Éimear Byrne was the star of the show for the recently crowned Leinster champions as she bagged a hat-trick in an impressive display. The St Mochta’s player was a constant thorn in the home defence with her ball-winning skills and direct running creating a series of chances for herself and her colleagues over the hour.
Niamh Rice was another to enjoy a productive outing in front of the posts as she finished with 1-6 on a day when the visitors made a number of changes to the team that started against Carlow in the provincial decider.
Overall, it wasn’t a vintage display but Louth were never troubled by a determined, but limited, Kilkenny outfit that struggled, particularly in attack. It was a scrappy affair at times with the rhythm of the game disrupted by a number of yellow cards that saw both teams have spells of playing 13 against 15.
As a result, Louth didn’t convert their superiority on to the scoreboard until the closing stages, when they rattled in a quickfire 3-3 in the final 11 minutes to give a more realistic reflection of the gulf in class.
There was also plenty of goalmouth action in the opening exchanges as Byrne was clearly in the mood and with less than two minutes on the clock, she benefitted from Áine Breen’s good work to race clear and fire to the back of the net.
The Wee county suffered a rare setback when an effort from Kate Purcell fell short and was fumbled by goalkeeper Una Pearson, allowing Rachel Phelan to tap home the equaliser from close-range on four minutes.
However, Pearson made amends when her accurate kickout set Louth on a quick attack which ended with Rice setting up Byrne to crash the ball to the roof of the net. Points by Byrne and Rice were followed by a Kilkenny reply from Purcell, to leave the Wee county leading by just 2-2 to 1-1 at the end of the first quarter, despite playing with the advantage of the wind.
Rice added another soon after but despite Kilkenny being reduced to 13 players, there were just two more points from Rice before the break as Louth went in leading by 2-5 to 1-1.
Paul Hanlon’s side lost Aoife Russell and Aoife Halligan to yellow cards either side of the interval and that certainly disrupted their flow as they managed to add just one point, from Róisín Maguire, in the opening 19 minutes of the second half.
The switching of Breen to midfield brought more attacking drive to Louth’s play and they made hay against a tiring Kilkenny side. First, a sweeping move from the back resulted in Byrne completing her hat-trick, while Rice added another point before Mia Duffy made the space to claim a fourth goal on 54 minutes.
Rice and Halligan raised white flags before the Cooley player pounced on a poor kickout and sealed Louth’s win with the fifth goal of the day.
KILKENNY: Ellie Moran; Katie Nolan, Sarah Smith, Emily Smith; Hollie Brennan, Ailbhe Galwey, Aoibhe Ryan; Kelley Comerford, Ruby Roche; Ellen Lawlor, Sara Corcoran, Caitlinn Moore; Rachel Phelan 1-0, Rebecca Roche, Kate Purcell 0-1. Subs: Ailish O’Neill for Moore, Leah Brett for Nolan, Niamh Ward for Purcell.
LOUTH: Una Pearson; Caitlin O’Reilly, Eilís Hand, Anna Whyte; Louise Byrne, Áine Breen, Céire Nolan; Aoife Halligan 0-1, Claire McDonald; Mia Duffy 1-0, Éimear Byrne 3-1, Aoife Russell; Rachel O’Connor-Leonard, Niamh Rice 1-6, Róisín Maguire 0-1. Subs: Seoda Matthews for O’Connor-Leonard, Katie Doheny for Whyte, Caoimhe Boyle for McDonald, Katie Murphy for O’Reilly, Ellen Barry for Russell.
REFEREE: Conor McCarthy (Cork).
