Cork ladies footballers get Senior B Championship off to winning start against Kerry

Kerry 1-3

Cork 2-12

It was a winning start for Cork to their Munster Senior B Ladies Football Championship on Saturday night at Killarney Legion GAA Club.

Having lost in the Munster final to Limerick last year Cork are determined to try and go one better this season and on this display, they have the potential to do so.

They were the better side from start to finish and their win was sealed with two second-half goals, from Holly Fitzgerald and Aoife Hurley.

Cork had plenty of impressive displays with Emma Cooney marshalling their defence, and up front Kerry found Siofra Pattwell, Aoife Hurley, and Rachael O’Regan difficult to deal with.

Despite playing against the wind Cork started the better of the two sides, with Pattwell getting two early points to put them in front.

She could have had a goal only for a good save from Kerry goalkeeper Chloe Fitzpatrick denied her.

O’Regan added two more for Cork, with Fitzgerald and Hurley getting in on the scoring act, to make it 0-6 to no score after 15 minutes.

With 23 minutes played Kerry opened their account when Brenna O’Neill found the back of the net.

Grace Murphy and O’Regan replied for Cork, before Amy O’Sullivan got Kerry’s opening point, to make it 0-9 to 1-1 at half-time.

Pattwell added two more at the start of the second half before O’Sullivan replied for Kerry.

Cork thought they had a goal when Hurley scored, but after consulting his umpires the referee ruled it out for a square ball.

O’Sullivan pointed for Kerry again after 44 minutes, and this proved to be their last score.

Hurley pointed for Cork before they got their first goal of the tie.

Ava McCarthy took on the Kerry defence and when she was fouled the referee had no hesitation in awarding Cork a penalty.

Fitzgerald slotted home, sending the keeper the wrong way, to kill off any chance of a Kerry fightback.

Late on Aoife McTaggart got their second goal to make it an impressive start for Cork in this championship.

Scorers for Kerry: B O’Neill 1-0, A O’Sullivan 0-3 (1f).

Cork: H Fitzgerald (1-0 pen) 1-2, A McTaggart 1-0, S Pattwell 0-4, R O’Regan 0-3, A Hurley 0-2, G Murphy 0-1.
KERRY: C Fitzpatrick; A Relihan, K McGrath, L Kerins; L Reilly, K Furtey, S O’Donovan; K Ryan, K McGlashan; A Dennehy, O Clifford, B O’Neill; G Musgrave, E O’Sullivan, M Duffy.

Subs: A O’Sullivan for A Dennehy (25), C Daly for B O’Neill, G Kearney for L Keirns, C Burke for G Musgrave, R Kenny for K Ryan (all 46).

CORK: C Moore; E Murphy, A McKennedy, R Sheehan; R Shanley, E Cooney, A O’Sullivan; A McTaggart, K O’Donovan; A Moloney, G Murphy, H Fitzgerald; S Pattwell, A Hurley, R O’Regan.

Subs: A McCarthy for A Moloney (41), A Ferris for S Pattwell (48), H Quirke for A Hurley, C Heffernan for A O’Sullivan (both 55), M Collins for E Murphy, E Murphy for A McTaggart, C Russell for H Fitzgerald, M O’Sullivan for R Sheehan, C O’Shea for A McKennedy (all 55).

Referee: David Grogan, Tipperary.