Kildare ladies maintain 100% win rate with huge Longford win

Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 Round 2

Kildare 4-16

Longford 0-6

Kildare ladies have made it two wins from two in their National Football League Division 3 campaign with victory over Longford. A historically tight game between these sides was instead replaced by a drubbing. Diane O’Hora’s team looked several steps ahead in the opening exchanges as Kildare were electric and the visiting time seemed nothing short of shellshocked.

The opening plays of this game told you all you needed to know about how this fixture was going to pan out as Kildare hit 1-3 without reply in three minutes. Yes, three minutes.

Lara Curran opened the scoring by finding some space in the opening seconds and as the chance opened up in front of her she calmly slotted over the bar. Roisin Byrne wasn’t far behind with her first, of many, score on the day.

Kildare, like they had done the previous week when they sensed danger, pushed high for Longford for goalkeeper’s Ruth Jones' kickouts. Jones was scanning the pitch in front of her for options and didn’t see too many, her resulting kick was intercepted by a lively Roisin Byrne who had a clear run at the Longford stopper. Byrne rounded the ‘keeper and finished simply into an empty net.

Ellen Dowling got the final score of the 1-3 in a three minute blitz as she knocked over a super score.

The game began to settle as the pace slowed and the crowd tried to catch their breath. The staggering scoreline will no doubt draw plaudits towards the front players for the Lilywhites but Kildare’s defensive unit was exceptional throughout this game. There were few chances afforded to Longford and therefore very little ability for the visiting side to gather any momentum.

After a period of possession, Kildare began a 2010 Barcelona style passing move as the ball was popped about with pace and precision. The crucial finish to that move came as Ellen Dowling offloaded the ball to an on-rushing Roisin Byrne who headed for goal and found it once again with a great finish. 2-3 to no score in 10 minutes.

Caoimhe Lohan opened Longford’s scoring account on the day with a well-taken point in the 12th minute. However, Kildare would ramp up the pressure once more as they knocked over four scores in as many minutes as Aoife Rattigan and Neasa Dooley got on the scoresheet with Roisin Byrne knocking over the other two.

Kildare hit a bit of a slump in the final minutes of the opening half as they allowed Longford to get three scores on the bounce before the break as handling errors and perhaps complacency began to creep in.

Regardless of the brief lull in performance, Kildare entered the break with a 2-8 to 0-4 lead. 

The early minutes of the second half saw wholesale changes that would slow the momentum of this Kildare team as they sought to regain that first half rhythm that had got them into such a commanding position. Hard to believe that looking at the final score that they didn’t click back into gear until the closing 10 minutes.

The rhythm returned and scores from Hazel McLoughlin and Roisin Forde were welcomed after multiple poor efforts that had dropped short for Kildare in the second half.

Ciara Price was introduced to the fray on 42 minutes, following her county debut last weekend Price was looking to add to the goal she got against Down last time out. And that's what she did as Price beat the Meath keeper from close range to bag herself another league goal.

The substitute wasn’t done there as she was on hand to score again. Roisin Byrne saw her effort cannon off the crossbar but Price was on-hand to slap home the rebound and get her second goal of the game. 

A brilliant performance rounded off with some shine to the scoreline as Kildare impressed once again in 2023.

Scorers

Kildare, Roisin Byrne 2-5, Ciara Price 2-0, Neasa Dooley 0-5, Lara Curran 0-1, Ellen Dowling 0-1, Aoife Rattigan 0-1, Roisin Forde 0-1, Amy Larn 0-1, Hazel McLoughlin 0-1.

Longford, Caoimhe Lohan 0-2, Lauren McGuire 0-2 (0-1 frees), Grace Shannon 0-1, Ciara Healy 0-1.

Teams

KILDARE: Anna Dunlea; Lauren Burke, Laoise Lenehan, Lara Gilbert; Triona Duggan, Ruth Sargent, Sarah Munnelly; Grace Clifford, Aoife Rattigan; Hazel McLoughlin, Roisin Byrne, Holly Tyrell; Ellen Dowling, Neasa Dooley, Lara Curran.

Subs: Elaine Keogh on for Aoife Rattigan (25 minutes), Amy Lairn on for Holly Tyrell (36 minutes), Roisin Forde on for Lara Curran (36 minutes), Grainne Kenneally on for Sarah Munnelly (38 minutes), Ciara Price on for Ellen Dowling (42 minutes), Claire Sullivan on for Lauren Burke (44 minutes), Jayne Peacock on for Triona Duggan (56 minutes).

LONGFORD: Ruth Jones; Grace Kenny, Emily Reilly, Emma Doris; Hannah Glennon, Eimear O'Brien, Caoimhe McCormack; Grace Shannon, Caoimhe Lohan; Katelyn McKeon, Clodagh Lohan, Shauna Hagan; Lauren McGuire, Kamille Burke, Ciara Healy.

Subs: Emily McCarthy on for Katelyn McKeon (Half time), Kayna Lee on for Shauna Hagan (Half time), Casey McNamara on for Kamille Burke (54 minutes), Edel Sheehy on for Ciara Healy 61 minutes).

Referee: Justin Murphy