Lidl Ladies’ NFL Division One, round one
Kerry 1-13 Armagh 3-11
LEAGUE champions Armagh overturned a five-point half-time deficit with a superb second-half performance to defeat All-Ireland champions Kerry in Tralee on Saturday.
The Ulster side trailed 1-7 to 0-5 at the break at a windy Austin Stack Park before outscoring their opponents 3-6 to 0-6 in the second half, 3-3 of that coming in the final quarter, to win by four and take two important points back home.
The bench made a huge impact for Joe Feeney and Darnell Parkinson’s side, Blaithin Mackin hitting 1-1 and Rebecca Cunningham also finding the back of the net.
At the other end, they had the player-of-the-match in goalkeeper Anna Carr, who made a number of excellent saves in the second half, including a double one from Síofra O’Shea and Jadyn Lucey, as well as denying the impressive Niamh Ní Chonchúir.
Carr was delighted to get the result on a very difficult day conditions wise but it was also as important to make sure they were getting the performance right.
“It was very, very tough. We were coming up against the All-Ireland champions and we knew we were having battles every time we come up against them and we knew this would not be any different,” she said.
“One thing we were going after was our performance and this year trying to make an impact off the bench and credit to the girls who came in, they made a big impact.
“It’s all about standards, keeping the standards high more so, never mind the result, just the performances and if we keep the results coming with the performances, we’ll be happy with that.”
Armagh were leading 0-5 to 0-3 but a strong final 10 minutes of the opening half saw Kerry hit 1-5, O’Shea with a 20th-minute goal, to give them that five-point cushion at the midway point.
They extended it to six immediately after the resumption, but the visitors got back to within a goal thanks to Eve Lavery, Eimear McGeown and Mackin to make it 1-8 to 0-8.
Kerry replied with five points in a row to make it 1-13 to 0-8 with a quarter of the game still remaining. That, however, was to be the Kingdom’s final score and Armagh finished strongly with that 3-3.
Cunningham’s goal put them into the lead by the minimum 2-11 to 1-13 before Roisin Mulligan rounded up the scoring and victory with her side’s third goal.
Kerry S O’Shea 1-6 (0-4f); A Galvin 0-2; J Lucey, R Dwyer, K Cronin, C Evans & N Ní Chonchúir 0-1 each
Armagh N Reel 0-4; B Mackin 1-1; R Cunningham & R Mulligan 1-0 each; E Lavery 0-3 (1f); E McGeown 0-2; C O’Hanlon 0-1
Tyrone 0-2 Meath 4-4
TWO first-half goals from Meath forward Kerrie Cole laid the platform for victory against newly-promoted Tyrone in at blustery Newtownstewart.
Those majors helped the Royals into a deserved 2-4 to 0-2 lead at the break and they made their move for home in the final 10 minutes, sub Megan Collins palming to the net with 54 minutes gone after a speculative shot dropped short.
Collins added another a minute late, using her height and physical presence to get effect as she rose highest to get her hands on a diagonal ball.
Tyrone M Canavan 0-2 (0-1f)
Meath K Cole & M Collins 2-0 each; M Farrelly 0-3 (0-2f); C Smyth 0-1
Lidl Ladies’ NFL
Division One, round one Dublin 2-7 Mayo 1-7; Kerry 1-13 Armagh 3-11; Kildare 2-7 Waterford 1-12; Tyrone 0-2 Meath 4-4
Division Two, round one Clare 1-4 Donegal 0-7; Cork 3-12 Westmeath 0-5; Roscommon 0-6 Monaghan 0-7;Tipperary 0-7 Galway 2-9
Division Three, round one Laois v Carlow (postponed); Limerick 2-6 Down 0-14; Louth 2-8 Cavan 2-10; Wexford 3-14 Offaly 1-4
Division Four, round two Derry 0-4 Fermanagh 4-16; Longford 6-24 Kilkenny 0-3; Sligo 2-8 Antrim 5-7; Wicklow v Leitrim (postponed)
