Cole leads the way as Meath hold off Waterford rally

Lidl National Football League

Meath 2-11

Waterford 1-13

By Daire Walsh

Kerrie Cole helped herself to an outstanding haul of 2-2 at Pairc Tailteann in Navan on Sunday as Meath withstood a strong final quarter fightback from Waterford to earn their third win from as many games in Division One of the Lidl National Football League.

In a confident mood following their nine-point victory over Mayo six days earlier, the Royals made a sensational start to this contest as Cole rattled the net inside the opening 30 seconds for her fourth goal in just three games this year.

While Waterford settled into the action with points from Brid McMaugh and Lauren McGregor (free) either side of a Ciara Smyth score at the opposite end, Meath stretched four clear when Cole and Marion Farrelly split the posts in quick succession. Despite the impressive McMaugh kicked her second point of the day, their Leinster counterparts kept the scoreboard ticking over through the reliable boots of Smyth and Cole.

The Waterford challenge was rejuvenated when a McGregor shot from close-range was deflected into the net on 21 minutes, but Meath immediately reinforced their authority with scores from Smyth and Farrelly. McGregor later brought her personal tally up to 1-2 with a pointed free, before Vikki Wall and Niamh Gallogly did likewise to give the Royals a 1-9 to 1-4 interval cushion.

Although the Deise made a bright start to the second half courtesy of a Kellyann Hogan point, Meath secured their second goal in the 33rd minute after Cole palmed home off a Smyth free that had dropped short. After Waterford wing-back Aine O’Neill and Wall traded scores, McGregor knocked over another free to leave the visitors six points adrift at 2-10 to 1-7 moving into the closing quarter.

The Munster side were playing with the aid of a breeze on the resumption and a further 0-2 by Dungarvan attacker McGregor kept them within reach of the Royals as the final whistle approached. The raiding Eve Power was then on hand to cancel out another excellent score from Wall and with Katie Murray kicking a brace of points from play, a tense finale was in store.

Net-minder Robyn Murray was at full stretch to tip over a McGregor strike that cut the gap to the bare minimum, but Meath eventually held out to join Armagh on nine points at the Division One summit.

Scorers – Meath: K Cole 2-2, C Smyth, V Wall 0-3 each, M Farrelly 0-2, N Gallogly 0-1.

Waterford: L McGregor 1-6 (0-5f), K Murray, B McMaugh 0-2, E Power, A O’Neill, K Hogan 0-1 each.

MEATH: R Murray; A Sheridan, S Wall, K Newe; N Gallogly, MK Lynch, C Millington; K Kealy, V Wall; M Thynne, O Sheehy, C Smyth; M Byrne, M Farrelly, K Cole. Subs: E Moyles for Farrelly (h-t), N Troy for Kealy (41), K Bermingham for Cole (48), O Smith for Millington, A Gaffney for Byrne (both 62).

WATERFORD: G Corcoran; K McGrath, R Casey, M Ryan; E Power, E Murray, A O’Neill; K Hogan, H Power; C McCarthy, B McMaugh, A Power; L McGregor, C Walsh, K Murray. Subs: A Hahesy for A Power (26), C Fennell for Walsh, N Power for McCarthy (both 39), A Brazil for O’Neill (57).

Referee: Raymond McBride (Dublin).

League champions Armagh make it three wins in a row

Lidl National Football League

Armagh 0-11

Dublin 2-4

By Daire Walsh

Niamh Reel kicked five points at Parnell Park as defending champions Armagh held off a late surge from Dublin to make it three wins from three in Division One of the Lidl National Football League.

Seeking to build on victories against Kerry and Tyrone in the opening two rounds of the NFL, Armagh established an early two-point lead courtesy of consecutive efforts from corner-forwards Reel and Maeve Lennon. Despite creating a number of scoring opportunities, Dublin initially struggled to create attacking momentum and their Orchard County opponents subsequently doubled their cushion when Aoife McCoy and Reel (free) found the target either side of the first-quarter mark.

The sin-binning of corner-back Jess Tobin also left Dublin with a temporary numerical disadvantage, but the hosts impressively overcame this set-back by wiping out Armagh’s four-point buffer in lightning quick time.

After Kate Sullivan had got the Metropolitan outfit up and running with a superb goal on 18 minutes, Chloe Darby immediately followed up with a routine pointed free to bring her side on level terms with the visitors. While Armagh settled back into the contest with successive scores by midfielder Niamh Coleman and the dependable Reel, another successful free – this time from captain Carla Rowe – left Dublin a single point adrift at 0-6 to 1-2 at the interval.

Yet the Orchard women got the ball rolling on the resumption with Reel’s fourth of the afternoon and even though they breathed a sigh of relief when Sullivan fired a goal chance just past the post on 37 minutes, the Ulster side created further daylight with points from the evergreen Caroline O’Hanlon (free), substitute Caoimhe McNally and Niamh Henderson.

Dublin finally opened their second half account with a place-ball effort from Jodi Egan on 48 minutes and while Reel registered a similar score at the opposite end of the pitch, Niamh Hetherton also raised a white flag to keep the home side in contention during the closing stages of the action.

Their deficit was then reduced to the bare minimum when Hetherton found the net at the second time of asking off a 57th minute attack, but Armagh ultimately dug deep in a tense finale to come away with the three points on offer.

