Kerry win Ladies All-Ireland football opener

Kerry v Mayo in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at Austin Stack Park, Tralee. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry Sport

Kerry v Mayo in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at Austin Stack Park, Tralee. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry Sport

Kerry v Mayo in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at Austin Stack Park, Tralee. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry Sport

Kerry v Mayo in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at Austin Stack Park, Tralee. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry Sport

Kerry v Mayo in the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship at Austin Stack Park, Tralee. Photo: David Corkey/Radio Kerry Sport

Kerry manager Mark Bourke Mark Bourke Post Match v Mayo

KERRY 0-13 MAYO 1-4
By Dan Kearney
Danielle O’Leary struck for four points off the bench and Siofra O’Shea also hit four as TG4 All-Ireland champions Kerry overcame a spirited Mayo at Austin Stack Park in this Group 2 Round 1 encounter.
Kerry, playing with a very strong breeze into the Dunnes Stores end of the ground, made the brighter start and found themselves four points to the good after 13 minutes.
Mixing long and short ball into Siofra O’Shea in the full forward line the hosts got off the mark 35 seconds in when midfielder Anna Galvin pointed from distance.
Caoimhe Evans found O’Shea with a long ball and she punched over in the sixth minute before adding her second two minutes later following a sweeping move. Aishling O’Connell then popped over through the middle to put Kerry four ahead.
Mayo finally started to get their hands on the ball around the middle of the field, with Erin Murray showing well, and their reward came in the 13th minute when a shot for a point from Hannah Reape fell short and was fielded inside by Clodagh Keane.
Keane’s initial effort was blocked by Emma Costello but Knockmore player gathered the rebound and finished expertly past Mary Ellen Bolger.
Kerry responded with Siofra O’Shea’s second point of the game, before Hannah Reape responded for the visitors. Carmody slotted over for Kerry, before Julia Gawalkiewicz made a smart save at the feet of the energetic O’Shea.
Sinead Walsh then hit two brilliant individual points for Mayo before Siofra O’Shea struck for her third score of the half, and Kerry’s third from outside the big arc, to see the hosts take a tentative 0-7 to 1-3 lead in at half time.
Danielle O’Leary was introduced at half time and pointed a couple of minutes after a fine effort from Niamh Carmody, Kerry taking advantage of the yellow carded Hannah Reape, who saw the sin bin following a charge into Carmody.
Snead Walsh responded with her third of the game from a free, but O’Leary responded for Kerry in the 40th minute with her second of the contest after good work from Ní Chonchúir and Anna Galvin to see Kerry lead by 0-10 to 1-4, the kingdom scoring 3 without reply during Reape’s absence.
O’Leary struck for her third and Siofra O’Shea added her fourth as a misfiring Mayo failed to add to to their second half single score. O’Leary then hit her fourth as Kerry finished comprehensive six-point winners.
Kerry travel to play Munster rivals Cork next Saturday whilst Mayo have a week off before entertaining the rebels on June 21.

Scorers - Kerry: S O’Shea 0-4, D O’Leary 0-4, N Carmody 0-2, A Galvin 0-1, A O’Connell 0-1, K Brosnan 0-1f.
Mayo: S Walsh 0-3 (1f), C Keane 1-0, H Reape 0-1.

KERRY: M.E. Bolger; R Rahilly ,E Lynch, F O’Donoghue; A O’Connell, E Costello, C Lynch; M O’Connell, A Galvin ; N Carmody, N Ní Chonchúir, C Evans; K Brosnan, J Lucey, S O’Shea. Subs: N Broderick for R Rahilly 28, D O’Leary for K Brosnan, A Dillane for C Lynch (both h/t), N Quinn for J Lucey 52, K O’Connor for N Carmody 58
MAYO: J Gawalkiewicz; L Wallace, N O’Malley, C Durkan; D Caldwell, K Sullivan, S El Massry; H Reape, S Lally; L Hanley, S Walsh, A Flanagan; E Murray, C Keane, C Doherty. Subs: A Geraghty for S E Massry h/t, C Whyte for A Flanagan, A McDonnell for C Doherty (both 42), E Brennan for L Wallace 48, A Gough for H Reape 52.
Referee: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).

