TWO first-half goals from Síofra O’Shea gave Kerry the platform to sweep Kildare aside in their TG4 All-Ireland SFC quarter-final.
The Lilywhites got off to a strong start at Austin Stack Park, notching four points in the first nine minutes, but the Southern Gaels star’s goals — she added a third after the break — were the hammer blow.
With Alannah Prizeman — who hit two frees — Aoife Rattigan and Gillian Wheeler all finding the target for the Leinster side, the Kingdom were slower out of the blocks.
But in the tenth minute, a cross-field kick found Emma Costello and after her shot was parried by goalkeeper Mary Hulgraine, O’Shea scored the rebound.
Danielle O’Leary was also getting into her stride and the Rathmore attacker fired over two points, with a Rachel Dwyer effort sandwiched in between. Ciara Wheeler and Prizeman responded at the other end, with the sides level at 1-3 to 0-6 with 22 minutes on the clock.
Two minutes later, the Kingdom were awarded a penalty when O’Shea was fouled by Lauren Murtagh.
The Kerry full-forward took the spot-kick herself and there was little Hulgraine could do to stop the low shot fizzing into her bottom-right corner.
And, despite Prizeman’s Trojan work, a superb Anna Galvin point put the defending champions four up at the break, 2-5 to 0-7.
The game was over as a contest in the 39th minute when O’Shea completed her hat-trick and the hosts remained in control until the end.
KERRY: ME Bolger; E Lynch, D Kearney, C Lynch; A O’Connell, E Costello, A Dillane; M O’Connell, A Galvin 0-1; N Carmody 0-1, N Ní Chonchúir 0-1, C Evans 0-1; R Dwyer 0-1, S O’Shea 3-2, 1f, D O’Leary 0-4. Subs: R Rahilly for Galvin 46mins, K Brosnan 0-1 for Dwyer 46, F O’Donoghue for Kearney 51, K O’Connor for E Lynch 54, N Quinn for Carmody 58.
KILDARE: M Hulgraine; R Sargent, L Lenehan, M Doherty; L Shaw, L Murtagh, M Aspel; L Reilly, C Moran; C Wheeler 0-1, A Rattigan 0-1, L Curran; G Wheeler 0-1, A Prizeman 0-7, 5f, R Byrne 0-1. Subs: M Ryan for Moran 37mins, A Mahon for Murtagh 41, E Dowling for Rattigan 48, S Galvin for G Wheeler 51, C Sullivan for Shaw 53.
REFEREE: K Phelan (Laois).
