Kerry 2-6
Waterford 0-9
Kerry manager Mark Bourke is hopeful the Kingdom can push on now as the reigning TG4 All-Ireland champions got their first win of this season’s Lidl NFL Division One campaign at windswept SETU Arena.
Goals in either half from Niamh Ní Chonchúir and Siofra O'Shea were the key factors as Kerry bounced back from their opening round loss in Armagh.
"Relief you'd have to say,” said the new Kerry manager afterwards when asked for his reaction to this hard-earned win. “I mean getting any points on the board in this division is a relief. We're up and running now.
"I thought we lost our shape in the first half because of the wind and the team we were playing. A lot of our forwards were coming back and bringing the defenders on top of us.
“In the second half, we committed to keeping four up as much as we could. It opened up the game and we saw some gaps. We've good footballers and we thought we could get a mismatch,” added Bourke.
Waterford manager Tomás Mac a t’Saoir, whose side opened their campaign with a win over Kildare, hailed the display of 16-year-old debutant goalkeeper Gemma Corcoran, the first Ballysaggart player to line out for the Waterford seniors, who crowned the occasion with a couple of great saves.
"An outstanding performance for a girl of her age,” said Mac a t’Saoir. “Her bravery to come out and block two shots in the second half when Kerry were getting a squeeze on. Her courage and her bravery, that's what she's been showing in training so it's nothing new for me to see it today.
"She has a great future ahead of her. She has her minor championship to play as well so she'll be looking forward to that but to have played a senior league game against the All Ireland champions will give her a massive boost of confidence."
These Munster rivals were level on four occasions before O'Shea's punched effort ten minutes into the second half put the Kingdom clear. Captain Anna Galvin came up with two massive points. Two goal saving blocks from sub Mary O'Connell just before the break also proved crucial. Déise captain Emma Murray drove her team forward all evening and struck two points from play.
Kerry, starting with eight of the team that defeated Galway in the TG4 All-Ireland final in August, trailed by 0-6 to 1-2 at the break, with the goal coming after six minutes when a point attempt from Ní Chonchúir dropped into the corner of the Déise net to make 1-0 to 0-2.
Waterford responded well with a couple of frees from Kellyann Hogan, after earlier efforts from Brid McMaugh and Clare Walsh, helped them lead at the break with Emma Murray and Lauren McGregor also scoring.
The Kingdom made a triple substitution during the interval. One of those new arrivals Danielle O'Leary kicked them into the lead four minutes into the second period after Rachel Dwyer got the leveller. Kerry netminder Mary Ellen Bolger palmed away a point attempt from McMaugh.
On 40 minutes, O'Shea bravely punched the ball to the net just ahead of advancing Déise goalkeeper Corcoran to make it 2-4 to 0-6. Ciara McCarthy added a point.
Murray, McGregor and McMaugh reduced the deficit to two. Debutant shot-stopper Corcoran made two stunning saves from O'Leary to keep her team in the contest. A late Anna Galvin point sealed a hard earned victory for Kerry.
Scorers – Kerry: S O'Shea 1-1, N Ní Chonchúir 1-0, A Galvin 0-2, C McCarthy, D O'Leary, R Dwyer 0-1 each.
Waterford: B McMaugh, L McGregor (2fs), E Murray, K Hogan (2fs) 0-2 each, C Walsh 0-1.
KERRY: ME Bolger; R Smith, D Kearney, R Rahilly; A O’Connell, K Cronin, A Galvin; K Sugrue; A Dillane; N Carmody, C Evans, N Ní Chonchúir; S O’Shea, R Dwyer, K Brosnan. Subs: M O'Connell for Ní Chonchúir (23), C McCarthy for Sugrue (HT), E Lynch for Rahilly (HT), D O'Leary for Brosnan (HT), J Lucey for Dwyer (40), L Boyle for Carmody (47), M Higgins for A O'Connell (57), N Quinn for Evans (58).
WATERFORD: G Corcoran; C Murray, R Casey, M Ryan; K McGrath, E Murray, Á O’Neill; E Power, H Power; B McMaugh, K Hogan, K Murray; L McGregor, C Walsh, C Fennell. Subs: A Power for Fennell (44), L Ni Arta for Walsh (57).
