Hannah Leahy during the Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1 Round 1 match between Dublin and Kerry and (inset): Dublin manager Paul Casey Photos by Sportsfile
Jackies edged out by Kerry
DUBLIN Ladies kicked off their first league game of 2026 last weekend in a losing effort against Kerry where they found themselves defeated by six points with the scoreline reading 2-09 to 0-09.
Played at JYSK Park in Clondalkin the women’s team of both sides battled through horrendous conditions on the day with the pitch resembling a scene from the Battle of the Somme at times.
The Dublin line up was full of new faces with only three players starting who had started in the All Ireland Final against Meath last year.
Dublin would be the first side to get themselves off the mark and while Kerry responded quickly, Dublin did well to keep themselves in contention for the first 15 minutes of the game with Ballyboden St Enda’s player Kate Donaghy restoring the deadlock between the sides at the end of the first quarter.
This deadlock would be broken shortly after however as Kerry made use of their excess in possession and fire home courtesy of Jaydn Lucey to cause the green flag to be raised.
Rather than roll over however, Dublin responded admirably entering into a purple patch of sorts.
The team scored several points on the bounce, including one form St Judes’ forward Orla Keighran to again bring the teams level, though a late burst from Kerry at the end of the half would leave the away side up by three points heading into the interval.
The second half would see Dublin make several changes in an attempt to turn the scoreboard on its head.
Sophie McIntyre of Lucan Sarsfields was brought on at the beginning of the second half and would be joined shortly on the pitch by her clubmate Siobhan Birnie.
Dublin Minor Captain Charlie Murphy would also be introduced in the second half with the Ballyboden St Enda’s star coming onto the pitch in the 58th minute for Hannah Leahy.
Despite all of the the changes and fresh legs brought on Dublin were unable to close the gap on Kerry and would in fact concede a second goal in the second half losing the game by six points at the final whistle.
One of the joint managers of the side Paul Casey spoke on the game and positives that could be taken from the performance.
“Really tough conditions, for both teams as well. We’d loads of new faces on the pitch today. I thought the honesty of effort they had was fantastic. They fought there until the end and kept plugging away. It was really, really tough conditions there, but good to get the show on the road as they say and good to see so many new faces play for Dublin today as well.”
Dublin’s next outing will be against their All-Ireland opponents Meath next Monday afternoon.
