Win over Tyrone not enough to see Kildare advance to camogie league final

Kildare picked up a hard-fought win over National Camogie League Division 3A rivals, Tyrone in Manguard Park on Saturday afternoon, but it was not by the 10-point margin they needed to pinch a place in the league final against Armagh.

They were halfway towards that objective midway through the first half when they opened up a five-point advantage, but Tyrone, who, themselves, were still in promotion contention, edged back in front, thanks in no small part to Catherine Moohan’s 23rd minute goal.

And while the hosts did manage to work their way back into a 0-11 to 1-6 lead by the half-time recess, they were unable to add to that significantly enough to propel them themselves up to second place in the table on scoring difference.

Still, it was an encouraging victory for Rob O’Neill’s side, who will be looking to build on this solid display as they turn their attention to championship later in the year.

The first score on Saturday was on the board within 35 seconds of the start, Rebecca McDermott firing over the first of her 11 points on the day for the hosts, only to see Tyrone cancel out that opener a minute later when Lara Devlin split the posts.

Kildare were desperately unlucky not to find the back of the net seconds later after McDermott saw her attempt drop short and batted out by goalkeeper, Eimear Colton and back into her path, offering her the opportunity of a second strike that cannoned back off the crossbar.

Tyrone capitalised a little on that reprieve to edge in front on four minutes when Rachel O’Neill combined with Moohan to prise open the space needed to fire over.

Yet, that would prove their last score for the next 12 minutes, during which time Kildare went on a run of six unanswered points, McDermott accounting for four of them while Louise Murphy and Aoife Stynes made up the balance.

That run served to propel them ahead 0-7 to 0-2, and the deficit might well have been even greater had not the framework again come to the rescue of Tyrone, this time denying Lea Sutton a goal after she had been set up for the strike by Aoife McDermott 11 minutes in.

The visitors did finally get their side of the scoreboard ticking again by way of a 16th-minute free from Aoibhinn Daly, and that signalled the start of their purple patch, which included a further three points without reply from Emer and Aine Cunningham together with captain, Reagan Fay that reduced their side’s arrears to the very minimum.

Stynes ended Kildare’s run of eight minutes without a score when she whipped over a point, but Tyrone responded with interest as Moohan managed to turn two markers and squeeze her shot to the back of the net.

Yet, just when it seemed that Tyrone were in the ascendency, Kildare managed to steady the ship, as McDermott converted three frees in two minutes to hand her side a narrow two-point lead by the break.

The Kildare corner forward was again on target a minute after the restart, but that point was cancelled out by Devlin’s effort down the other end four minutes later.

The homeside did have the chance to tighten their grip on proceedings soon after when Sara Carroll managed to slip her marker and lift a dangerous ball across the face off goal where Aoife McDermott just missed out on making their connection that would surely have directed it to the net.

She did, however, manage to whip over a point seconds later to extend her side’s lead to three, but Tyrone were never out of this contest, as Moohan, Daly and Devlin applied the finishing touch to some pacey attacks.

Yet Kildare demonstrated great resolve to keep themselves in front, Stynes, McDermott and Lea Sutton serving up some crucial scores down the stretch, while substitute, Sophie Hazzard was very unlucky to see her 63 rd -minute effort find only the side-netting.

Scorers: Kildare: Rebecca McDermott 0-11 (0-5 frees, 0-1 45), Aoife Stynes 0-4, Louise Murphy 0-2, Aoife McDermott 0-1, Lea Sutton 0-1.

Tyrone: Catherine Moohan 1-2, Lara Devlin 0-4, Aiobhinn Daly 0-3 (0-3 frees), Aine Cunningham 0-2, Rachel O’Neill 0-1, Reagan Fay 0-1, Emer Cunningham 0-1.

KILDARE: Róisín Roche, Shauna Dunne, Áine Conway, Sadhbh Horgan, Caoimhe O’Sullivan, Laoise Mimnagh, Kate Murphy, Laura Edwards, Aoife Stynes, Louise Murphy, Sara Carroll, Caoimhe Ní Bhuircéal, Rebecca McDermott, Lea Sutton, Aoife McDermott. Subs: Sadhbh Buckley for Ní Bhuircéal (23 mins), Aoife McCarthy for O’Sullivan (40 minutes), Róisín Naughton for Dunne (47 minutes), Gráinne Dowling for Mimnagh (53 minutes), Sophie Hazzard for Aoife McDermott (59 minutes) and Molly Berns for Edwards (60 minutes).

TYRONE: Eimear Coltan, Nicola McKiver, Bronagh Moohan, Aoife McDonald, Blathnait Kerr, Meaghan Clarke, Eva Corr, Reagan Fay, Rachel O’Neill, Lara Devlin, Aine Cunningham, Aiobhinn Daly, Catherine Moohan, Emer Cunningham, Aisling Hagan. Subs: Grainne McDonald for O’Neill (20 mins), Mairead Donnelly for Kerr (half-time), Niamh McElduff for Cunningham, Siobhan Donnelly for Daly (both 58 minutes).

REFEREE: Shane Foley.