By John Fallon

Kerry manager Mark Bourke is hopeful his charges can bounce back from their double scores loss to neighbours Cork when the reigning Lidl National Football League Division 1 champions take on the Division 2 title holders Galway in Tralee next Sunday (2pm).

The champions failed to score in the opening half when they played against the wind and in the end went down by 0-16 to 0-8 against Cork for their second defeat of the campaign.

“We can’t be happy. It was a full systems failure. It wasn’t like any one thing at the same time. In the 23 or 24 games that I’ve been involved with them this is the first time that I’ve seen something like that,” said Bourke.

“The competitive side was missing a small bit for most of the first half. The black card didn’t help either as they got eight points in that ten minutes but it’s onwards and upwards for the next game.

“The idea of the whole league is to blood the players and see how they can perform in these critical games so as I said losing the All Ireland semi final there was no back door so we want everything right and in place when it comes to championship time.”

Cork moved top of Division 1 as Waterford suffered their first defeat when they went down by 1-9 to 0-10 against Meath in Dungarvan but manager Tomás Mac an tSaoir is keen for them to continue their push for a place in the final when they travel to play the new leaders in Páirc Uí Rinn on Saturday evening (7.35pm, live on TG4).

“We take each of our games in blocks; we won our first block of three games, we have a loss on the board now from this second block of two games, so we will regroup, and go again next week and try to rectify that,” said Mac an tSaoir.

“Our first half was poor, we gave away too many turnovers. Meath scored from one or two of those and we were always trying to claw that back and we paid the price for it conceding four scores on the trot. Our shot selection was a bit off in the second half and we left the pitch with 16 wides. Meath came down here with 12 of the team starting who played in last year’s All-Ireland final, and more on the sideline.”

Kildare, having lost by 3-5 to 1-8 against Dublin, will be hoping for their first win of the campaign when they entertain neighbours Meath in Manguard Plus Kildare GAA Centre of Excellence on Saturday evening (5pm) and manager Pat Sullivan believes they can learn a lot from the defeat to the TG4 All-Ireland champions.

“It’s hard because we actually played very well to be fair in a lot of patches of the game and defended really well. Conditions were hard for both sides, it was a game of two halves, but actually against the wind we played really, really well. Probably a turning point in the game was, we hit the crossbar and then they went down the field and scored. It put us in catch up.

"We had goal chances, we left three or four goal chances behind us. Obviously to be fair, they took their chances. Overall, where we’re coming and what we’re trying to develop as a group, I’d be very happy going home for what we’ve done today. Disappointed for letting the opportunity go when we had it,” said Sullivan.

Armagh suffered a third loss of the season when they lost by 3-11 to 0-15 away to Galway but manager Greg McGonigle said they are getting a lot out of these games despite the results so far and he’s hopeful they will get it right when they host Dublin at BOX-IT Athletic Grounds on Sunday afternoon (2pm).

“We would be happy with the spirit we showed coming back. The big thing for us is we are trying to get four or five younger players into this squad, we are heading up the road disappointed with the result but there are a lot of positives to take,” said McGonigle.

Saturday 28 February

Ladies NFL Division 1
Kildare v Meath, Manguard Plus Kildare GAA Centre of Excellence, 5pm
Cork v Waterford, Páirc Uí Rinn, 7.35pm – TG4

Sunday 1 March

Ladies NFL Division 1
Armagh v Dublin, BOX-IT Athletic Grounds, 2pm
Kerry v Galway, Austin Stack Park, Tralee, 2pm

Ladies NFL Division 2
Cavan v Monaghan, Jim Smith Park, Killinkere, 2pm
Mayo v Donegal, Swinford Amenity Park, 2pm
Wexford v Tyrone, Samaritans St Patrick’s Park, Enniscorthy, 1pm
Westmeath v Tipperary, St Loman’s GAA, Mullingar, 2pm

Ladies NFL Division 3
Fermanagh v Down, Kinawley Brian Borus, 2pm
Laois v Roscommon, Laois Hire O’Moore Park, Portlaoise, 2pm
Louth v Antrim, Integral GAA Grounds, 2pm
Limerick v Clare, Gerald Griffins GAA, 2pm

Ladies NFL Division 4
Derry v Leitrim, TBC, 2pm
Kilkenny v Wicklow, TBC, 2pm
Longford v Carlow, Mostrim GAA, 2pm
Sligo v Offaly, Cloonacool Community Park, 2pm

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