Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 2, Section 1
Antrim 2-9 Wexford 1-2
Having not won a league game last season, Antrim produced a comfortable display against visiting Wexford in Cargin on Sunday to open their Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 2 campaign with a 10-point win.
Despite the constant rain and difficult underfoot conditions, it was to the credit of both teams that they produced such a competent performance with the first touch generally very good for an opening game.
Antrim are a very young team with four of them just out of minors, and goalie Aoife McGowan still between the posts for her school Cross and Passion as they prepare for an All-Ireland senior schools’ final at the start of March.
However the experienced Kathryn Donnelly, Aileen McManus and Katie McAleese took control of the game and brought the best of the youngsters, although full-back Michelle Harding was outstanding for Wexford who opened the scoring through Eimear Nolan in the second minute.
A couple of minutes later however a flowing move from Antrim seemed to break down close to the Wexford goals. But Chloe Draine regained possession and fed Siobhán McKillop who picked out Ruairí Óg team-mate Orlagh O’Hara for the opening goal.
The Saffrons gained in confidence after that score and deservedly led by 1-4 to 0-2 at the break with points from O’Hara, the Donnelly sisters and Lucia McNaughton.
Early in the second half Katie McAleese fired in a long ball that broke off Chloe Draine and Michelle Harding for Siobhán McKillop to pick up and rush in for an Antrim goal. She added a point from a similar situation and could well have had a couple of other scores with her foraging style.
Katie McAleese’s drive through the tackles saw her break shoot three excellent long range points before Aoife Guiney thieved a consolation goal for Wexford.
Overall however the Saffron management will be pretty happy with the team performance and gives them a lot of optimism as they head away to Cork this Saturday. The Rebellettes are strong favourites for this competition and they comfortably defeated Carlow by 1-12 to 0-3, while in the third game in the section, Westmeath hammered Down by 4-11 to 0-1.
Antrim: A McGowan, C Donnelly, K Donnelly, C Patterson, N Donnelly 0-1 free, A McManus, S Woulahan, L McKenna, C Laverty, L McNaughton 0-2, K McAleese 0-3, A Donnelly 0-1, O O’Hara 1-1, C Draine, S McKillop 1-1
Subs: A Mulholland for S Woulahan (HT), M Laverty for N Donnelly (34), E Falloon for C Draine (55).
Wexford: L Bates, C Cashe, M Harding, L Foley, D Doyle, MC Morrissey, A McCrea, V Burke, K O’Connor, E Nolan 0-2, A Guiney 1-0, O Molloy, M Kehoe, E Doyle, S Kelly
Subs: L Dempsey for A McCann (38), S Foley for M Kehoe (44), N Dunphy for C Cashe (44), E O’Connor for V Burke (59)
Westmeath 4-11 Down 0-1
Down only appointed their new manager Robert Wilson at the start of February and there simply hasn’t been enough time to organise and it showed against Westmeath who were much faster and sharper. It could well be a long league for the Mourne girls.
Cork 1-12 Carlow 0-3
Cork: C Collins 1-1, K McCarthy 0-5, 0-4 frees, K Hickey 0-1, M McCarthy 0-3, K Cullinane 0-1, C Surge 0-1
Carlow: E Treacy 0-3 frees
Next round of fixtures
Saturday 24th: Cork v Antrim
Sunday 25th: Carlow v Westmeath and Down v Wexford
Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 2, Section 1
Westmeath 1 1 0 0 23 1 22 2
Cork 1 1 0 0 15 3 12 2
Antrim 1 1 0 0 15 5 10 2
Wexford 1 0 0 1 5 15 -10 0
Carlow 1 0 0 1 3 15 -12 0
Down 1 0 0 1 1 23 -22 0
Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 2, Section 2
Tipperary 0-10, Dublin 1-8
Laois 2-11, Kildare 1-7
Derry 2-19, Armagh 2-6
The Division 2 Ulster derby in Owenbeg was always going to be a learning curve for Armagh, despite the absence of the Slaughtneil contingent from the Derry line-out.
Nevertheless John O’Dwyer fielded a strong side with the half-forward line of Aine McAllister, Karen Kielt and the returning Grainne McGoldrick giving Armagh’s defence a testing afternoon.
