Lidl Ladies NFL Division Three
Roscommon 1-7
Down 0-8
Roscommon ladies footballers will be counting their blessings this week after they survived an almighty scare from Down in this curtain-raiser at Dr. Hyde Park on Sunday. Michael Finneran’s team were cruising to victory at half-time, leading by 1-5 to 0-2 but Down pinned them back in the second half and the home side were lucky to emerge victorious in the end.
It was all Roscommon early on and by the end of the first quarter they led by 0-4 to no score, with points from Rebecca Finan 2 (1 free), Siobhan Tully and Joanne Cregg. Down kicked two points by the 23rd minute to narrow the gap to two but Roscommon flexed their muscles to pull clear by the half-time whistle. Jenny Higgins pointed from play in the 24th minute and a minute before the break Niamh Feeney scored a fine goal to leave the score at half-time, Roscommon 1-5 Down 0-2.
But Down were the dominant side throughout the second half. Roscommon only managed two points (both from Rebecca Finan) as the Mourne girls drove forward. Points from Lauren Cunningham, Aoife Keown (3) and Louise Duffy narrowed the gap and indeed Down had a goal disallowed in the 46th minute which would have put them ahead but Roscommon hung on to prevail by two points.
The Rossie girls won’t need me to tell them that their second half display was very poor and a big improvement will be needed for the games to come. However, a win is a win, and on the day Rebecca Finan, Niamh Feeney Jenny Higgins and Laura Fleming were most prominent.
Roscommon: Helena Cummins; Honor Ennis, Sinead Kenny, Amanda McLoone; Joanne Cregg (0-1), Tess Muragh, Niamh Feeney (1-0); Aine Ryan, Jenny Higgins (0-1); Alice Kelly, Laura Fleming, Siobhan Tully (0-1); Sorcha Bruen, Rebecca Finan (0-4, 2 frees), Joan Geoghegan. Subs: Katie Daly for Geoghegan (40), Grainne Lohan for Ennis (54).
Down: A Cull; C Doherty, C Byrne, E McArdle; O Lavery, K White, O Duffy; L Duffy (0-2), A Keown (0-3); L Cunningham (0-1), C Mulvenna, N McKibbin; O Swail, M Doherty, K McKay (0-1). Subs: A McKee for M Doherty (h/t), S Doherty (0-1) for Swail (40), A Trainor for C Doherty (43), M Kavanagh for Duffy (49), C Brown for McKibbin (51)
Referee: Kevin Corcoran (Mayo)