Referee: B Redmond (Wexford).
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Meath 4-9
Mayo 2-6
Meath manager Shane McCormack said it’s a great boost to have Vikki Wall back in the side, especially as there are so many new players in the squad.
The returning Wall, making her first start since a TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship quarter-final defeat to Kerry in July 2023, bagged 2-1 as Meath made it two wins from two in Division One of the Lidl NFL at Pairc Tailteann in Navan.
“It’s great to have Vikki back,” said McCormack. “She has been training extremely hard since Christmas. We played a couple of challenge matches, but she got her chance today and she took it. You can see that little bit of a lift, especially with the 14 new girls.
“She’s a super role model as well as a lot of the girls there today. It’s all positive and we’re looking forward to the Waterford game.
“A nine point win in the end is super, especially against a gale force wind in the second half. These girls never give up,” he added.
Mayo manager Liam McHale said his young team can learn a lot from games like these and he’s hoping they show that next weekend when they host Tyrone.
“I thought we did manage the game fairly well,” said the former All Star. “Everyone could see what we were trying to do in the first half. I’m disappointed that we gave away the first goal, but then we responded with a great goal ourselves.
“Second half then I think the closest we got was two, but we kicked some bad wides and some decision making wasn’t the best. We got punished then by Meath and that’s always going to happen at the highest level.”
Wall made her presence felt in the early moments and with Ciara Smyth (two), Kerrie Cole and Meadhbh Byrne all finding the target, the Royals were four points clear at the end of the opening quarter.
Even though Sinead Walsh cancelled out a free from Smyth to finally get Mayo up and running in the 21st minute, Meath reinforced their authority when Wall drilled the ball to the opposition net moments later.
Yet Mayo were back in contention when Walsh claimed a superb solo goal of her own on 26 minutes and despite temporarily losing the MacHale Rovers attacker to injury arising from an incident that led to Wall being yellow-carded, Maria Cannon converted a close-in free to leave the westerners just three points adrift (1-5 to 1-2) at the interval.
Walsh was back in time to narrow the gap at the start of the second half with a place-ball strike from distance, before Meath regained a firm stranglehold when a Smyth point was supplemented by a green flag finish from Cole.
However, Walsh was proving to be a real thorn in the side of the Meath defence and she rattled the net for a second time on 38 minutes via a neat one-two with Bree Hession. This meant the Royals were three in front upon Wall’s return to the field of play and this cushion remained intact after Mayo midfielder Erin Murray and Smyth traded points.
This advantage was then doubled when Wall hammered home from a tight angle in the wake of Mayo defender Ella Brennan being sin-binned for a foul on the Dunboyne ace, and even though Walsh continued to lead the way for the visitors, a fourth goal off a counter-attack by raiding wing-back Niamh Gallogly helped Meath to ease over the line.
Scorers – Meath: V Wall 2-1 (0-1f), C Smyth 0-6 (3f), K Cole 1-1, N Gallogly 1-0, M Byrne 0-1.
Mayo: S Walsh 2-4 (0-4f), M Cannon 0-1 (f), E Murray 0-1.
MEATH: R Murray; A Sheridan, S Wall, N Troy; N Gallogly, MK Lynch, C Millington; A Cleary, V Wall; M Thynne, O Sheehy, C Smyth; M Byrne, M Farrelly, K Cole. Subs: K Bermingham for Sheehy, E Moyles for Thynne (both 41),K Newe for Troy (46),O Callan for Farrelly (53), C Lawlor for Byrne (58), M Collins for Cole (59).
MAYO: R Dyar; E Brennan, S Lally, D Caldwell; S Delaney, S El Massry, H Reape; E Murray, A Geraghty; L Wallace, A Gough, C Durkin; M Cannon, S Walsh, B Hession. Subs: K Doherty for Walsh (30-h/t),K Doherty for Wallace (36),K Sullivan for El Massry (46), C Whyte for Hession (47), A Fitzpatrick for Gough (48), M Sheridan for Delaney (53), S McNulty for Sullivan (55), J Mortimer for Murray (58).
Referee: Kevin Phelan (Laois).