Leah McGoldrick did well for Armagh at the back and during the second half Ciara Donnelly got them more on the offensive. They managed to close in to a seven points’ margin before Eimear McGuigan’s goal slammed the door shut on them.
Derry scored the first five points before Rachel Merry opened Armagh’s account from a placed ball. However the home side pressed on with a Karen Kielt goal and points from Lauren McKenna, Grainne McGoldrick, and Áine McAllister for an interval lead of 1-11 to 0-1.
Ciara Donnelly with a goal and a couple of points and Rachel Merry with a second goal got Armagh moving during the third quarter when they had their best spell.
However the reality was that they were not going to score heavily enough to deny an experienced team like Derry and McGuigan’s goal followed by points from Mairéad McNicholl and Derval O’Kane sealed the issue.
Derry had good displays from Janett McGuuckin, Grainne McNicholl, Karen Kielt and Grainne McGoldrick and should travel to Kilkenny with a good chance of collecting another brace of league points.
Armagh however can take some heart from the performance as they gear up to host a Tipperary team that lost to Dublin by a single point.
Derry: Karen Kielt 1-4, Eimear McGuigan 1-2, Aine McAlister 0-3, Grainne McGoldrick 0-3, Derval O’Kane 0-3, Máiréad McNicholl 0-2, Lauren McKenna 0-1, Aimee Devlin 0-1.
Armagh: Ciara Donnelly 1-2, Racheal Merry 1-2, Eimear Smyth 0-1, Leanne Donnelly 0-1
Next round of fixtures
Sunday 25th: Armagh v Tipperary, Kilkenny v Derry and Kildare v Dublin
Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 2, Section 2
Derry 1 1 0 0 25 12 13 2
Laois 1 1 0 0 17 10 7 2
Dublin 1 1 0 0 11 10 1 2
Kilkenny 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tipperary 1 0 0 1 10 11 -1 0
Kildare 1 0 0 1 10 17 -7 0
Armagh 1 0 0 1 12 25 -13 0
Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 1
Limerick secured the biggest shock to date in the Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Division 1 by inflicting a first defeat of the campaign on champions Kilkenny despite travelling to Dunmore.
Niamh Mulcahy, who finished with nine points, was the star player and it means that Limerick now have a great chance of making a league semi-finals. The defeat should not cost Kilkenny dearly as they are still top of the Group with only lowly Meath to face in their last game.
Waterford were impressive in dispensing with Dublin by 1-14 to 1-7 in Carriganore while eight points from Chloe Morey propelled Clare to a 0-12 to 0-1 win over Meath.
In Group 1, Cork beat Tipperary by 3-15 to 0-13 after a goal from Linda Collins gave them a 1-10 to 0-8 lead at the break. Cáit Devane scored 11 points for Tipperary but goals in the final quarter from Amy O’Connor and Lauren Homan kept Cork top of the table and assured of a league semi-final spot with Offaly next on the fixture list.
Offaly lost to Galway 3-11 to 0-11 in Pearse Stadium and will now play Wexford in a winner-takes-all battle next weekend for the other semi-final spot.
Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 1 league Tables (3 pts for a win)
Section 1:
Cork 3 3 0 0 52 32 20 9
Galway 3 2 0 1 46 37 9 6
Wexford 3 2 0 1 49 41 8 6
Tipperary 4 1 0 3 60 70 -10 3
Offaly 3 0 0 3 26 53 -27 0
Section 2
Kilkenny 4 3 0 1 71 45 26 9
Limerick 4 2 1 1 60 43 17 7
Waterford 4 2 1 1 58 52 6 7
Clare 4 2 1 1 48 45 3 7
Dublin 4 1 1 2 57 70 -13 4
Meath 4 0 0 4 19 58 -39 0
Littlewoods Ireland National League Division 1 league Round 4
Section 1
Cork 3-15 Tipperary 0-13
Galway 3-11, Offaly 0-11
Section 2
Clare 0-12 Meath 0-1
Kilkenny 1-9 Limerick 1-14
Waterford 1-13, Dublin 1-7
Final round of matches:
Section 1
Saturday 24th: Offaly v Cork
Sunday 25th: Wexford v Galway
Section 2
Saturday 24th: Dublin v Clare
Sunday 25th: Limerick v Waterford and Meath v Kilkenny
