Down ladies overcome Louth to make semi-finals

9 March 2022

DOWN senior ladies finished their group stage of the National League Football campaign with a four point win against Louth ladies on a sunny Sunday afternoon in Páirc Esler.

This leaves them top of the league table and moving on to the semi-finals on Sunday, March 20.

The Louth ladies got off to a quick start with Laura Collins finding the back of the net in the first two minutes.

The Down defence worked tirelessly to turn over the ball, moving it at pace up the field and scoring 0-3 through a Jess Foy free as well as points from play from Orla Swail and Sarah Dougherty to level the sides in the first 13 minutes.

A foul on Viv McCormack in the box by the Louth defence resulted in a penalty for Down which was expertly finished by Foy.

This left the score 1-3 to 1-1 in favour of the hosts at the first water-break. An end to end battle continued with the Mourne defence funnelling players back and shutting down the Louth attacks, both teams only registering a point before the half-time whistle leaving Down leading at half time 1-4 to 1-2.

Louth regrouped at the interval and registered the first two scores of the second half as Rebecca Carr kicked over and Kate Flood found the back of the net. This brought the sides level for the second time.

Down were reduced to 14 players at this stage due to a red card for Kate McKay and Louth led at the second water-break by the minimum.

The Mourne ladies were not deterred and a sin bin for Louth’s Michelle McMahon evened the sides at 14 players each.

Natasha Ferris pointed several frees to take the lead for the Mourne ladies and a superb goal in the final minute ensured Downs victory and a place in the semi-finals where they will face Wexford.

Down: C Kennedy; O Kelly, C Byrne, O Duffy; A McAlea, C McArdle, N McKibben; M Doherty, K White; AM Magee, J Foy (1-1, 1f), O Swail (0-1); V McCormack, N Ferris (1-3, 3f), S Dougherty (0-2).

Subs: O Bradley, A Mooney, A Greene, A O’Higgins, A Cull, A Keown, A McCarthy, C Caldwell (0-1), C Shannon, E Fitzpatrick, E Martin, K McKay, E McVeigh, N Scullion, P Smyth.

Louth: R Lambe-Fagan; H Lambe-Sally, S Quinn, E Hand; M McMahon, R Carr (0-1f), S McLoughlin; C Nolan, A Halligan; E Byrne, R Kavanagh, K Flood (1-2, 2f); A Russell, L Collins (1-1), N Rice.

Subs: J McCourt, S Matthews, L Byrne, J Mulrey, K Mathews, S Moore, R Leonard, S Halligan, A O’Doherty, A Keenan, R Hanna, H O’Neill, A Byrne, C Woods.

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