Laois exert dominance in second half to open championship with impressive win

Laois got their Intermediate Camogie championship campaign off to a flying start on Saturday as they put in a commanding second half display to comfortably dispose of Kildare.

Played in Hawkfield, the Laois outfit were mey by a stern Kildare resistance in the opening half but pulled away in the second 30 minutes to win comfortably.

Laois 4-14

Kildare 1-7

Kirsten Keenan was in a rich vein of form on the day with the full forward helping herself to a personal haul of 2-8, 2-5 of that coming from play.

Siobhan Hurley put Kildare into the lead with the first score of the game but despite that quick start from the hosts, it was Laois that seized the early momentum with Kirsten Keenan blasting over two quick points to leave Kildare trailing.
Not finished with her contribution a goal followed moments later before Hurley looked to keep Kildare tagging onto Laois’ coat tails.

Kildare then struck for a fortunate goal to get them right back into the game but Laois rallied quickly and decisively.
Points from Laiden Fennell and Keenan had two between the sides before Fennell cut through the centre of the Kildare defence before slicing over on the quarter hour mark.

An exchange of points form Emer Reilly and Keenan did little to change the deficit as Kildare began to struggle with the pace and momentum Laois had built up.

With the first half water break coming at the wrong time for Laois, it broke the visitors momentum as on the return they were unable to find the fluidity in their attack that was ever present in the opening quarter.

Struggling to gain any meaningful possession it fell to Joyce Dunne to point. Gathering a puck out from Lowry off a Kildare wide, Dunne ran the length of the pitch before chipping over to extend the advantage to four before a fifth point of the half from Keenan before the break left Kildare trailing by five and not out of the tie by any means.
Keenan fired an early second half point through scores from Hurley and Leah Sutton to cut the deficit to four.

With 35 minutes played and four points separating the sides, this was as close as Kildare were to get to causing an upset with Laois finding themselves on the end of a penalty decision.
Stepping up at the Milltown end of the Hawkfield grounds, Clodagh Tynan struck but equal to the effort Orlaith Fahy stood strong.

With the shot breaking down the centre of Fahy’s goal all the net minder could do was bat the effort to safety.
Unfortunately for her it was Keenan who was waiting for the rebound and she made no mistake from close range.
Laois were now beyond two scores clear of Kildare and a comeback from the home side looked less and less likely.
With Kildare reeling from the goal, Fahy quickly fired the puck out down field but the pace caught her side off guard and fell to the hands of Laois.

Working back into the attacking zone Aisling O’Dea gained possession and blasted past Fahy to take the Laois advantage to double digits as they began to push clear.

From here four points without any Kildare response ensured that any chance of turning the tide in their favour was gone.
Jessie Quinlan, Keenan, O’Dea and Dunne all raising the white flag that saw off the Kildare efforts.

Looking to stem the tide and prevent a significant deficit Sutton was again on hand to chip over with seven minutes left, but this failed to inspire the Kildare outfit as Keenan and Tynan rounded off matters for Laois before a final point from Sutton wrapped up the afternoon's action.

There is no Leinster Championship this year but counties who had second teams are only allowed to play in one grade.
A new draw will be made early this week to determine who will play in round two of the Intermediate All-Ireland series.

LAOIS

SCORERS:Kirsten Keenan 2-8 (0-3f), Aisling O’Dea 1-1, Joyce Dunne 1-0, Laiden Fennell 0-2, Joyce Dunne, Jessie Quinlan, Clodagh Tynan (free) 0-1 each.

TEAM: Aedin Lowry; Rachel Bergin, Roisin Kilmartin, Laura Finlay; Clodagh Tynan, Alison McEvoy, Aimee Collier; Jade Bergin, Grainne Hyland; Joyce Dunne, Niamh Coss, Laiden Fennell; Sara Cuddy, Kirsten Keenan, Aisling O’Dea. Subs: Jessie Quinlan for Cuddy (28m), Joan Dollard for Coss (30m), Fiona Scully for Bergin (45m

KILDARE

SCORERS:Niamh Hegarty 1-0; Leah Sutton (0-3f), Siobhan Hurley 0-3 each, Emer Reilly 0-1.

TEAM: Orlaith Fahy; Erin McEvoy, Nicole Malcomson, Kelly Perkins; Shauna Mulligan, Aoife Fitzgerald, Catriona Temple; Emer Reilly, Niamh Hegarty; Caoimhe Fagan, Siobhan Hurley, Sinead O’Brien; Jessica Murphy, Lea Sutton, Ciara Egan. Subs: Niamh McInerney for Murphy(30m), Chloe Pearson for Fagan (43m), Emma Cully for Fahy (45m), Jenny Cahill for McEvoy (51m)

Referee: Gavin Donegan