Meath 3-8 Armagh 2-11

By Deniese O’Flaherty
Meath came from four points down with three minutes remaining to earn a dramatic draw against Armagh in their opening game in Group 3 of the TG4 All-Ireland SFC.
Caroline O’Hanlon kicked over a free in the 57th minute to extend Armagh’s lead to four points but credit to Meath they dug in at the end. A goal from substitute Shauna Ennis and then a point from Vikki Wall earned Shane McCormack’s side a draw.
Kelly Mallon opened the scoring inside the second minute of play. Meath edged ahead after four minutes of play before three points in a row including a lovely score from Niamh Reel saw Armagh go ahead by two in the seventh minute.
Meath were back in front in the 12th minute when Wall found the back of the net with a fine finish. Ciara Smyth followed that up with a neat point. Down the other end Meath keeper Robyn Murray brought off a good save to deny Aoife McCoy, the ball came back out to Niamh Henderson and she fired over.
McCoy found the back of the net in the 21st minute with an excellent strike to put Armagh back ahead. There were two in it minutes later when Reel kicked over a free.
Wall played the ball to Aoibhín Cleary in the 27th minute and she fired a brilliant strike to the net. Just on the stroke of half-time another Reel free levelled matters for the third time — Meath 2-4 Armagh 1-7.
Mallon and Duggan (free) traded points in the early exchanges of the second half. An excellent point from Clery put Meath ahead in the 39th minute. Minutes later Niamh Coleman played the ball to Mallon and she fired low to the net. Reel hit over her fourth free of the game to extend Armagh’s lead to four in the 43rd minute.
It was now advantage Armagh and Meath worked hard to get back into the game but the Orchard County’s defence stood firm. Duggan hit over a much needed score from a free in the 47th minute to put three between the sides.
The lead was four again in the 57th minute when O’Hanlon kicked over a free. She claimed the ball on the line when Duggan kicked a free but there was still time for late drama.

Scorers - Meath: V Wall 1-3 (1f), A Cleary 1-1, S Ennis 1-0, E Duggan 0-3 (2fs), C Smyth 0-1.
Armagh: N Reel 0-5 (4fs), K Mallon 1-2, A McCoy 1-1, N Henderson 0-2, C O’Hanlon 0-1 (f).

MEATH: R Murray; A Sheridan, M.K. Lynch, K Newe; A Cleary, S Wall, K Kealy; O Sheehy, M Farrelly; M Thynne, N Gallogly, C Smyth; E Duggan, V Wall, K Cole. Subs: K Bermingham for Farrelly (38), S Ennis for Cole (45), C Lawlor for Kealy (47).

ARMAGH: A Carr; M Ferguson, C McNally, M McCann; E Druse, C Towe, G Ferguson; N Coleman, C O’Hanlon; L McConville, A McCoy, K Mallon; S Quigley, N Henderson, N Reel. Subs: R Mulligan for Quigley (ht), M Lennon for C McNally (47), E Lavery for McCann (52).

Referee: Maggie Farrelly (Cavan).

Galway 1-13 Tipperary 0-7

By Darren Kelly
Connacht champions Galway began their TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship campaign with an impressive second quarter in Tuam Stadium to run out comfortable nine point victors over Tipperary.
The Tribeswomen did the damage with 1-8 unanswered, including Leanne Coen’s goal, to lead 1-10 to 0-1 at half-time but Tipperary put in a much improved second half display.
Galway took the stiff wind at the start and opened on two minutes with Louise Ward slotting over. Olivia Divilly also got off the mark in the sixth minute.
It wasn’t one way traffic as Tipperary dropped a couple of balls towards Aishling Moloney. Caitlin Kennedy also struck low but off target. However, a free won by Ava Fennessy on 18 minutes led to Moloney converting a free.
That was after a seven minute hold up when Galway attacker Shauna Hynes was injured. Her replacement was 2024 captain Ailbhe Davoren who also played a pivotal role.
The key score was the goal on 22 minutes. Divilly, Nicola Ward and Davoren played a part before the latter passed across to the unmarked Coen who kicked to the net. And from there, the hosts proceeded to dominate.
Kate Thompson, Divilly (2) and Davoren made it 1-6 to 0-1 as Tipperary struggled with kick outs. That being said, they did drop three dangerous balls towards the opposing square but keeper Dearbhla Gower showed good hands.
At the other end, Galway added four more white flags starting with Divilly that could have been a goal. Kate Slevin added two points either side of Davoren’s second.
Slevin tallied straight after the restart but Galway only managed three scores during the period. Slevin got the second on 43 minutes before Divilly struck her fifth in injury time.
Tipperary will take from solace from their second half effort, though an injury to Kennedy will be a concern. Moloney delivered five points, three from play, while Emma Morrissey punched the air after slotting one over from the right.
Moloney also twice went for goal, once hitting the crossbar. But Galway’s first half display was enough to take the win before heading to Donegal in seven days.
Scorers – Galway: O Divilly 0-5 (1f); K Slevin 0-4 (2f); L Coen 1-0; A Davoren 0-2; L Ward, K Thompson 0-1 each.
Tipperary: A Moloney 0-6 (3f); E Morrissey 0-1.
GALWAY: D Gower; B Quinn, S Ní Loingsigh, K Geraghty; H Noone, N Ward, C Trill; L Ward, S Divilly; L Coen, S Hynes, K Thompson; E Noone, O Divilly, K Slevin. Subs: A Davoren for Hynes (11 inj), A Trill for Slevin (510, L Noone for Thompson (51), A Madden for L Ward (54), S Healy for C Trill (58).
TIPPERARY: L Fitzpatrick; N Martin, L Spillane, E Cronin; I Carr, M Curley, S English; AR Kennedy, C Kennedy; L Morrissey, A Ryan, A O’Shea; A McGuigan, A Moloney, A Fennessy. Subs: S O’Carroll for Carr (30), N Towey for C Kennedy (36 inj), E Morrissey for L Morrissey (39), N Shelly for O’Shea (41), C English for Ryan (59).
Referee: Gus Chapman (Sligo)