SOARING SCANLON READY TO RULE THE CROKER SKIES
By Daire Walsh
Following a five-year wait, Castleisland Desmonds ace Lorraine Scanlon will once again get a chance to grace the All-Ireland senior championship semi-final stage when Kerry take on Mayo at Croke Park this Saturday.
Back in 2017, Scanlon lined up in midfield alongside Emma Sherwood as the Kingdom lost out to a Sinead Aherne and Noelle Healy-inspired Dublin in the penultimate phase of the competition at Semple Stadium in Thurles. Later that summer, the Jackies went on to win the first of four Brendan Martin Cup crowns under the guidance of Mick Bohan, with a comprehensive 4-11 to 0-11 triumph over Mayo.
From there, Kerry went on to suffer back-to-back quarter-final exits in 2018 and 2019 before failing to advance from the group stages of the senior championship in 2020 and 2021.
2022 has been a much more productive year for Kerry, however, with a Lidl Division 2 league final success at the expense of Armagh being backed up by an All-Ireland quarter-final victory against the same opposition at O’Connor Park, Tullamore last weekend. This represents major progress from the Kingdom and Scanlon believes it stands as testament to the work joint-managers Declan Quill and Darragh Long have done since assuming the reins in the winter of 2019.
“I think the last few years, since the lads have come in, they’ve done massive work with us. This is a culmination of the work they’ve done with us over the last three years. Hopefully everything will go our way on the day, but there’s a great bond in the group,” Scanlon remarked in the aftermath of their 4-12 to 2-14 victory over Armagh.
“There’s a lot of togetherness in the group. Everybody plays for each other. I think that’s one of the big things with our team and as I said, we’ve a great management team behind us. We get everything we want from them.”
After losing out to them by five points in the Munster senior final back on May 28, Kerry were anticipating another meeting with Cork in the last-four of the Brendan Martin Cup. It didn’t turn out this way, however, as Sinead Walsh and Lisa Cafferky goals propelled Mayo towards a surprise 2-13 to 0-17 win at the expense of the Rebelettes.
While there would have been a greater sense of familiarity with Cork, the results produced by the Westerners at Cusack Park in Ennis will be reason enough for Kerry to be on high alert ahead of their battle at GAA HQ.
“We played Cork in the Munster final and they’re a savage team, great talent there. For Mayo to turn around and beat them, it says a lot about Mayo. It’s say more about Mayo. I didn’t get to see the game obviously, we didn’t get a chance.
“I’m sure what Mayo have is savage as well. We’re going to have to be really prepared coming into a semi-final now facing them. We’ll have to put in a good bit of work and analysis just to get ourselves ready for that challenge.”
Like Michael Moyles’ green and red outfit – who trailed Cork by a single point – Kerry were in a losing position at the midway stage of their pulsating quarter-final clash with Armagh. Despite Niamh Carmody and Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh rattling the opposition net, the Orchard women were in the ascendancy at the interval on a scoreline of 2-8 to 2-5.
Yet Quill and Long used the half-time break to rally their troops and Kerry successfully turned the table on their northern counterparts when the action resumed. Siofra O’Shea raised a green flag in advance of Ní Mhuircheartaigh converting a 53rd-minute penalty that ultimately proved decisive in keeping Armagh at arm’s length.
“We came out after half-time and it was a new game again. We had to respond to that challenge and thank God we did. We put pressure on them up front. We were told at half-time that we needed more pressure from the forward players. We did that a small bit better in the second half and I think we got a few scores out of that. Got a few returns out of that,” Scanlon reflected.
Although the Kerry attack was a major factor in their quarter-final triumph, their defence was also forced to prove their mettle. Even if it was Niamh Coleman and Aoife McCoy who raised green flags for Ronan Murphy’s charges, 2020 TG4 Players’ Player of the Year Aimee Mackin who was their standout performer.
From her final haul of 0-11, the Shane O’Neills sharpshooter kicked six points from play. Keeping tabs on Mackin when she is in top form is no easy task, but Scanlon believes the Kingdom deserve credit for making her fight every inch of the way for scores.
“Aimee is a fantastic player, she’s such a talent. Some of the scores she kicked were brilliant. She’s always one to watch, but I think our backs did really well back there. They covered up and they were doubling up. They forced her to kick from those tough angles as well.”
Of course, Kerry had an attacking diamond of their own in the form of Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh. The Corca Dhuibhne star bagged 2-6 for the victors and was the choice of live broadcasters TG4 as player of the match.
Like Scanlon, Ní Mhuircheartaigh is a survivor from Kerry’s last All-Ireland final appearance in 2012. A watertight Cork defence restricted her to a single point in a 0-16 to 0-7 reversal for the Kingdom, but Ní Mhuircheartaigh has been a consistent performer for the county over the course of the last decade and will be a key figure in their bid to halt Mayo’s march at GAA HQ.
“Louise has been here for 14 or 15 years and year in, year out she does the same thing again. She’s fantastic for us, she’s a stalwart. There’s no other player you’d like to see stepping up for that penalty at that stage in the game than Louise. We’ve great faith in her and she always delivers for us. It’s great to have a stalwart like that up front.”
Aside from that 2012 All-Ireland decider, trips to Croke Park have been few and far between for the Kerry ladies in modern times. However, it was the venue for their National Football League Division 2 final defeat to Meath in 2021 and their subsequent victory against Armagh at the same stage earlier this year.
A championship outing at Jones’ Road will be a new experience for the majority of the squad, though, and Scanlon insists it is something they should embrace for all its worth.
“Any day you can get to go out and play in Croke Park, it’s massive. It’s a nice, open pitch and an All-Ireland semi-final, that’s where you want to be. It’s great to be on that platform, playing there,” Scanlon said.