Kildare 16s Get Off to Winning Start
Kildare 16s Get Off to Winning Start
March 09, 2020
Kildare vs Laois
Rd 1 Leinster u16 B championship (Refixture)
29th Feb 2020
HT Score Kildare 0.06 Laois 1.03
FT Score Kildare 3.09 Laois 1.04
Having led the original fixture before it was abandoned last week, the Kildare U16s girls eventually kicked off their campaign successfully, beating Laois with an impressive full-time score of 3-9
to 1-4 today. Kildare managed to put up a high scoring performance in the second half despite blistering cross-field winds had held Laois scoreless for the first twenty minutes.
The first twenty minutes were heavily controlled by the Lillie’s but they would not have it all their own way. A combination of scores from Niamh Hayes, Anna Carpenter and two from
Sophie Ngai sent Kildare into the lead. The Kildare half-back line were also contributing to play, working the ball well through their hands. However, these scores were quickly countered by a scoring spree of three points in two minutes from the away team, followed by a goal from Laois captain Orla Whelan. To add to Laois’s purple patch was the sin-binning of Anna Carpenter for Kildare. This shift in momentum forced the home team to respond
quickly, down a player, Abbie Pender and Ngai once again splitting the uprights. The two teams all level at half time, Kildare 0-6 to Laois’s 1-3.
Determined to regain control of the game, Kildare’s wing forward, Caitlin Kennedy found the net just two minutes into the second half. There was a sense that Kildare had taken control and so it proved, with a massive score from range off the boot of Molly O’Loughlin to give
her team a three-point lead. Missing their captain, Yasmine Browne due to an injury early in the second half, this Kildare outfit would go on to dominate the last quarter, Ngai and Kennedy netting two more goals. Siofra Galvin and Edwina Birchall would also contribute points in their team's first outing of the year. After sixty hard-fought minutes Kildare deservingly put up their first win of the 2020 campaign.
Next up for Kildare is an away trip to Kilkenny next Saturday afternoon with venue and times tbc.
Kildare Team: Roisin Browne, Molly O Loughlin 0.01 Ruth Sargent, Niamh Jenkins, Ellen Coleman, Alex Reynolds, Siofra Galvin 0.01'Yasmin Browne cpt, Hannah Breen, Sophie Ngai 1.03 Caitlin Kennedy 2.00, Niamh Hayes 0.01, Niamh Farrelly, Abbie Pender 0.01(F) , Anna Carpenter 0.01
Kildare subs: Claudia Keenan, Enya O Brien, Eimear Glancy, Edwina Birchall 0.01, Mayah Doyle, Claudia Gray, Aine Mernagh, Eve Heslin, Hannah Crowley, Ellie Kendrick, Aine McGuire, Eabha Owens, Grace King, Ali Kaye.
Laois Team: Aoibhe Brennan, Eva Cullinan, Koren Dunne, Ellen Dunne, Edel Deegan, Ciara Crowley, Anna Keane, Orla Whelan (cpt) 1.00, Molly McNulty, Sinead Coffey, Jes Whelan, Maeve Gallagher, Danielle Brennan, Niamh Conroy 0. 03 (3,fs), Katie Donoghue 0.01
Laois Subs: Ciara Phelan, Ita Conroy, Saoirse Byrne, Katie O Reilly, Kayla D'Arcy, Finola Kehoe, Laura Dempseys, Sinead Goode, Darien Hughes, Kate O Reilly, Orla Horrigan, Faydagh Dunne, Ellie O Connell, Clodagh Lawlor, Emma Griffin.
Referee Finbarr Shanahan (Dublin)
Report: Aoife Kane
Photos: Karl Gormley