Progress, despite defeat: Mike Wall, Kildare camogie manager

Armagh 0-11

Kildare 1-3

Kildare remain at the bottom of the Division 3A League following this five point defeat at the hands of Armagh in Armagh.
Armagh opened brightest with Cara Crilly quickly pointing inside the opening minute before a brace of frees from Rachael Merry had the home side three clear inside the opening ten minutes of action.

Looking to steady their defence and withstand the Armagh pressure Kildare began to press higher up the field, hoping to cut off some of the opportunities attacks.

This wasn’t to be the case as a further Merry point eight minutes after her second left Kildare four adrift before Ciara Geoghegan stepped in from the left side line to get under the sliotar and slice over Roisin Roche’s crossbar once more.

A final point of the half from Merry rounded off matters as Kildare looked to grow into the tie despite trailing by six after twenty-two minutes of action.

A long strike over the top of the Kildare defence from Orla Carragher found Niamh Mortell, the corner forward who unfortunately found the side-netting.

A Lea Sutton free in first halfseemed to get Kildare off the mark, but the Broadford woman was adjudged to have crossed the twenty meter line the point was discounted and Kildare took to the dressing room six adrift.

With Armagh starting as the finished the opening half, with a Merry free, the gap widened.

Kildare stood tall and with Shauna Dunne breaking the deadlock with a point and soon flooded forward before Sutton sent a proving strike into the heart of the Kildare attack. With Aoife McDermott gathering she unleashed a rasping strike past Devlin to leave Kildare only three adrift as the encounter entered its final ten minutes of action.

An exchange of points form Sutton and Merry did little to change the score line before Merry and Geoghegan extended Armagh's advantage to five as the tie ticked into the final five minutes of action.

A late trading of points from Sutton and Merry once however it was Kildare who registered their third defeat in a row to leave them at the foundation of division 3A of the Very National Camogie League at the end of their league campaign.

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Kildare manager Mike Wall remained very positive about his side's performance and the progress he has seen in his side throughout the last few ties. “It was a really positive second half, to be honest it was an all round performance” reflected Wall, adding “we’re building.”

Having now seen his side register three losses from three in this campaign Wall was adamant to point out how close his side has come to victories in the last three encounters. “It was a loss again but they’re so close, again five points today, five points against Laois and two points last week against Roscommon.”

One side of the game that Wall is resolute on is that things are just now clicking into place for his side as of yet “things just aren’t clicking yet, that’s plain to be seen, we had a couple of chance there” admitted Wall but his side are still relatively young and this is something that will come with experience.

“We had a point taken off us in the opening half, then in the second half we missed a couple of shots from thirty yards, if you put them over it’s only a one or two point game.

“One of Wall’s main positives is that he has not just developed a team throughout this campaign but a panel. “We had a couple of new debutants there today, we had to change our goalkeeper at the eleventh hour, we’re building, it’s coming slowly but surely. What we wanted today was a performance and I think we got that.”

Scorers: Kildare: Aoife McDermott 1-0; Lea Sutton 0-2 (1f; 0-1 45’); Shauna Dunne 0-1.

Armagh: Rachael Merry 0-8 (5f); Ciara Geoghegan 0-2; Cara Crilly 0-1.

KILDARE: Roisin Roche; Kelly Perkins, Sorcha Dolan, Ella Copeland; Shauna Mulligan, Meabh Maguire, Shauna Dunne; Niamh O’Connor, Lea Sutton; Caoimhe NiBhuirceal, Sara Carroll, Sarah Lavin; Ailbhe Ryan, Niamh Mortell, Orla Carragher. Subs: Aoife McDermott for Lavin, 31; Ally Morgan for Mortell, 31; Aoife McCarthy for Ryan, 45; Sinead O’Brien for Mulligan, 48; Molly Berns for Carragher, 58.

ARMAGH: Ciarraí Delvin; Rachael Watters, Michelle McCone, Nicola Woods; Cara Crilly, Gemma McCann, Ciara Geoghegan; Tierna Maxwell, Leanne Donnelly; Caoimhe O’Kane, Sinead Quinn, Orla O’Kane; Niamh Forker, Rachael Merry, Rose Boden. Subs: Alana McEntee for Boden, 45; Sinead McCooey for O’Kane, 54; Siobhan McKinley for O’Kane, 58.