Galway booked their place in the knockout stages of the Littlewood’s Ireland Camogie League division two on Saturday when they overcame Kerry in John Mitchell’s GAA Grounds in Tralee by 2-09 to 0-02.
Kerry were boosted with some experienced players, including Patrice Diggin and Jackie Horgan, but it was a youthful outfit with some players making their debut. Galway also lined out with a mixture of youth and experience and welcomed the return of Eva Gillmore after her cruciate ligament injury last year, while Alannah Kelly and Niamh McPeake were also named on the bench.
Galway dominated the opening, firstly through Chloe Farragher’s shot which was blocked on the line by the Kerry fullback Sara Murphy, while a long free in from Katie Gilchrist hit the cross bar. Tara Ruttledge's rebound shot also hit the post before Gilchrist pointed the resulting 45m after two minutes. Sinead Coleman laid off a lovely hand pass to Tegan Canning in the ninth minute before Canning slotted the ball between the posts, while Kerry, who failed to score in the first half, lost one of their key forwards, Jackie Horgan, in the 10th minute due to an injury.
Canning added another point to leave it Galway 0-3 Kerry 0-0 coming up to the halfway point. Although Patrice Diggin was outstanding for Kerry in their defence, Kerry struggled to get the ball past the Galway halfback line throughout the first half.
After Galway lost their full forward Chloe Farragher, due to an injury in the 18th minute and Grainne O’Neill picked up a yellow card in the 21st , Ruttledge got the first score in 13 minutes on the 26th minute for Galway, and she added another point to leave it Galway 0-5 Kerry 0-0 at half time.
Amy O’Sullivan finally opened Kerry's account with a free after the restart, before Kate Lynch added another to leave three between the teams. However, Kerry failed to score for the rest of the game. After Gilchrist slotted another free for Galway, sub Elaine Dolphin blasted the ball into the back of the Kerry net, and Canning struck her third point, Galway in the driving seat 1-7 to 0-2. Gilchrist with a free, Canning struck her fourth point, and unmarked Laura Loughnane added a second goal for a comfortable win. Galway 2-9 Kerry 0-2.
GALWAY: Fiona Ryan, Caoimhe Starr, Sarah Lyons, Aisling Donnellan; Caoimhe Reidy, Katie Manning, Tara Lawrence; Jennifer Hughes, Tegan Canning; Sinead Coleman, Katie Gilchrist, Laura Loughnane (1-0 ); Tara Ruttledge, Chloe Farragher, Gráinne O’Neill Subs used: Ciana Reidy for Farragher, Eva Gilmore for Lawrence, Elaine Dolphin for O’Neill
