Girls in blue secure fifth Leinster SFC in-a-row

Sun, 10th July 2016

DUBLIN 4-21 WESTMEATH 0-7

Dublin claimed a fifth successive TG4 Leinster ladies senior football championship crown when outclassing Westmeath by 26 points in Sunday's provincial decider in O’Moore Park in Portlaoise.

There was little to suggest that such a wide gulf would separate the counties at the finish as Dublin led by nine points at the break - 1-11 to 0-5.

In a wind-swept encounter, Sinead Goldrick scored the only goal of the first half for Dublin as Leona Archibold kept Westmeath in touch from frees.

Nicole Owens had four points on the board for Dublin by the interval, as Goldrick added a point to her goal.

Lyndsey Davey collected two first-half points while Carla Rowe and Sinead Aherne were also on the scoresheet.

The floodgates opened in the second half, however, as Dublin stepped on the gas to outclass Westmeath.

Nicole Owens claimed the player-of-the-match award after finishing with six points but Davey was the leading scorer for Dublin as she registered 1-4.

Rowe and Aherne also netted second half goals for Dublin - who have now booked a safe passage to the All-Ireland quarter-finals.

SCORERS - Dublin: Lyndsey Davey 1-4 (0-1f), Carla Rowe 1-2, Sinead Aherne 1-2 (0-1f), Nicole Owens 0-6, Sinead Goldrick 1-1, Noelle Healy 0-3, Siobhan Woods, Deirdre Murphy. Ciara Trant (0-1f) 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: C Trant, O Carey, D Murphy, L Caffrey, S Goldrick, S Finnegan, N Collins, L Magee, S Furlong, N Healy, N Owens, C Rowe, S Woods, S Aherne, L Davey.Subs: Molly Lamb for Magee, Niamh McEvoy for Woods, Amy Connolly for Owens, Olivia Leonard for Aherne, Lucy Collins for S Finnegan.

Dublin's U16 outclassed Armagh 4-15 to 1-7 in their All-Ireland semi-final on Saturday in Drogheda.

SCORERS - Dublin: Rachel Brennan 1-2, Ciara Holland 0-5 (4f), Emma McCormack 1-1, Jodi Egan 0-3, Sarah McMahon 1-0, Hannah Leahy 1-0, Niamh Hetherton 0-2, Sarah Fagan 0-1, Caoimhe O'Connor 0-1