Football

Monaghan ladies footballers chalk up first points of 2018 season

Monaghan's Eimear McAnespie (right) in action against Sinead Greene (Cavan)
Monaghan's Eimear McAnespie (right) in action against Sinead Greene (Cavan) Monaghan's Eimear McAnespie (right) in action against Sinead Greene (Cavan)

Lidl National Football League Division One: Monaghan 2-9 Kerry 1-10

MONAGHAN finally celebrated a league victory over Kerry and it could not have come at a more crucial time for the Farney County as they recorded their first league victory and points for 2018.

Manager Ann Marie Burns said last week it was time they started picking up some points after defeat in their opening two games and she felt they were good enough to be able to get something from Kerry in Blanchardstown IT on Sunday.

“It was really important to get a result and get off the mark with our first league points and we did that and now it is important that we build on that,” said Burns, who knows her side have more to give.

“There is still plenty of work to do. We played for maybe 35 / 40 minutes but there were times when we lapsed and we need to work on that.

“We said we wanted to be in the game at half-time and we were and we could go out with it all to play for in the second half.

“The first 10 or 15 minutes of the second half we played really well and got in front and we were able to hold up. It was definitely one of our more complete performances but we know we still have to work to try and cut out the lapses.”

Their two first half goals were crucial, the first coming within the first two minutes and the first score of the day when Eimear McAnespie hit the back of the net putting them into an early lead, while their second from Cora Courtney on 24 minutes when she pounced on a goalkeeping error pulled her side right back into it to lead 2-1 to 0-6 after they had fallen behind.

However, with the sides level at half-time, 2-1 to 0-7, there really only was one team in it after the break and Monaghan outscored their opponents, who had beaten them in the previous four league meetings, 0-8 to 1-3, the Kingdom goal, a mere consolation, from Deirdre Foley coming in injury time.

After McAnespie’s early goal, Kerry responded well and levelled matters 1-0 to 0-3 in a nip-and-tuck first half which saw the game level three times. Sarah Houlihan put Kerry ahead after the resumption with a point but from there Monaghan took over and points from Katie Duffy, Ciara McAnespie, Cora Courtney and McAnespie again put them 2-5 to 0-8 ahead. Kerry did reduce the gap back to a single point through Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh and Houlihan but a trio of points including two Duffy frees either side of a third McAnespie point saw Monaghan stretch their lead back to four, 2-8 to 0-10. Substitute Geaney netted for Kerry in injury time to set up a nervy finish but McAnespie’s fourth point of the day put two between them and with time up, Monaghan had victory and three important league points in the bag especially with Donegal coming on Sunday.

“Donegal will be another tough game for us this weekend and we cannot afford to show any lapses against them. We have a lot of positives to take from the game and hopefully we can step it up again on Sunday, especially at home,” added Burns.

Division One: Donegal 9-17 Westmeath 1-5

DONEGAL ran riot in their Division One refixture against Westmeath in Derrylin on Sunday with a 36 point victory.

It’s a first win for Maxi Curran and Damien Devenney’s side who now have four points from their three games and move into fourth in the table.

Westmeath probably wish they had been able to finish the previous week’s game in Mullingar after this final scoreline and it’s hard to believe that this game was actually all square three minutes from half-time at 2-2 to 1-5 but a late goal blitz from hat-trick hero Yvonne Bonnar gave Donegal a 4-3 to 1-5 lead at the break.

It took Donegal until the ninth minute to register on the scoreboard but it was a goal from Niamh Hegarty that put them into the lead and when the 2017 All Star struck again for her second major in the 14th minute the Ulster side led 2-2 to 0-3. However, a Fiona Claffey goal reduced the deficit to the minimum and a Laura Lee Walsh point had the sides level 2-2 to 1-5 in the 27th minute. Little did they know that would be their last score not just of the half but the game as Bonnar struck for a double and captain Karen Guthrie added a point for a seven point lead at the interval.

The floodgates opened after the resumption while at the other end, the Donegal defence stood resolute keeping their opposition scoreless for the entire 30-odd minutes.

They hit an unanswered 5-14 starting off with five points - Bonnar (2), who finished with 3-6, and one apiece from Katy Herron, Aoife McDonnell and Guthrie before adding a fifth goal through Eilish Ward who had hit two in the previous week’s abandoned game and a sixth saw Bonnar complete her hat-trick.

