Galway Ladies are keeping pace in this season’s Tesco Home Grown Ladies NFL after securing a comfortable victory over Cavan by 3-18 to 1-11 in a chilly Brefini Park on Sunday.
This second win of the campaign puts them two behind the leaders Westmeath, the only side with three wins to date, and they now have a week’s break from NFL action before meeting Clare on March 3.
On Sunday Barry Downey's ladies started against the wind and were two points up after five minutes, but Cavan settled and hit back with five unanswered points, four coming from the left boot of Aisling Doonan.
Despite going behind, Galway were playing the better football with Barbara Hannon and Annette Clarke in midfield making brillant runs into the Cavan half. And Galway would have been further ahead but for Caron Fay in the home team's goal who made some fantastic saves. However the pressure soon paid off when Roisin Lenoard found the net and, in the last 10 minutes, Galway outscored Cavan by 2-5 to 0-2 for a 2-7 to 0-8 lead.
Against the wind, Cavan struggled and only managed two in the first 20 minutes, while Galway, with several changes, continued to score at will. Annette Clarke grabbed her second goal from the penalty spot, while Cavan scored a goal to bring some respectability to the scoreline.
Galway: L Higgins, A Rohan,E Flaherty, N Ward, B Hannon (0-1 ), R McPhilbin, S Burke (capt ),M Hoey, A Clarke (2-1 ), T Leonard (0-1 ), A Daly (0-1 ),C Cooney (0-1 ), G O’Connor, R Leonard (1-6 ), E Concannon (0-5 ). Subs, D Brennan for Leonard, C Heiher for Daly, N Connolly for Ward, S Lynch for Rohan, E Gannon for O’Connor, L Joyce for Leonard, M Brennan for Clarke, E Curley for Hoey.