Kilmurray brace gets Maroons off to a flying start

Following on from the men’s ongoing heroics the previous day, Westmeath ladies set out their stall in their All-Ireland IFC opener with a comprehensive shut-out of Monaghan at TEG Cusack Park last Sunday afternoon.

In a 20-point swing from the February league defeat in Clones, a fitter, hungrier and defensively robust Westmeath were never troubled, prevailing thanks to goals from Sarah Dillon and Katie Kilmurray (2).

With Muireann Atkinson leading the line, Monaghan faced an uphill battle against a stiff breeze in the first half. They trailed 2-4 to 0-1 at the short whistle, but were widely expected to kick on in the second.

The comeback never materialised, however, with the Westmeath rearguard – led admirably by full back Sarah Murphy and skipper Fiona Coyle – giving the Farney girls very little room to manoeuvre.

Remarkably, Monaghan left Cusack Park with just four points from three scores, all of them from frees. In contrast, some 3-7 of Westmeath’s tally came from open play, and the Leinster champions even could afford the luxury of ten wides and a host of shorts, with the second-half breeze playing a role in tempering their ruthlessness up front.

Overall though, manager Frank Browne will be very happy with his charges’ capacity to dominate a side like Monaghan in this way, and they will be looking forward to their visit to Louth next weekend.

The game was only 25 seconds old when Lucy McCartan picked out Sarah Dillon with a lofty pass, and the Milltown star found the net with a low finish.

Four minutes later, a second goal followed when a thrilling one-two between Aoife Keegan and Rebecca Higgins led to the inrushing Katie Kilmurray driving home a left-footed finish from close range.

Monaghan, struggling to fashion a response into the teeth of the wind, clipped the upright thanks to the boot of Aoibhin McCormack. In the build-up to the attempt, Westmeath lost key defender Lara McCartan to concussion.

Anna Jones extended the hosts’ lead with a free, before Monaghan got off the mark after ten minutes with a dead ball effort from Chloe McBride. Some 35 minutes of football would elapse before the visitors mustered another score.

At the other end, Westmeath played a lovely brand of passing football but struggled with accuracy on occasion. With 17 minutes gone, Sarah Dillon tacked on another score after some superb build-up play, and two minutes later, she took her personal tally to 1-2 with an excellent score from distance.

There was some debate between referee Eoghan O’Neill and his umpires as to whether Dillon had in fact managed a two-pointer, but officials on the line correctly spotted that the Westmeath forward was just inside the arc when striking the ball.

With 22 minutes gone, the Maroons almost had a third goal when Dillon teed up Kilmurray after a superb field-long move, but the youngster’s powerful shot went over rather than under the bar.

Monaghan continued to miss chances at the other end, with McBride firing a free wide before Muireann Atkinson drove a tame shot at Aoife Temple for the visitors’ first real goal chance.

Westmeath, however, failed to add to their own tally and with the strong breeze facing them in the second half, there was some concern about the potential for a quick Monaghan reversal after the break.

The hosts’ case was not helped by the fact that they played the remainder of the half with 14, after sub Sandra McWade was sin-binned for an off-the-ball foul on Monaghan’s Áine McQuaid.

It became quickly apparent that there was no cause for such concern, with the Maroons, back to full strength, looking more likely to score in the opening ten minutes of the second half.

Monaghan’s best chance, meanwhile, came when Amy Garland danced her way into a scoring position but blasted wide.

A long lull for the scoreboard ended with 40 minutes gone, when Monaghan found their range for the first time since the tenth minute courtesy of a two-point free from Chloe McBride. Sarah Dillon tacked on another free for Westmeath and when sub Jodie McQuillan responded with another dead ball effort, it proved to be the visitors’ final score.

Westmeath pressed on from there, and with 53 minutes gone, Katie Kilmurray scuffed a shot at goal before seizing on a poor clearance from Monaghan ‘keeper Orna Kelly and kicking over the bar.

Moments later, a handpass from Sarah Dillon picked out the inrushing and unmarked Vicky Carr galloping in from the right. Carr’s shot didn’t have the required venom and after it was parried by Kelly, Dillon did well to dig out the rebound and take her point.

With 60 minutes gone, sub Caoimhe Kilmurray added her name to the scoresheet before her cousin Katie conjured a wonderful point off her left a minute later after leaving her marker for dead with a quick turn.

The Kilmurrays weren’t finished there. In the second minute of stoppage time Monaghan were left at sixes and sevens by a defensive error, and Caoimhe fed the unmarked Katie with a ball over the top.

The latter made no mistake with the finish, and Westmeath were home and dry.

Scorers - Westmeath: K Kilmurray 2-3, S Dillon 1-4 (0-1f), A Jones (free) and C Kilmurray 0-1 each.

Monaghan: C McBride 0-3 (1f, 1 2ptf), J McQuillan 0-1f.

Westmeath: Aoife Temple; Lara McCartan, Sarah Murphy, Fiona Coyle (capt.); Philippa Ruane, Lucy Power, Chloe Kelly Gonoud; Anna Jones, Vicky Carr; Aoife Keegan, Lucy McCartan, Tracey Dillon; Katie Kilmurray, Sarah Dillon, Rebecca Higgins. Subs used: Sandra McWade for Lara McCartan (inj., 8), Caoimhe Kilmurray for McWade (41), Kate Stuart Trainor for Keegan (56), Siobhan O’Donnell for Ruane (60+2), Sinéad Robbins for Higgins (60+2).

Monaghan: Orna Kelly; Áine Loughman, Áine McQuaid, Maeve Monaghan; Amy Garland, Amy Jo Kierans, Lauren Garland; Jennifer Duffy, Niamh Flanagan; Aoibhin McCormack, Aoife Burns, Casey Treanor (capt.); Chloe McBride, Muireann Atkinson, Leanne Maguire. Subs used: Eimear Traynor for Loughman (h-t), Jodie McQuillan for Flanagan (h-t), Caoimhe Ward for Burns (37), Alison Gilland for L Garland (inj., 40), Dervla Cawley for McCormack (53), Ellen Leonard for A Garland (inj., 60+5).

Referee: Eoghan O’Neill (Kildare).