LIDL Ladies Gaelic Football League – Division 4
Antrim 4-10 Longford 1-08
Antrim made it four wins out of four in Division 4 of the LGFA League when they beat Longford in Sunday’s game at Dunsilly. Leading by 1-04 to 0-3 at the end of a scrappy first half Antrim hit their stride in the second period when backed by the strong breeze and three well taken goals, two of them by Theresa Mellon and one by Anna Mulholland saw them pull away to win convincingly in the end.
Antrim started strongly with two early points from Devlin and Mulholland it looked like they were totally in charge, but they missed a succession of easy scoring opportunities and when Longford began to settle they looked a better team than they had one in the early minutes. The Leinster girls drew level with points from centre forward Katie Crawford in the seventh and thirteenth minutes and with a bit of luck could have had a good few more, hitting the woodwork on four occasions in the first half.
Antrim did edge ahead with another point but just two minutes from half that was all that separated the sides until Lara Dahunsi was on the end of a good move to palm the ball to the net to give her team a 1-04 to 0-3 lead at the interval.
With the breeze at their backs in the second half Antrim began to edge away from the visitors Tow points from Maria O’Neill, in reply to one from Crawford for Longford put them four ahead, but a superbly take goal from a narrow angle by Naomh Brigid’s Theresa Mellon proved a significant score. Points followed from Bronagh Devlin and Lara Dahunsi before Mellon got in again to fire home another left footed score and it was clear the league point were in the bank.
Anna Mulholland grabbed her team’s fourth goal as the game entered the last quarter and the management took the opportunity of emptying their bench. To their credit Longford kept battling to the end and the grabbed a late goal from a penalty by corner forward Lauren McGuire, but Antrim were home and dry by this stage and kept their unbeaten record intact with an eleven point win.
ANTRIM
Aine Devlin, Niamh McIntosh, Maeve Blaney, Carla McKenna, Sarah O’Neill, Ciara Brown, Orla Ni Corra, Aoife Kelly, Anna Mulholland, Theresa Mellon, Lara Dahunsi, Laura Agnew, Bronagh Devlin, Nicole Jones, Maria O’Neill.
Subs – Isla Anett, Aine Lynch, Emily Kearns, Aine Kelly, Nicole Munce
LONGFORD
Riana McGrath, Emily Reilly, Emme Bleakly, Leanne Keegan, Caoimhe McCormack, Eimear O’Brien, Ella Duggan, Shauna Hagan, Niamh Brady, Katelyn McKeon, Katie Crawford, Ella O’Reilly, Kamilla Burke, Aislining Cosgrove, Lauren McGuire.
