Carla Rowe hat-trick fires Dublin past relegation play-off bound Kildare and into TG4 All-Ireland quarter-final

By Daragh Nolan

A Carla Rowe hat-trick paved the way as reigning TG4 All-Ireland SFC champions Dublin advanced to the quarter-finals on the back of an impressive 4-19 to 0-09 win at Manguard Park.

The loss means newly-promoted Kildare finish bottom of the group and face a relegation play-off.

This game started well for the home side with an obvious sense of intent from Kildare. They got an early reward for their efforts with a point from Ellen Dowling, which was quickly answered at the other end by Hannah Tyrrell.

Kildare kept pace for the first 10 minutes before an extended break for a Trina Duggan injury seemed to stunt their early momentum.

After two Tyrrell frees and a superb point from Nicole Owens pushed them three clear, Dublin began to pull away.

Kildare were doing their best to keep the dangerous forwards quiet, but Dublin have tremendous quality all over the field and added scores through Orlagh Nolan, Niamh Donlon and Niamh Hetherton.

The champions led 0-08 to 0-02 after 25 minutes when they first found the net. Rowe burst through on goal and was initially brilliantly denied by Anna Dunlea, but Rowe coolly finished off the rebound.

Rowe added a point from a free before Lauren Magee pushed Dublin 1-10 to 0-02 ahead after 29 minutes.

Less than a minute later, Rowe hit the net again when Hetherton found her captain with a brilliant hand-pass across goal. Rowe made no mistake and slapped home from close range.

Dublin finished the half strongly adding another three points, with one from Róisín Byrne for Kildare, to leave the score at 2-13 to 0-03 at the break.

Similar to the first half, Kildare started strongly and got two points from Byrne and kept Dublin scoreless for ten minutes after the restart.

However, Dublin took