Meath suffer first defeat of 2025 in horrible conditions at Abbotstown

Meath were a long way off their best as Shane McCormack's side fell to a five point defeat.

Kildare 2-7

Meath 1-5

Tom Gannon

Meath performed way below par in their loss to Kildare on Sunday afternoon in round four of the Ladies Div 1 NFL. The contest was played in extreme conditions and for most of the clash, the rain and hail poured heavily on the astro pitch at the National Sport Ireland Campus in Abbotstown.

Two early second-half goals courtesy of Ruth Sergent and Alannah Prizeman, gave the Lilywhites a good boost as they sailed off into the very metaphorical 'sunset'.

In truth, the Royals never got any sort of momentum going in the clash. They had a bright spell towards the end when the returning Emma Duggan knocked over three points in succession but the game was well and truly over at that stage.

From a Meath performance perspective, there weren't many if any positives to take from the game. Robyn Murray made two brilliant saves, one of which was a double block. The aforementioned Emma Duggan and Maire O'Shaughnessy returned to action for Meath which is a massive help going forward. But ultimately, Meath will be bitterly disappointed in their reflections on the performance.

Make no mistake about it, the tough weather conditions played its part in the proceedings. It was only when the sun finally came out in the last 10 minutes that Meath started to play with a little bit more fluency. The build-up to this game and the two venue changes probably didn't help matters. That being said, Kildare had to overcome the same obstacles as Meath and on the day, they were much the better team.

Kildare kicked off proceedings early on with a free from Nessa Dooley. That score was followed by points from two late additions to the Kildare starting 15, Aoife Murnane and Ciara Price. Price then set up Murnane as Kildare raced into an early four-point advantage.

It wasn't until the 14th minute that Meath finally managed to register a score. Meadhbh Byrne cut in on the left-hand side and split the posts to get Meath off the mark.

A couple of minutes later, Vikki Wall burst through the Kildare defence and buried the ball to the back of the net. Meath were probably a bit fortunate to be awarded the goal, as in the very same play, up the other end of the pitch, a Kildare forward had suffered what appeared to be a head injury and the game probably should have been paused momentarily.

Regardless, the sides were now level but it was Kildare that finished out the half-strongest. Robyn Murray was forced to pull off an incredible double save to deny Murnane and Dooley from raising the green flag. Two minutes later, the Navan O'Mahonys netminder repeated the feat to block Roisin Byrne's shot on goal.

Points late on in the half from Byrne and Gillian Wheller secured Kildare a 0-6 to 1-1 lead at the break. There was still a good level of optimism among Meath supporters. The Royals were a long way off their best in that first-half but there was only two points between the sides. Unfortunately for the Meath faithful, the worst was yet to come.

Early on in the second-half, Murray was uncharacteristically caught out of position and Ruth Sergent waltzed through to score Kildare's first goal into an open Meath net.

Orlaith Sheehy responded with a point for Meath but it was soon cancelled out by Price and Kildare regained their five-point lead.

11 minutes into the second-half, Kildare delivered a hammer blow to Meath's chances when Alannah Prizeman buried the ball to the back of the net. It transpired to be the Lilywhites final score but ultimately they had done enough damage to see themselves over the line.

The introduction of Emma Duggan added some spark to Meath's attack and she knocked over three points in succession late on. It was too little too late though and Meath fell to their first defeat of 2025 in what was an afternoon to forget for Shane McCormack's side.

Kildare - Mary Hulgraine; Ruth Sargent (1-0), Lauren Murtagh, Emma Wheeler; Mia Doherty, Laoise Lenehan, Molly Aspel; Claire Sullivan, Laura Dunlea; Ciara Moran, Gillian Wheeler(0-1), Nessa Dooley (0-1, one free); Aoife Murnane (0-1), Ciara Price (0-2), Roisin Byrne (0-2). Subs: Alannah Prizeman (1-0) for Murnane 29m, Aoife Rattigan for Murtagh 32m, Leah Doran for Wheeler 41m, Lara Curran for Price 42m, Ellen Dowling for Prizeman 49m, Lisa Shaw for Byrne 54m, Amy Mahon for Wheeler 55m.

Meath - Robyn Murray; Aine Sheridan, Sarah Wall, Katie Newe; Niamh Gallogly, Mary Kate Lynch, Clodagh Millington; Nicole Troy, Ella Moyles; Megan Thynne, Orlaith Sheehy (0-1), Ciara Smyth; Meadhbh Byrne (0-1), Vikki Wall (1-0), Kerrie Cole. Subs - Emma Duggan (0-3, two frees) for Newe 37m, Maire O'Shaughnessy for Cole 40m, Karla Kealy for Millington 42m, Megan Collins for Byrne 54m, Tori Foster for Smyth 57m, Ciara Lawlor for Troy 59m.

Referee - Aaron Clogher (Roscommon)