Kildare ladies team 'Over the moon' after intermediate Leinster championship win

Kildare ladies beat Wexford 3-7 to 1-7 to claim the TG4 Intermediate Leinster Championship title, Kildare manager Sean Finnegan couldn’t be stopped smiling after the final whistle.

“It’s fantastic” he said, adding “as was expected heading into the tie, Kildare weren’t going to have it all their own way despite having claimed two victories over them so far in 2022. It was a battle, but they fought today tooth and nail.” admitted Finnegan. With Wexford finding their stride in the second half Kildare were made to sweat in what turned into a war of attrition.

“We expected a battle, you saw Wexford walking off the pitch at the end, they were devastated” recalled Finnegan “they came here fully expecting to win.”

Despite having seized control of the tie early on Kildare were left to fight their way into the tie on a number of occasions in the second half as Wexford refused to give in. Finnegan put this down to both a combination of the Wexford resolve and also a small amount of his side being afraid to push on for victory.

“Girls probably thought that being five points up and playing with the wind, it was just going to happen but what I’m delighted about is when the purple patch happened, was the girls’ response.”

One of the key responses for from Kildare was a fantastic goal from Lara Curran seven minutes from time and this is something that Finnegan couldn’t but call in for high praise.

“Lara Curran’s goal was just magnificent, when you have a player like that who can do something special, it’s a goal worthy of winning a Leinster Final.”

Having captained her county to the Intermediate Leinster Championship and also doing this while bagging the Player of the Match award along the way, it was a day of dreams for Kildare captain Grace Clifford. ‘These are the days that you dream of, but it was a team effort there today, every single person who came on the pitch got us over the line.’

With Kildare capitulating midway through the second half, Clifford was adamant that Wexford were not underestimated by her side ‘we say what they did against Laois, Laois are a top quality team, and we knew they are good at getting the goals and even if there is only a couple of minutes on the clock.’

As well as leading her side to victory, Clifford did so by example as she added a goal to Kildare’s efforts in the opening half and in true Clifford style she was adamant to credit her teammates for this move. ‘It was a brilliant team move and I just ended up being on the end of it and I was lucky I got the goal’. 

With Clifford’s and Kildare’s season still far from completed right now their eyes are firmly fixed on soaking up the atmosphere that their victory has generated before getting back into the grind of training. ‘We’re absolutely going to enjoy today; you don’t get many days like this’ reflected Clifford as she firmly held onto the cup.

As Leinster champions Kildare will now celebrate their achievement before regrouping as they await the TG4 Intermediate All-Ireland groupings as they look to add to their provincial success having gotten used to the taste of silverware.

Full match report in tomorrow's issue of the Leinster Leader newspaper.