Cavan Ladies fought hard for a deserved 5 – 3 win in this tight contest against Cill Dara. The win sees Cavan move up to seventh place with a sixth place finish possible if they manage to overcome out of sorts Malahide next week in the final round of AIL2N fixtures.

The visitors started the game well, dominating the first half which was played mostly in the Cavan half. Cill Dara’s captain, Carmela Morey, showed well in the opening exchanges coming close on a few occasions but the visitors were held out by a strong Cavan defense and were restricted to three penalty attempts.

Unfortunately for Cill Dara their out half, Sinead McBride, failed to re-discover the kicking form she displayed during the warm up and the visitors turned round with only three points to show for their efforts.

Cavan upped their game in the second half putting the visitors on the back foot, with Ulster duo Hillary Quinn and Bridgid Reynolds to the fore as they battered the Cill Dara line.

After a series of penalties inside the Cill Dara 22, Cavan eventually got their breakthrough with Quinn taking a quick tap and barging over the line for a try. The conversion was missed leaving Cavan with a slender 5 – 3 lead.

Cill Dara pushed hard to get something out of the match but struggled to get out of their own half with the home side finishing the match on top.

Cavan: (1-15) Caroline O’Reilly, Emer O’Brien, Clare McDermott, Hillary Quinn, Deirdre O’Reilly, Lynn Maguire, Yvonne Coustney, Brigid Reynolds, Karen Reilly, Anne Coyle, Elena Farnell, Teresa White, Kathleen Dawson, Veronica Smith, Jackie O’Halloran. (16 – 20) Maggie White, Grainne McDermott, Lisa Atkinson, Elinor Ryan, Emer Kelly.

Cill Dara: (1-15) Cliona O’Toole, Teresa Harrington, Angela Murphy, Kate O’Mahony, Michelle Miley, Rebecca Watson, Elin Karlsson, Sarah Duignan, Sarah Pickford, Sinead McBride, No-one, Cara Scannell, Carmela Morey, Miriam Doran, Amy Phelan

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