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Down ladies put on a fantastic display to power past Cavan on Sunday in the preliminary round of the Ulster Ladies Intermediate Championship at Pairc Esler. Division two Cavan travelled to Newry as slight favourites against their Division three opponents, but Down were well worth their win.
Glorious sunshine the backdrop for this opening round of the Intermediate Championship, with Down making early inroads against Cavan with Vivienne McCormack doing well to get her shot away in a heavily congested area and clear the bar to open the scoring. An early yellow card for Cavan helped Down gain the upper hand, Captain Meghan Doherty exploited this by splitting the posts following a crisp hand passing move through the heart of the Cavan defence. A long range score by Cavan's Zara Fay sandwiched two good goal chances for Down that should have extended the score to reflect their possession advantage. Even after Cavan returned to a full 15, Down still dominated play, however these missed chances allowed Cavan to stay in the game. Two well taken scores by Niamh King was followed by a bit of real magic from the young Castlewellan forward.
Laoise Duffy has been a star performer for Down in the league and brought her form into this Championship clash. Her run opened the defence and as she slipped in King with a cleaver pass the Down forward still had a lot to do. However a deft chip from King beat the out stretched arm of the Cavan keeper and drop into the back of the net for the opening goal of the match. Cavan hit back with another long range score, this time from Deirbhile McCaffery. Laoise Duffy pointed for Down following a lovely pass from Niamh Scullion that opened the Cavan back line.
Cavan and McCaffery hit back with yet another wonderful score from range.
Down squandered another goal chance just before halftime, leaving the Mourne ladies delighted with their first half display but slightly disappointed by not putting their chances away to give them a bigger lead going in at halftime Down 1-5 v Cavan 0-3.
Cavan came out in the second half with real intent and missed a great goal chance themselves to get back into the game. However Cavan’s Niamh McCorry continued the trend of fantastic long range scores for the away side when she put over early in the second half. But Down once again assumed control of the game with Meghan Doherty, Paige Smyth and Orla Boyle all putting in stand out performances. The Downpatrick pair of Smyth and Boyle have been excellent all season and it was fitting that Smyth got the next score that her display deserved and settle Down supporters nerves.
Despite Down again having the upper hand, Cavan punished more missed chances from Down when they pointed after a slip in the Down defence. This seemed to spur Down on and they stepped up a gear, another great pass from Paige Smyth found Eimear Fitzpatrick wide on the left, a lovely interchange of passes between Fitzpatrick and King cleaved open the Cavan rear guard and Fitzpatrick rounded the keeper to get Down's second goal. Kayla Brady nearly scored a goal for Cavan but her shot just cleared the bar for one point instead of three. Niamh Scullion then supplied a beautiful pass that just cleared a Cavan Defenders outstretched fingertips and fall into Vivienne McCormack arms and she finished in style over the bar. Rostrevor's talented forward Niamh Rice added another point with a lovely left foot finish. Burren's Fitzpatrick pointed to further extend Down's lead, but the biggest cheer of the day was reserved for Orla Boyle who squeezed her shot off the post for a rare point for the Downpatrick defender who along with the rest of the Down defence have been outstanding all season.
A great win for Down who are a seriously strong outfit and on this form will be hard to beat in the Championship.
Final Score: Down 2-10 Cavan 0-6
Next up is a semi final match away to Antrim on 5 May at 2pm
Down Team: M Deery, A Greene, C Byrne, O Boyle, P.Smyth, N McKibbin, O.Duffy, M Doherty (C), A Laverty, N Scullion, N King, L.Duffy, N McClorey, S Dougherty, V McCormack.
