Leinster Football Association Womens Inter League Shield Final.
North East Football League 1 1 Kildare & District Football League,
(NEFL Win 10-9 on penalties after FT)
REPORT BY RAY TRAVERS
The KDFL women’s representative team made the trip to the MDL grounds in Navan to play this re
arranged LFA women's inter league Shield final against the North East Women's league on a perfect
Sunday afternoon for soccer.
The KDFL girls burst out of the traps early with Brooke Dunne and Aoife Daly dictating the game from
midfield. The game was barely five minutes old when Aoife Daly picked up the ball just inside the
NEFL half and released an inch perfect pass to set Louise Scully free down the right channel, she
whipped in a super ball into the box and Molly Nason forced home at the back post to give the KDFL
girls a dream start. The goal really settled the KDFL and Stacey Long and Louise Scully were causing
all sorts of problems for the NEFL on the wings. The front three were pressing really high on the
NEFL to try and force a mistake to extend their lead. The NEFL held their nerve and started to play
their way into the game and were unlucky not to be back on level terms in the tenth minute when their
one of their midfielders played a great through ball to release their striker who forced Alice Breen into
the first of a number of top saves for her team. The game was end to end for much of the first half
with the NEFL starting to win the midfield battle from the midway point of the half. Bernie Bowe and
Edenderry Town duo Alisha Kavanagh and Courtney Farrell were under constant pressure in the back
line for the remainder of the half and had to be at their very best to keep out a resurgent NEFL side.
Alice Breen was again called into action on the stroke of half time as the NEFL striker sprung the
offside trap to make an outstanding 1v1 save to send her team in with a slender 1-0 advantage.
The NEFL started the second half as they finished the first and really started to get a grip of the game.
Kildare captain Bernie Bowe was using all her experience to keep her team mates high up the pitch to
stem the flow of attacks. With the game getting stretched Sarah Byrne and Aoife Daly were trying to
use the pace of Louise Scully on the counter attack to extend their lead but the NEFL defence stood
strong. The NEFL emptied their bench in search of an equaliser and nearly paid a heavy price when
Brooke Dunne forced a goal line clearance from a free kick with ten minutes remaining. The NEFL
girls were really pushing for an equaliser and finally breached a resolute Kildare defence in the eighty
ninth minute to get a deserved equaliser and send this enthralling game straight to the lottery of
penalty kicks.
KDFL captain Bernie Bowe won the toss and elected have her side shoot the second spot kick and
the NEFL got an extraordinary penalty shoot out under way with an unstoppable drive past Alice
Breen in the KDFL goals. What followed was no less than 17 straight penalty kicks scored with the
NEFL edging the shootout with an outstanding 9 straight penalties scored to claim the shield.
Best for the KDFL girls was player of the match Alice Breen, Aoife Daly, Brooke Dunne and the lively
Louise Scully. The winners were best served by their no.9 and no.11 as well as all their penalty
takers who held their nerve in the day to clinch the shield.