Lidl National Football League round three
IT was a tough day at the office for the Ulster counties yesterday, with just Cavan victorious in round three across all four divisions.
Donegal saw their unbeaten start to the season come to an end down in Kerry as they lost out by the narrowest of margins, 2-13 to 2-14, however, with Dublin, who at the start of the day were also unbeaten, losing to champions Cork, it has thrown the top tier wide open as Mayo and the Kingdom picked up their first wins.
Micheal Naughton’s Donegal side saw a six-point lead slip in the final quarter as Kerry finished with an unanswered 1-4 to snatch a badly-needed victory after two defeats, Laura Rogers with an 58th minute goal to seal the win and hold off any chance of late Donegal comeback.
A draw would probably have been a fair result at the end of the day in a game that saw the pendulum swing back and forth between two well-acquainted sides.
Donegal led early on but a Louise Ni Mhuircheartaigh goal brought the home side right back into it at 0-4 to 1-0 and by the first quarter it was Kerry who had worked themselves into a three point, 1-4 to 0-5, lead.
But Donegal managed to get themselves back in front with four unanswered points and a Paula McGrory goal close to half-time gave them a 1-10 to 1-6 advantage at the break.
Kerry reduced the gap to the minimum by the 37th minute before 1-1 from Geraldine McLaughlin, who finished with 1-4, looked to have put the visitors in a good place with the final quarter approaching.
But the loss of Ciara Hegarty to the sin bin saw Donegal pinned and they could not hold on to their 2-12 to 1-9 lead as Kerry reeled them in take their first points of the season.
Mayo also picked up their first crucial league points as they saw off Armagh in a high-scoring, 0-18 to 3-14, encounter in Clonmore.
Armagh will certainly feel that this was one that got away. Apart from hitting 18 scores to their opponents 17, they also registered almost three times as many wides.
Mayo were very economical with just five wides throughout the course of the game, but Armagh hit 14.
That said, Sean O’Kane’s side, who led for all of the first half, went in 0-10 to 1-6 to the good, Cora Staunton with the goal and finishing with just 1-6 of her side’s total, four of those points from frees.
There were also times during the second half that the Orchard county were in front, but the goals made the difference as Sarah Rowe struck for two second half majors and Armagh failed to punish the opposition with their chances. Aimee Mackin finished with nine points, seven of those from play as Armagh had seven different scorers and Mayo’s Rowe finished with 2-5.
There was to be no repeat of the Monaghan heroics in Clones two weeks’ earlier that saw the Farney county stun Mayo as Galway ran out 3-12 to 1-13 winners yesterday.
The sides were level at half-time, 1-6 apiece, as Monaghan came from five points down after trailing 1-6 to 0-4 after just 19 minutes.
Dora Gorman struck for the visitors’ first goal with Laura McEnaney getting the equalising score when she found the back of the net in the 29th minute.
However, the visitors extended their lead to 2-8 to 1-7 in the 37th minute with a goal from Roisin Leonard and although three unanswered points reduced the Galway lead to two points, 2-9 to 1-10, Lucy Hannon’s goal in the 51st minute was crucial as Galway held on for the win.
Cork put their defeat to Armagh behind them with a 2-11 to 1-8 win over Dublin to leave four teams on six points and the other four on three points.
In Division Two, leaders Tyrone were always playing catch-up as they went down 3-8 to 1-10 at home to Westmeath.
They trailed 1-3 to 0-3 after the first quarter that deficit was 2-6 to 0-4 on 27 minutes, however, a goal from the home team right on half-time reduced Westmeath’s lead to five, 2-6 to 1-4 at the break. Westmeath struck for their third goal in the 42nd minute to put six between them, and although Tyrone hit the last three points of the game it was not enough as their unbeaten run came to an end.
A superb second half from Cavan saw them clinch a 1-17 to 1-11 victory away to Kildare.
Cavan were on the back foot for a lot of the game, trailing 1-7 to 0-7 at half-time.
The home side managed just four points after the resumption as Cavan pushed on to make it two wins on the trot as Division Two opens up nicely.
There was a 5-14 to 0-3 defeat for Down in Division Three, while Fermanagh went down 3-17 to 1-6 at home to Wicklow
In Division Four, Antrim were narrowly edged out by Louth, 2-8 to 1-8, and Derry suffered a heavy 0-36 to 1-3 defeat at the hands of Longford.
RESULTS
Division 1: Armagh 0-18 Mayo 3-14, Monaghan 1-13 Galway 3-12, Kerry 2-13 Donegal 1-12, Cork 2-11 Dublin 1-8
Divison 2: Clare 0-12 Laois 2-14, Kildare 1-11 Cavan 1-17, Tyrone 1-10 Westmeath 3-8, Sligo 2-7 Waterford 0-11
Division 3: Tipperary 5-14 Down 0-3, Offaly 2-13 Leitrim 4-3, Wexford 4-13 Limerick 3-3, Meath 1-12 Roscommon 2-9
Division 4: Louth 2-8 Antrim 1-8, Longford 0-36 Derry 1-3, Fermanagh 1-6 Wicklow 3-17 Carlow 5-20 Kilkenny 2-4
