We study the ground-state properties of a two-dimensional spin-polarized fluid of dipolar fermions within the Euler-Lagrange Fermi-hypernetted-chain approximation. Our method is based on the solution of a scattering Schrödinger equation for the "pair amplitude" g(r), where g ( r) is the pair distribution function. A key ingredient in our theory is the effective pair potential, which includes a bosonic term from Jastrow-Feenberg correlations and a fermionic contribution from kinetic energy and exchange, which is tailored to reproduce the Hartree-Fock limit at weak coupling. Very good agreement with recent results based on quantum Monte Carlo simulations is achieved over a wide range of coupling constants up to the liquid-to-crystal quantum phase transition. Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem and a static approximation for the effective inter-particle interactions, we calculate the dynamical density-density response function, and furthermore demonstrate that an undamped zero-sound mode exists for any value of the interaction strength, down to infinitesimally weak couplings.