Lidl Ladies' NFL Division Three
DOWN go into Sunday’s clash with Wexford looking to build on their match-winning performance against Sligo last weekend.
Peter Lynch’s side recorded a 2-8 to 0-9 win to collect their first points of their Division Three campaign and put their opening defeat to Kildare behind them.
Even at such an early stage of the season it was a crucial game as Sligo had also lost their opening game. The win has moved Down up the table into fifth along with Clare, who are also on three points, with Kildare, Wexford and Louth all on maximum points. Offaly and Longford join Sligo at the bottom.
“It was important to get the win, but more importantly, to get a really good response from the players,” said Lynch.
“We all felt we didn’t do ourselves justice against Kildare.
“We went back to training and we felt there were lots of things we could improve on, like closing down the space in front of our goal, and our transition from defence to forward was a little more direct this time around, which definitely helped on Sunday.
Aoife Keown gave Down the perfect start at Pairc Esler when she found the net to finish a move straight from the throw-in.
Sligo were being shut out by the Down defence while at the other end they finally got on the scoreboard in the 10th minute to reduce the gap to 1-1 to 0-1.
Down added three points without reply through Jess Foy, Natasha Ferris and Niamh King. Sligo hit three points to leave a goal between them again but Down finished the half strong with Foy and Ferris (free) points to put them 1-6 to 0-4 ahead at the break.
Sligo reduced the gap two before Foy added Down’s first of the half. Sarah Dougherty added another point to push the Mourne side’s lead back to four, 1-8 to 0-7.
A Sligo point pulled it back to the goal again before Dougherty grabbed the vital second goal to kill off the visitors’ challenge.
Next up are Wexford, last season’s Division Three and All-Ireland intermediate finalists, who will be keen to get back to another division final and win promotion.
“Our hope is to be pushing towards the top end of the league,” said Lynch.
“Wexford are a tough nut to crack. We go into each game with the aim to improve on the previous game and we want to try and continue that against Wexford.”
DIVISION THREE
ROUND TWO RESULTS
Clare 2-3 Wexford 3-9; Down 2-8 Sligo 0-9; Offaly 0-7 Louth 2-12;Kildare 4-16 Longford 0-6
ROUND THREE FIXTURES
Sunday, February 5 (2pm unless stated) Wexford v Down (Enniscorthy, 1pm);
Clare v Kildare (Cooraclare); Louth v Sligo (Darver); Longford v Offaly (Emmet Park)
