LEINSTER LGFA SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Dublin 3-17

Meath 0-8

By Daire Walsh

After they convincingly secured the Leinster LGFA Senior Championship title for an 11th time in succession, Dublin manager Mick Bohan acknowledged the return of some key players has given his squad a significant bounce for the 2024 inter-county season.

Thanks in no small part to goals from Carla Rowe, Jennifer Dunne and Caoimhe O’Connor, the Jackies recorded an emphatic 18-point victory against Meath in a provincial decider at Croke Park yesterday. Moments before O’Connor found the net in the 39th minute of the action, Sinead Goldrick had rattled the crossbar for the rampant Metropolitan outfit.

Having missed out on their TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship success of last year, Goldrick – who has been lining out for Australian Rules side Melbourne in recent years – is now back within the Dublin ranks and produced a strong performance in GAA HQ. Olwen Carey and Nicole Owens are other stalwarts from the past who have returned to the fray in 2024 and they both chipped in with a point apiece over the course of Sunday’s final.

“A year ago, I would have said to you we were in a complete rebuild and we were. We had 16 new players and then out of that we got a couple of diamonds who just came through. Obviously the season ended well for us, but then we got a little bit of an influx back. Nicole coming back into the set-up, she was out with a double ACL,” Bohan remarked after the game.

“Olwen Carey coming back, she had gone into the Guards. Goldie [Sinead Goldrick] coming back from Australia. Jess Tobin, who had done her ACL. All of a sudden you get a bounce from those people. There is unbelievable experience in the group.”

Supplementing an early brace of points from Hannah Tyrrell, Dublin skipper Rowe registered a quickfire 1-1 salvo to move her county five clear (1-3 to 0-1) in the 11th minute.

A second goal followed from Dunne on the stroke of 20 minutes and with Tyrrell ending the opening period on a personal haul of 0-4, the reigning champions established a convincing 2-8 to 0-2 cushion in time for the interval.

Although Kate Sullivan and Goldrick were close to raising green flags off the same move, O’Connor made sure her own name was added to the scoresheet nine minutes into the second half with a smooth finish beyond the reach of Meath netminder Monica McGuirk.

Despite Emma Duggan chipping in with a number of fine efforts, the Royals were overly reliant on the Dunboyne ace and struggled to curb the attacking threat of Dublin at the opposite end.

While Rowe (1-3) and Tyrrell (0-5) emerged as the scorers-in-chief, full-forward Niamh Hetherton also recorded four points to cap an excellent individual display.

Whereas Dublin now move into Group 4 of the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship with Mayo – who lost out to Galway in yesterday’s Connacht SFC decider – Meath will find themselves in Group 1 of the Brendan Martin Cup with the winners of the forthcoming Ulster final between Donegal and Armagh, as well as Munster outfit Tipperary.

Speaking in the aftermath of their reversal to Dubin, Meath manager Shane McCormack cut an understandably disappointed figure.

“I’m just devastated for the girls because they’re after putting in a lot of hard work over the last couple of months. Just gutted for them, because they didn’t do themselves justice today,” McCormack said.

“I take the hat off to Dublin, they deserved the win today and they’re a fantastic team. They’re All-Ireland champions for a reason. Hopefully there’ll be more days to come, but we just have to focus on the All-Ireland series now.”

Scorers – Dublin: C Rowe 1-3 (0-3f), H Tyrrell 0-5 (1f), N Hetherton 0-4, J Dunne, C O’Connor 1-0 each, O Carey, L Magee, O Nolan, N Owens, C Darby 0-1 each. Meath: E Duggan 0-6 (4f), A Cleary, C Smyth 0-1 each. 

DUBLIN: A Shiels; M Byrne, L Caffrey, N Donlon; S Goldrick, O Carey, L Magee; J Dunne, J Tobin; C O’Connor, O Nolan, C Rowe; H Tyrrell, N Hetherton, K Sullivan. Subs: G Kos for Carey, E Gribben for Nolan (both 38), A Kane for Magee (41), N Owens for Sullivan (42), C Darby for Goldrick (49).

MEATH: M McGuirk; C Lawlor, MK Lynch, N Troy; N Gallogly, L Young, K Newe; M O’Shaughnessy, A Cleary; M Thynne, S Melia, C Smyth; E Moyles, M Farrelly, E Duggan. Subs: K Cole for Young (25), O Gore for Newe (33), M Byrne for Melia (35), A Leahy for Thynne (39), A McCabe for Moyles (44, temp), O Mallon for Leahy (45).

Referee: Marion Hayden (Carlow).