Ladies football: Wexford and Kildare to meet in intermediate Leinster final

Semi Final 1: Laois 4-14, Wexford 4-16 (AET)Semi Final 2: Kildare 5-14, Offaly 3-6

TG4 Leinster IFC Final - Kildare v Wexford - Sunday 15th May. Details to be confirmed.

TG4 Leinster LGFA IFC Semi Final

Kildare 5-14

Offaly 3-06

By Aisling Clery

3-03 from an impressive Neasa Dooley was key as Kildare booked their place in the TG4 Leinster Intermediate Final in a sunkissed Manguard Plus Hawkfield CoE this afternoon. Kildare were impressive all over the field with the game control of Ciara Wheeler and Grace Clifford pulling the strings for Sean Finnegan’s squad.

They lead by 4-4 to 1-3 at the half time interval and with key goalkeeping saves from Dervila McGinn and an impressive attack, Kildare booked their passage to next week’s final with relative ease.

Kildare got off to a perfect start when Neasa Dooley found the net on two minutes. Grace Clifford won the ball deep before exchanging with Lara Curran and finding Dooley, she tapped home from short range. Saorah Doyle reduced the gap from a free, but Kildare cancelled this out with points from Dooley and Aoife Rattigan.

Offaly got themselves right back into contention when Marie Byrne got herself in behind the Kildare defence and made no mistake hitting the net with the finish. Michelle Mann added a point after a clever exchange with Saoirse McGuinness.

However, Kildare upped the gears and in a devastating spell hit 3-3 without reply. Lara Curran and Orlaith Sullivan both found their range with points before Neasa Dooley hit her second goal, an absolute rocket in the top right corner after terrific work from Ciara Wheeler. Wheeler, in fact, had a hand in each of the Kildare goal attacks in this period with Sullivan and Grace Clifford also hitting the Offaly net to open up