Clare 2-15 to 1-6 Kildare 

14th February 2016

The Clare Ladies Footballers have taken their third successive win of the 2016 Lidl National Football League with a resounding win over Kildare.  The victory has placed them well into the middle of the league table at this almost midway stage, their best start in the division since their promotion to it in 2010.

The game was refereed by Keith Delahunty (Clonmel) and took place at Corofin under crisp but sunny conditions. The Lilywhites who were 2015 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship finalists have had a rocky start to their league this year and were coming to the Banner County looking for their first win of the year. However, a confident Clare side with two wins under the belt already began spritely and applied forward pressure early on. With Louise Henchy and Becky Mahon pinning in the Kildare defence from the centre, Clare forwards Orla Devitt, Ailish Considine, Niamh Keane, Sarah Bohannon, Roisin Howley and Grainne Nolan extracted two frees in the first ten minutes which Nolan duely converted as well as one from play. At the end of the first quarter, Ellie O’Gorman had rocketed from her half-back position to take an inspirational point before Kildare pointed their first on thirteen minutes. Then Clare’s Orla Devitt who was indefatigable all day, firstly set up Sarah Bohannon and then Louise Henchy for a point each and as the clock passed the fifteen minute mark the Saffron & Blue were 0-6 to 0-1 ahead. During this spell the Clare half-back line of Roisin Considine, Claire Hester and Ellie O’Gorman were reading the well and cut out several dangerous passages from the Lilywhites. When Noelle Early pointed Kildare’s second score on nineteen minutes, their next foray into the Clare parallelogram was impressively intercepted by Shauna Harvey who solo’ed forward at pace, eventually delivering to Grainne Nolan who shot low for the first goal of the day on twenty minutes (1-6 to 0-2) and when a swift passage of play between Orla Devitt and Sarah Bohannon was delivered to Ailish Considine, her skyscraper went in off the inside of the upright to leave an eight point gap between the two. Undeterred, the visitors clawed back three points coming up the half way mark and when the strain they exerted on the Banner defence forced a penalty in injury time, they converted with a low shot past Ciara Harvey to bring the gap to three points (1-8 to 1-5).

If a poor last six minutes of play had planted any element of doubt in the Clare side, it was snuffed out at the interval as they returned to the arena with a performance that killed any hope of a White resurgence. Within five minutes of the restart,  Ailish Considine had kicked three pointed frees, a sign of the grit being displayed in the western attack. She also took one from play as did the unstoppable Louise Henchy 1-13 to  1-5. Clare were well and truly in control now and pounding down the Lilywhite door, yielding two more fouls which first Grainne Nolan and then Ailish Considine cashed in, to press on by ten points 1-15 to 1-5. The ebb and flow of the Clare attack with the two lines moving in unison was impressive to watch and on the next opportunity, second half sub for Orla Devitt, Roisin Looney took a very strong goal from distance, running a low rasper in past the Kildare custodian Rebecca McGuirk on the fifteenth minute. With the game sown up, Moynihan sprang his subs for the much needed experience, Grainne Harvey, Amy O’Brien, Ciara Hickey and Emma O’Driscoll in the goalleeper’s position. Kildare’s tenacity did yield a point for them on the twenty fifth minute. And when Referee Delahunty called time, the score was 2-15 to 1-6.

Another impressive outing for the envigorated Clare side, where Moynihan’s side still haven’t shown their true hand given that Aoife Keane and Niamh O’Dea weren’t available today (both helping University of Limerick to win the Ashbourne cup over UCC) . This was a solid team performance throughout, with fitness and handling at a peak and where players were confident enough to take on responsibility, notwithstanding the two periods before each whistle where the Clare stats dived, disconcertingly leaking 1-3 in the minutes before the interval.  Next up for Clare is a round four meeting with Cavan on 28^th February in a Clare venue to be announced.

Clare: 1. Ciara Harvey (West Clare Gaels), 2. Eva O’Dea (Banner Ladies), 3. Laurie Ryan (Capt), 4. Shauna Harvey, 5. Roisin Considine (Liscannor), 6. Clare Hester (Fergus Rovers), 7. Ellie O’Gorman (0-1) (Kilmihil), 8. Louise Henchy (0-2) (Banner Ladies), 9. Becky Mahon (Kilmihil), 10. Orla Devitt (Eire Og), 11. Ailish Considine (VCapt) (0-6, 4f) (Kilmihil), 12. Niamh Keane (Banner Ladies), 13. Grainne Nolan (1-5, 4f) (Banner Ladies), 23. Roisin Howley (Burren Gaels), 15. Sarah Bohannon (0-1) (Shannon Gaels).  

Subs Used: 16. Emma O’Driscoll (Banner Ladies), 17. Amy O’Brien (Burren Gaels), 18. Grainne Harvey (West Clare Gaels), 21. Ciara Hickey (Kilmurry Ibrickane), 22. Roisin Looney (1-0) (Cooraclare), 14. Niamh O’Dea (Banner Ladies) (On Ashbourne Cup duty with UL), 19. Orlaith Lynch (Inj.) (Banner Ladies), 20. Aoife Keane (Banner Ladies) (On Ashbourne Cup duty with UL), 24. Kayleigh McCormack (Inj.) (Burren Gaels).

Neil Moynihan (Manager), Paul Mannion (Selector), Ruari Smyth (Strength & Conditioning), Emma Finnegan (Nutritionalist), Bernie Regan (Physio).