O'Sullivan hat-trick fells battling Royals

National Camogie League

A hat-trick from Kerry’s Amy O’Sullivan boosted the hosts to a 3-10 to 0-12 win and put an end to Meath’s hopes of picking up anything from their National Camogie League Div 2 clash with Kerry on Saturday at MTU Tralee, writes Kieran Devaney.

This second round game was moved to the MTU Campus in Tralee on Friday when the original venue in Lixnaw was deemed unplayable and to add even further confusion to the host's preparations their manager Bryan D'arcy resigned from his role on Friday evening.

Meath’s last two visits to the Kingdom have been fruitful with wins at Lixnaw (2020) and Causeway (2023) and after opening their league account the previous week with a 10-point victory over Armagh, Meath would have hoped to continue their winning ways.

However for the second week in a row a Kerry corner forward finished a game with 3-3 as O'Sullivan emulated her footballing colleague David Clifford who hit the same return against Tyrone in NFL Div 1 the pervious week.

Meath playing against the breeze in the opening half started brightly, Ciara Foley got the visitors up and running with a point from play in the third minute. That was quickly cancelled out by O’Sullivan a minute later when she levelled matters.

The first hammer blow for Meath came three minutes later when O’Sullivan netted her first goal after her initial attempted had been saved.

Kate Lynch and Patrice Diggin stretched the Kerry lead to five points before Aoife Carey got Meath back on track with back to back frees in the 15th and 16th minute. Diggin replied again with another free before Emma Regan pointed for Meath to leave just the goal between the teams.

That difference became two goals in the 25th minute when O’Sullivan pounced for a second time. This time she dropped into space behind the Meath backs, fielded a high ball that was played over the top and finished past Tara Murphy in the Meath goal.

Carey went close two minutes later with a goal chance but it was stopped. Diggin struck another free in added time before Amy Gaffney pointed from play to leave it 2-5 to 0-5 to the Kingdom at the break.

After the resumption Meath started well with Carey getting her third point, her first from play, to bring the deficit back to five. Meath were fighting to stay in the game but it was Kerry who responded immediately.

O’Sullivan got her third goal in the 32nd minute after a good move. Foley and O’Sullivan traded further points before Carey pointed another from play to leave it 3-6 to 0-8 with 44 minutes played. Carey's point was cancelled out by Ann Marie Leen, who came off the Kerry bench to score a point a minute later.

Half time substitute Isabel O’Connor and Ciara Foley both raised white flags which gave Meath a lift. Maeve Clince had a goal chance in the 52nd minute go agonisingly wide of the right post when she pulled on a loose ball.

Had that chance found the net it would have made for a grandstand finish. A Patrice Diggin double killed off any hope of a Royal comeback, the Clanmaurice player scoring from play and a free on 55 minutes.

Grace Connolly responded with a point for Meath, O’Sullivan slotted over her third and final point with two minutes left before Ciara Foley closed out the scoring with a late free to leave it 3-10 to 0-12 at the finish.

Meath travel to Offaly in the third round next weekend and Meath manager Anton O’Neill will want to put this result to the back of the players minds as they face another stern test against the Faithful County.

Kerry – Aoife Fitzgerald; Michelle Costello, Sara Murphy, Rachel McCarthy; Roisin Quinn, Niamh Leen, Aoife Behan; Caoimhe Spillane, Ruth O’Connor; Kathryn Ryan, Patrice Diggin (0-5 four frees), Ellen O’Donoghue; Amy McCarthy, Kate Lynch (0-1), Amy O’Sullivan (3-3).Subs – Ann Marie Leen (0-1) for Ryan 40m, Shannon Collins for Amy McCarthy 49m, Aine O’Connor for Quinn 55m.

Meath – Tara Murphy; Laura O’Neill, Grace Coleman, Sophia Payne; Rachel O’Neill, Leah Devine, Amy Gaffney (0-1); Erin Leddy, Aedin Slattery; Emma Regan (0-1), Aoibhin Lally, Aoife Carey (0-4 two frees); Ciara Foley (0-4 two frees), Maeve Clince, Ella O’Brien. Subs - Isabel O’Connor (0-1) for Leddy half-time, Grace Connolly (0-1) for O’Brien 38m, Katie Connolly for Lally 43m, Cliodhna O’Riordan for L O’Neill 56m, Louise Gaffney for Payne 57m, Roisin Heaney for R O’Neill 59m, Eimear Fagan for Carey 60m.