Reigning champions Dublin set up a TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final against Cork after beating Kerry 5-15 to 2-9 at Bord na Móna O’Connor Park in Tullamore.
Sinéad Aherne scored 2-5 as Dublin edged past Kerry. Dublin proved to have far too much firepower as they an winners by double scores.
Kerry captain Amanda Brosnan won the toss and opted to play with the breeze in the opening half. There seemed to be little advantage however as Dublin struck first. Sinead Aherne popped over a free in the fourth minute. Soon after Niamh McEvoy added a second point.
Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh opened the scoring for Kerry from a free in the seventh minute but Dublin didn’t let go of their stranglehold and continued to build momentum.
Carla Rowe latched onto a quick-free and scored the first goal of the match to give Dublin a 12 to 01 advantage in the eight minute.
At the half-time interval, Kerry trailed Dublin 2-3 to 1-4.
Dublin made good use of the breeze in the second-half. Rowe pointed right after half-time and then substitute Caoimhe O’Connor’s pass sent Aherne through a gap to score their third goal.
McEvoy quickly scored a point to put Dublin 3-5 to 1-4 ahead and on their way to victory.
Miriam O’Keeffe came off the bench and scored 1-1 within two minutes for Kerry but Aherne showed all of her experience to calmly slot her second goal with 13 minutes remaining and there was no way back for the Kingdom.
Niamh Hetherton came off the bench to score a fifth Dublin goal and wrap up the win as they now start turning their attentions to a semi-final meeting with Cork.
Scorers – Dublin: S Aherne 2-5 (3f), N McEvoy 1-2, C Rowe 1-1, N Hetherton 1-0, O Whyte 0-2, K Sullivan 0-2, S Goldrick 0-1, N Healy 0-1, L Davey 0-1.
Kerry: S Houlihan 1-3 (1f), M O’Keeffe 1-1, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-3 (2f), E Dineen 0-1, L Scanlon 0-1.
Dublin: C Trant; M Byrne, N Collins, É Rutledge; A Kane, S Goldrick, O Carey; N McEvoy, J Dunne; L Magee, S McGrath, C Rowe; S Aherne, N Healy, L Davey. Subs: C O’Connor for Dunne (30), E McDonagh for Collins (41), O Whyte for Healy (47), K Sullivan for Rowe (51), N Hetherton for McGrath (57).
Kerry: L Fitzgerald; C O’Brien, E Lynch, L Coughlan; A O’Connell, T Breen, C Murphy; L Scanlon, A Brosnan; A Foley, A Galvin, E Dineen; S Houlihan, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh, S O’Shea. Subs: S Lynch for Coughlan (17), J O’Sullivan for O’Connell (21, inj), M O’Keeffe for Dineen (42), E Teahan for Foley (49), M O’Connor for S O’Shea (51).