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Tyrone Ladies Battle Through
Saturday 26.07.2014
Gemma Begley top scored with a haul of 1-06 as Tyrone eased into Round 2 of the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies senior football championship qualifiers with a 3-17 to 1-13 victory over Kildare in Navan on Saturday afternoon. This win keeps Tyrone’s season alive after their tame Ulster exit at the hands of Armagh.
After a wind assisted dominant first half Tyrone reached the break 1-11 to 0-04 clear, with six players on the scoresheet in the first half. Cara McCrossan scored her team’s first goal in the 23rd minute, opening up a 1-08 to 0-02 lead for the Red Hand girls. At that stage, Tyrone were rampant and Begley’s free shortly after McCrossan’s goal, sent them ten points clear.
Kildare responded with a brace of points from captain Maria Moolick but Tyrone landed the final two points of the opening half from Cathy Donnelly and captain Begley to go in at the break in a strong position. Donnelly, Niamh Woods and Emma Hegarty were in superb form for the winners throughout and contributed hugely to the win.
However Kildare improved considerably after the break and for a while Tyrone looked jittery at the back struggling to clear the ball from defence. The backs found the strong, direct running of Kildare hard to cope with. Over the course of the hour John Divilly’s side managed to hit 1-9 from play, including four points from Grace Clifford. Tyrone were also grateful to goalkeeper Shannon Lynch who pulled off a couple of fine saves in the second half at vital times.
The Red Hands were into their stride early in the game with Emma Hegarty landing the opening score of the game after 15 seconds. Niamh O’Neill gave her side a platform in the middle of the field helping Tyrone to dominate the crucial middle third. Kildare rallied after the break but with woods in imperious form Tyrone looked well capable of getting scores when needed. They wrapped up a very satisfying win at the death when Begley stormed through for a well-taken goal.