Donegal are staring down the barrel of relegation after they suffered another heavy defeat in Friday’s Lidl Ladies NFL Division 1 contest at O’Donnell Park in Letterkenny.
Donegal . . . . 0-06
Dublin . . . 2-13
Dublin dominated this game from the first whistle and laid the foundation for the victory with a brilliant first half display during which they kicked 1-11 without reply.
For Donegal it was another hugely disappointing display. They remain bottom of the table, still without a win, and will be relegated to Division Two if Mayo avoid defeat at home to Galway on Sunday afternoon.
Maxi Curran’s young side may have gone into this game as underdogs, but they would have been hoping to have put up a better challenge in front of their own supporters.
But it was Dublin who hit the ground running with early scores from Jennifer Dunne, Kate Sullivan and Hannah Tyrrell to go 0-3 to 0-0 ahead within eight minutes.
Tyrrell would go on to score 1-4 in a first in which the visitors were clinical in front of goal.
Her goal came from a penalty on 24 minutes after Caoimhe Keon was adjudged to have fouled the ball on the line.
Dunne and Eilish O’Dowd were well on top in the midfield sector and whenever Donegal did manage to work the ball forward, they found it almost impossible to break down a well organised visiting defence.
By half-time, Donegal trailed by 14 points and they would also start the second half with only 14 players after midfielder Shelly Twohig was shown a yellow card just before the interval.
Last year’s Player of the Year Niamh McLaughlin made a welcome return from injury, coming on as a half-time substitute for Donegal and she gave the home side a notable lift.
They eventually raised their first white flag of the day when Katy Herron converted a close-in free seven minutes after the restart.
It set the tone for a much improved display from the home side and Dublin weren’t helped by the loss of Jessica Tobin and then Ellen Gribben to yellow cards in quick succession.
Herron would kick three frees and there were frees too from Niamh McLaughlin and Ciara McGarvey along with a well worked score from play from Suzanne White.
But even though it was a much more even contest in the second half, Dublin had done enough to ease to an impressive win and a late penalty from Orla Nolan rounded off a comfortable victory.
Scorers – Donegal: Katy Herron 0-3 (3f), Ciara McGarvey 0-1 (f), Suzanne White 0-1, Niamh McLaughlin 0-1 (f).
Dublin: Hannah Tyrrell 1-3 (2f), Orlagh Nolan 1-1, Kate Sullivan 0-3 (1f), Caoimhe O’Connor 0-2, Niamh Hetherton 0-2 (1f), Jennifer Dunne, Jodi Egan 0-1 each
DONEGAL: Aoife McColgan; Sophie McFeely, Evelyn McGinley, Emer Gallagher; Roisin Rodgers, Nicole McLaughlin, Tara Hegarty; Shelly Twohig, Caoimhe Keon; Niamh Carr, Katie Long, Katie Dowds; Shannon McGroddy, Katy Herron, Abigail Temple Asoko.
Subs: Ciara McGarvey for S McFeely (24), Saskia Boyle for C Keon (ht), Niamh McLaughlin for A Temple Asoko (ht), Suzanne White for N Carr (46), Jodie McFadden for K Long (46), Codie Walsh for S McGroddy (54), Katie O’Donnell for E McGinley (59)
DUBLIN: Abby Shiels; Niamh Crowley, Leah Caffery, Jessica Tobin; Lauren Magee, Dannielle Lawless, Martha Byrne; Jennifer Dunne, Ellish O’Dowd; Caoimhe O’Connor, Orlagh Nolan, Ellen Gribben; Kate Sullivan, Niamh Hetherton, Hannah Tyrrell.
Subs: Annabelle Timothy for C O’Connor (ht), Aoife Kane for E O’Dowd (34), Chloe Darby for D Lawless (45), Jodi Egan for H Tyrrell (45), Caitlin Coffey for N Hetherton (54), Orla Martin for E Gribben (59), Niamh Donlon for J Tobin (59), Sinead Wylde for K Sullivan (60), Emma Deeley for L Magee (60), Rachel Brennan for M Byrne (60).
Ref – Anthony Morran (Monaghan).
