U23 All Ireland Championship 5th Round
Kilkenny 0-16
Dublin 1-6
By Aoife Lanigan, PRO
Kilkenny travelled to O’Toole Park, Crumlin last Sunday for the final round of the U23A All Ireland Championship and came away with a seven-point victory against Dublin
Leah Brett opened the scoring with a point from play in the 7th minute for Kilkenny. This was followed by two pointed frees by Ellen Gunner and another point from play by Leah Brett to put Kilkenny four points to no score after 15 minutes, but by the 23rd minute the homeside had narrowed the gap to the minimum with points coming from Aoife Byrne, Emma Moran & Aoife Kenny
Amy Brennan & Emma Moran then swapped points. Ellen Gunner slotted over the last two points of the half to leave the interval score 0-7 to 0-4 in favour of Kilkenny
On the resumption of play, Abbey Kenny added a point for the Dubs. Gunner slotted over a point from a placed ball before adding a fine point from play
Dublin midfielder, Aoife Kenny burst through the Kilkenny defence and hit the sliotar over the bar
Kilkenny then hit five points without reply. Claire Doheny scored a fine point while on the run. Then the sliotar was played into the corner of the pitch, Katie Brennan ran onto it & slotted over the bar while firing over her left shoulder
Ellen Gunner slotted over three frees to put the visitors 0-14 to 0-6 ahead. Caitlin McKenna scored a goal for the Dubs. Claire Doheny & Ellen Gunner slotted over a point each for Kilkenny
In the 63rd minute, Dublin were awarded a dubious Penalty and Kilkenny goalkeeper Cara Duggan made a fantastic save
The final whistle sounded a few seconds later and Kilkenny were through to an All-Ireland Semi Final against Galway next Saturday 9th May in Grant Heating St Brendan’s Park, Birr @ 3pm as part of a double header with the Eir U16A All-Ireland Final Replay (Kilkenny v Galway) @ 5pm
Scorers – Kilkenny – Ellen Gunner 0-10 (7f), Leah Brett, Claire Doheny 0-2 each, Amy Brennan, Katie Brennan 0-1 each
Dublin – Caitlin McKenna 1-0, Emma Moran, Aoife Kenny 0-2 each, Aoife Byrne, Abbey Kenny 0-1 each
Kilkenny: Cara Duggan, Rachel Brennan (Captain), Katie Ryan, Sofia Kerr, Anna Purcell, Aine Rohan, Anna Doheny, Caoimhe Power, Kate McCluskey, Keara Ryan, Ellen Gunner, Claire Doheny, Katie Brennan, Leah Brett, Amy Brennan
Subs: Caoimhe Carroll for Sofia Kerr, Marie Claire O’Dwyer for Katie Brennan, Lucy Boyd for Leah Brett, Louise Hickey for Keara Ryan, Laoise Nolan for Anna Purcell, Lauren Ronan, Molly Conroy, Amy Cody, Eabha Carroll, Rose Kelly, Laura Doherty, Niamh Davis, Aoife Shealy, Michelle Killeen, Rachel Whelan, Shona Ruane, Tara McGrath
Dublin: Ella Walsh, Aisling Groarke (Captain), Ruth Fitzsimons, Ava O’Shea, Kirsty Fenlon (Vice Captain), Sibeal Cherry, Caoimhe Tierney, Aoife Kenny, Roisin Ni Cathasaigh, Amy Carey, Aoife Byrne, Emma Moran, Caitlin McKenna, Abbey Kenny, Elle Ni Cheallaigh
Subs: Eimear Kehoe for Amy Carey, Lauren Quinn for Kirsty Fenlon, Saoirse Behan for Elle Ni Cheallaigh, Sinead O’Hanlon for Abbey Kenny, Amy O’Connor, Aoife Kane, Beth Maguire, Ella O’Connell, Emma Maher, Helen Reynolds, Laoise Conaghan, Millie Farrelly, Nina Brennan, Ruth Davis
Referee: Mike Ryan, Tipperary
By PRO Mon 11th May
