Very Ireland National Camogie League Division 2A: Derry 2-6 Kerry 1-12
DERRY slumped to their first defeat of the season in Bellaghy on Saturday when Kerry took full advantage of the swirling breeze to build up an interval lead of 0-11 to 1-2.
Patrice Diggin yet again was superb for the visitors, punishing Derry’s indiscipline with eight points from frees. She then dropped back as sweeper for the second half and controlled the play to put her team four points clear of second placed Derry at the top of Division 2A, albeit that the Oak Leaf have a midweek re-fixture with Laois that could close the gap.
The home side were missing a few regulars for the game, but they just kept taking the wrong options and failed to create enough space up front. Lauren McKenna was probably Derry’s best player and there were scoring opportunities, but the concession of frees killed them.
That however is not to take anything from a determined Kerry side, led expertly by Diggin and full back Sarah Murphy.
Diggin scored four frees in the opening ten minutes to put Kerry five-one up. Aoife Shaw’s goal a minute later temporarily slowed the visitors’ progress, but they nevertheless built up an interval lead of six points.
Derry hit three points in the first four minutes of the second half with one in reply from a Diggin free. The next score decided the game however. Kerry won a penalty and Diggin opened a lead of seven points with 19 minutes left.
Derry’s second goal didn’t come until the 58th minute, really too late to halt Kerry’s unbeaten run.
Both the Cavan v Meath and Westmeath v Laois games were victims of the cold snap and may be re-scheduled for this coming weekend.
Derry: A Shaw (1-0), M Heggarty (1-0), A Lennon (0-2), M McNicholl (0-2 frees), D O’Kane (0-1), S O’Connor (0-1).
Kerry: P Deegin (1-9, 1-0 pen, 0-9 frees), C Walsh (0-1), A Behan (0-1) J Horgan (0-1)