail on 51 minutes as Gorman slotted over a free, Sligo behind by six.
As Down emptied the bench, Ferris kept the scoreboard ticking over as they ran out eight point winners.
Up next for Sligo is a trip to Wicklow this weekend.
SLIGO: R Quigley, A Morrisroe, R Goodwin, J Mulligan, J O’Dowd, N Brennan (C), J Lyons, S Regan, T Carty, S Naughton, M McCormack, C Dunne, L Kelly, C Gorman, R O’Brien.
Subs used: K A Henry for O’Dowd, S Cunney for Carty (h/t), A M Coleman for Dunne, D McGrath for Lyons.
DOWN: S Reilly, A Trainor, C Byrne, A Greene (C), O Duffy, K White, M Kavanagh, A McCarvill, M Adegbamiye, A Keown, J Foy, L Cunningham, C Brown, N Ferris, M Doherty.
Subs used: A M Magee for Kavanagh, O Swail for Brown, S Dougherty for Greene, N McKibbin for White, O Blaney for McCarvill.
REFEREE: J Devlin.