Dublin 4-12
Kildare 1-5

by Daire Walsh

Niamh Hetherton, Caoimhe O’Connor, Chloe Darby and Niamh Crowley all shook the net at Cedral St Conleth’s Park on Sunday afternoon as a 12-in-a-row chasing Dublin qualified for the TG4 Leinster SFC final on May 11 with a commanding victory over Kildare.

After Hetherton edged Dublin in front with a second minute point, her inside partner Hannah Tyrrell found the target moments later to double their lead in the Newbridge venue.

Kildare recorded a 1-8 to 0-8 win when the two sides met in Division 1 of this year's Lidl National Football League and the Lilies squeezed in front when a speculative strike from Aoife Rattigan drifted into the Dublin net on seven minutes.

Pat Sullivan’s hosts established another slender lead when Alannah Prizeman cancelled out a Tyrrell point, but the Jackies were back in the ascendancy after Hetherton (whose brother John registered 2-3 for the Dublin hurlers in their Leinster senior championship triumph over Wexford on Saturday) poked home for a 13th minute goal.

While Sophie McIntyre moved the visitors three clear with a fine point, Kildare were back on level terms thanks to unanswered contributions from Prizeman (two) and Roisin Byrne. Yet before Hetherton added to her haul with a white flag effort, O’Connor rattled the net on 28 minutes to propel Dublin towards a 2-5 to 1-4 interval cushion.

This handed the Jackies momentum heading into the second period and after another Hetherton single increased their advantage on the restart, the increasingly-prominent Darby kicked three points on the bounce to move the defending champions firmly into the driving seat.

Pobal Parnell star Darby was then on hand to fire home for a third Dublin goal in the 41st minute and while Prizeman finally enhanced Kildare’s tally in response to a Tyrrell score, Hetherton brought her personal tally up to 1-4 with a point on the run just past the third-quarter mark.

Dublin’s joint managers Paul Casey and Derek Murray used the closing stages of this contest as an opportunity to examine their reserve options and with Crowley helping herself to a spectacular 1-1 salvo off the bench, Dublin comfortably advanced to a provincial decider in Croke Park against either Kildare or Meath who clash in Newbridge next weekend.

Scorers – Dublin: N Hetherton 1-4, C Darby 1-3 (0-1f), N Crowley 1-1, C O’Connor 1-0, H Tyrrell 0-3 (1f), S McIntyre 0-1.

Kildare: A Prizeman 0-4 (3f), A Rattigan 1-0, R Byrne 0-1.

DUBLIN: A Shiels; J Tobin, L Caffrey, N Donlon; A Curran, L Magee, A Kane; É O’Dowd, G Kós; C O’Connor, C Darby, A Timothy; H Tyrrell, N Hetherton, S McIntyre. Subs: N Crowley for McIntyre (47), H Leahy for Kane (51), J Egan for Tyrrell (53), A Nyhan for Kós (56), S Birnie for Hetherton (58).

KILDARE: M Hulgraine; R Sargent, L Lenehan, E Wheeler; M Doherty, L Dunlea, M Aspel; C Sullivan, G Wheeler; C Wheeler, L Shaw, N Dooley; A Rattigan, A Prizeman, R Byrne. Subs: S Galvin for G Wheeler (h-t), C Moran for Sullivan (34), A Murnane for Dooley (40), E Dowling for Rattigan (45), L Gilbert for E Wheeler (49).

Referee: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).

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