Defeat for Kildare pushes them into camogie relegation battle

Meath 2-18

Kildare 2-8

A poor start followed by a poor finish saw Kildare camogie side fall to a ten point defeat at the hands of Meath in the Glen Dimplex Camogie Intermediate Championship and now they must take on Cork as they bid to avoid relegation.

It was Meath who opened the scoring with a brace of points from Sinead Hackett before Sophia Payne added to the Royals cause at this game played at Rathmolyon GAA on Saturday.

A further two points from Meath left them holding a five point advantage before Kildare were able to get to the pace of the tie.
A ninth minute point from Emer Reilly opened their efforts before Meath added two more through Jane Dolan and Aoife Minogue.
Leah Sutton looked to stabilise Kildare with a second point mid way through the half but Meath again responded quickly.

Working her way into the tie, the Broadford forward added a second as Kildare soon got the measure of Meath and began trading scores.

With the half almost coming to a close a strike from Minogue looked to have drifted wide only for the referee to spot an off-the-ball infringement close to goal. Jane Dolan stood over the sliotar just outside the twenty yard line and striking low and hard she gave Eimear Stirling no opportunity to make the save.

Two late points from Roisin Forde and Sutton before the break saw Kildare finish the half on a high but with six points separating the sides at the break Kildare manager, Joe Quaid, was going had some work to do at the break to turn it around.

On the restart Kildare refused to allow Meath to get the same start to this period as they did at the beginning. A Dolan free was quickly responded to by Ciara Egan who netted past Maggie Randle.

The Meath full forward added two more frees before Kildare looked to drag themselves into the tie with Forde finishing off a fine Kildare move with a green flag.

A Sutton free from the defence found Egan, controlling the sliotar, Egan hand passed to Forde. Taking on three Meath defenders, Forde ginked and spun past the challenge to find herself to the left of goal. With Randle covering most of the area that Forde looked to shoot towards, she struck and finding the top right corner, netted to leave three separating the sides and fourteen minutes remaining.

A further point from Sutton had Kildare trailing by two as a sense of belief finally appeared to fall over them.
Looking to build on this Kildare were pushing forward. However when Kildare picked up a red card the numerical disadvantage that Meath now had began to take its toll.

A goal and two points from Niamh Daly followed by two Dolan frees without reply had The Royals once more ten points to the good and with the tie into injury time it was clear to see Kildare were now planning for their tie against Cork next weekend.

A late trading of points did nothing to change the scoreboard as Kildare slumped to a ten point defeat which will hurt the side as they now face Cork in seven days hoping for victory as they look to stave off a possible regelation battle if today’s feat awaits them on their travels.

Scorers

Meath: Jane Dolan 1-8 (1-8f); Niamh Daly 1-2 (1f); Aoife Minogue 0-2; Sinead Hackett 0-2; Sophia Payne 0-1; Olivia O’Halloran 0-1; Aine McNerney 0-1; Aedin Slattery 0-1.

Kildare: Leah Sutton 0-5 (2f); Roisin Forde 1-1; Ciara Egan 1-0; Shauna Mulligan 0-1; Emer Reilly 0-1 (1f).

Teams

MEATH: Maggie Randle; Sophia Payne, Claire Coffey, Sonia Leonard; Tracy King, Meave Clince, Ellen Burke; Kristina Troy, Amy Gaffney, Aoife Minogue; Olivia O’Halloran, Jane Dolan, Sinead Hackett. Syns: Aedin Slattery for O’Halloran, 30; Niamh Daly for Minogue, 53; Aine McNerney for Hackett, 55.

KILDARE: Eimear Stirling; Nicole Malcolmsom, Maria Doyle, Grainne Noone; Chanice Corcoran, Emma Barry, Ellen Morgan; Deirbhile Byrne, Shauna Mulligan; Aoife Stynes, Roisin Forde, Emer Reilly; Emma Kielty, Leah Sutton, Ciara Egan.