Corner forward Sarah Jane McDonald weighed in with 1-1, substitute Grainne Houston added an eighth goal for Donegal and McDonnell put them on cloud nine. Houston added yet another point and another sub, Ciara Grant became their 11th different scorer as she wrapped up the afternoon’s proceeding with a point.

Division Two: Sligo 2-4 Armagh 7-20

ARMAGH held no prisoners in their 30 point annihilation of Sligo at St Mary’s Park Ballydoogan on Sunday. The Orchard County had this game wrapped up by the end of the first quarter when they led 2-10 to no score and by half-time it was 2-14 to 1-1, the home side scoring at the end of the half. The second half followed a similar pattern to the first with Sligo scoring 1-1 again towards the end for the Connacht side who are rooted to the bottom of the table, still winless.

Fionnuala McAtamney and Lorraine McCaffrey’s side sit fifth in a very competitive Division Two table with four points from their three games and still firmly in the hunt for a top four finish.

Fionnuala McKenna opened the scoring inside the first 60 seconds when she found the back of the net to set the tone for the rest of the game. The points flowed as quick as the minutes passed with Lauren McConville, Marian McGuinness, Blaithin and Aimee Mackin, Kelly Mallon and McKenna all getting in on the act before Aimee Mackin fired home from the penalty spot in the 16th minute to make it 2-10 to 0-0 andz they rounded off the first half with another flurry of points through goalscorer Mackin, McGuinness, Aoife McCoy and McConville before Sligo did get off the mark.

The sides exchanged points at the start of the second half as Mackin, who finished with 2-5, and Caroline O’Hanlon made it 3-16 to 1-2. Not to be outdone by her sister, Blaithin added Armagh’s four goal in the 38th minute, the first of three Orchard majors in eight minutes with a McCoy hitting a brace in the 42nd and 46th minutes by which time it was 6-16 to 1-3. The same player popped over a trio of points, bringing her tally to 2-4 for the afternoon and McConville rounded off Armagh’s scoring spree with their seventh goal in the 50th minute to make it 7-20 to 1-3. That finished Armagh for the day with Sligo adding a 1-1 in the final 10 minutes but it did little to add any respectability to the final score.

Division Two: Tyrone 0-9 Tipperary 0-12

TYRONE suffered their first league defeat of the season going down by three points to high-flying Tipperary in Clanabogan Park on Sunday.

Both sides were unbeaten going into the game, which had been postponed from the previous week, having won their first two games and was the first meeting between the teams since last September’s All-Ireland Intermediate Championship Final, which the Munster side won, and once again three points separated them at the end.

Impressively, Tipperary’s winning run now stretches to 20 games unbeaten having gone through 2017 undefeated and made a winning start to 2018.

They got off to the ideal start on Sunday and were five points up in the first six minutes with Aisling McCarthy very much to the fore.

Tyrone did pull back a few scores of their own through Slaine McCarroll, Emma Jane Girvan and Grainne Rafferty but McCarthy helped to further stretch the visitors’ lead and at the break they were 0-7 to 0-3 ahead.

Minutes after the resumption, they lost the influential McCarthy to the sin bin and Tyrone seized on the opportunity, hitting five unanswered points to move into a 0-8 to 0-7 lead with Chloe McCaffrey, Girvan, Rafferty and Maria Canavan pulling their side right back into contention, the latter giving Tyrone the lead for the first time in the game. However, with Tipperary back to their full quota, they tagged on five unanswered points themselves through Aisling Moloney, Lorraine and Aoibhe O’Shea and McCarthy, who finished with 0-5, to take control again 0-12 to 0-8 and while McCaffrey did round up the day’s scoring with a point for Tyrone, Tipperary had done enough.

RESULTS

Division One: Monaghan 2-9 Kerry 1-10, Westmeath 1-5 Donegal 9-17

Division Two: Tyrone 0-9 Tipperary 0-12, Sligo 2-5 Armagh 7-20

Division Three: Roscommon 2-9 Meath 0-12, Leitrim 2-5 Offaly 6-15

Division Four: Limerick 1-4 Wicklow 2-7