On a glorious spring day on Sunday at Gaelic Park, the Cavan ladies were led to an easy victory over Fermanagh by the brilliant Sarah Murphy.
With 2-5 over the hour she was unstoppable and always made the correct choice, be it a point or pass at the optimum time.
She had plenty of support across the field, with Emma Clarke back to her best after a year off while Mairead Ruane and Caitlin Hynes showed the home grown talent that is rife within the Cavan side.
Fermanagh battled throughout and have to be complemented for their heart, but it was too high a hill to climb on this occasion.
Cavan had 3-6 on the board at the break, with Clarke getting two of the goals while Murphy had the other. They attacked in waves, with the ball going in early and often to the inside line.
Kerri McGinley and Maire Redmond were defending resolutely against the tsunami of Blue. When Fermanagh did attack the play of Nicole O’Reilly was very impressive in the Cavan rearguard. Caitlin Slattery and Caroline Murphy did a lot of foraging for Fermanagh.
In the second half Murphy was excellent in the middle of the park as a link player. Cavan added to their total with goals from Rosie O’Reilly-Broderick and Murphy again, but two of the best scores were a great individual screamer of a point from Mary Lisa and an Aisling O’Callaghan score late in the second half.
Cavan: 1 Nora Kilkenny, 2 Alison O’Reilly, 3 Nicola O’Reilly, 4 Shauna Hatton, 5 Tina Leneghan, 6 Mary Naughton, 7 Fiona Scally, 8 Caitlin Hynes, 9 Mairead Ruane (0-1), 10 Cathriona Raferty, 11 Alisha Jordan (0-2), 12 Rosie O’Reilly (1-2), 13 Nicola King, 14 Emma Clarke (2-1), 15 Sarah Murphy (2-5). Subs: Katie Kilkenny, Mary Lisa (0-1), Ashley Callery, Aisling O’Callaghan (0-1).
Fermanagh: 1 Aisling Clarke, 2 Ann Marie Kelly, 3 Roisin Toner, 4 Marie Reynolds, 5 Kerri McGinley, 6 Marie Redmond (0-1), 7 Ciara O’Reilly, 8 Caitlin Slattery, 9 Lara Lee McCullough, 10 Caroline Murphy, 11 Megan McNeilus, 12 Andrea McGlade, 13 Caitlin McGuigan, 14 Aisling Gormley, 15 Donna Traynor. Subs: Lea Mulkerrins, Katie Power, Shauna Henchy, Sharon Redican.
Player of the game: Sarah Murphy (Cavan).
Referee: Eugene Kyne.
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