Scorers – Armagh: N Reel 0-5 (4f), C O’Hanlon 0-1 (1f), N Coleman, A McCoy, N Henderson, M Lennon, C McNally 0-1 each.

Dublin: N Hetherton 1-1, K Sullivan 1-0, C Darby 0-1 (f), C Rowe 0-1 (f), J Egan 0-1 (f).

ARMAGH: A Carr; M Ferguson, C Garvey, C Towe; E Druse, L McConville, R Mulligan; N Coleman, C O’Hanlon; A McCoy, M Feehan, B Mackin; N Reel, N Henderson, M Lennon. Subs: C McNally for Lennon (39), G Ferguson for Garvey (44), E Lavery for Feehan (47), E McGeown for Mackin (53), R Cunningham for Reel (57).

DUBLIN: A Shiels; J Tobin, L Caffrey, A Nyhan; H McGinnis, M Byrne, A Curran; G Kos, N Hetherton; K Sullivan, C Darby, K Murray; A Timothy, C Rowe, N Donlon. Subs: R McDonnell for Murray (h-t), S McIntyre for Timothy (41), J Egan for Darby (46).

Referee: Gus Chapman (Sligo).

‘Winning the All-Ireland in Croke Park definitely made up for any sort of disappointment’

By Daire Walsh

While there is a long road ahead of them, Eimear O’Brien has acknowledged that challenging for League and Championship promotion is the ultimate goal for the Longford ladies football team in 2025.

When the Longford Slashers star first established herself as a starter back in 2018, the O’Farrell County were operating in Division 3 of the Lidl National Football League and in the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate football Championship. The Midlanders remained active participants in these competitions for a number of seasons, before eventually suffering relegation from both in 2023.

Last year saw Longford missing out on the knockout stages of the TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship and Lidl NFL Division 4 – competitions they previously won in 2016 and 2017 respectively. Although challenging at the business end of the former is a major ambition for the summer time, Brian Farrell’s side will be fighting tooth and nail to book a spot in the Division 4 semi-finals at the end of March.

“There are teams that are in Intermediate Championship that are playing Division 4 or vice versa, Junior and playing Division 3. There is very little between Junior and Intermediate, and Division 3 and Division 4. The teams are nearly interchangeable, so there’s definitely no reason why we can’t be back up there playing Division 3 and Intermediate,” O’Brien said.

“We’re really targeting the Championship this year. There’s players who will come back in later on, and we’ll have even bigger numbers. We really are targeting mainly Championship, but the League semi-final is there to grab. So we’ll obviously aim for it.”

Despite losing out to Sligo at Cloonacool Community Park last Sunday, Longford remain in the reckoning for a knockout spot thanks to emphatic victories at home to Derry and Kilkenny in the opening two rounds of this year’s Division 4. Ahead of their meeting with Fermanagh at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park tomorrow afternoon (throw-in 2pm), the O’Farrell outfit occupy second place in the fourth-tier table.

Having missed out on their three games to date due to a combination of injury and being away, O’Brien is hopeful this weekend will see her playing her first competitive game since being named captain of Longford for the 2025 season. Suffice to say – after previously serving as vice-captain for several years – the experienced defender is delighted to be taking on a key leadership role in the county set-up.

“It’s a huge honour to be selected as captain. You feel like you’re really respected by the manager and the players. You also just feel like you’re obviously a good role model for younger players as well. It’s a big deal to be named county captain.

“I’m also probably one of the older players on the team. We’re quite a young team and I’ve probably been one of the longest around. It definitely will help and knowing the girls as well helps too.”

Whereas she is still striving for success at inter-county level, O’Brien has already accumulated a significant collection of medals in the club game.

A Junior county Championship winner with Longford Slashers in 2017, she played a starring role when the Farneyhoogan outfit claimed Intermediate Championship honours a year later. Slashers have continued to go from strength to strength since then and last October saw them picking up their sixth successive Droplink Senior Championship title in the O’Farrell County.

Yet undoubtedly the crowning glory for the club in modern times was their triumph over Mullinahone in the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship final of 2022. The first All-Ireland Ladies Club Final to be played at Croke Park – it was followed by a senior showdown between Kilkerrin-Clonberne and Donaghmoyne on the same day – Longford Slashers defeated their Tipperary counterparts on a score of 4-11 to 2-8 with O’Brien producing a typically committed performance in defence.

“It’s probably the biggest highlight, it was amazing. Playing in Croke Park is where every player wants to be, up on the big stage. Especially with family around you. A football team are probably some of the closest people in your life. Winning a massive thing like that is huge.

“It was very, very special. The year before we were so disappointed having lost the Leinster final, but I think winning the All-Ireland in Croke Park definitely made up for any sort of disappointment.

“It took us a while to get out of Junior. We were a very, very young team. Then when we won the Junior, at that stage we were knocking on the door for so long. We were playing division one football while playing Junior, it was nearly in our heads. Once we got over that hurdle, we knew we could push on and we did.”

Away from football, O’Brien has a busy job working as a medical scientist at St James’s Hospital in Dublin – a role she has held for the past three years.

Working and living in the capital means she has to commute up and down to inter-county training on a regular basis. However, with a number of others on the panel in the same boat, O’Brien doesn’t have any trouble striking a balance between her job and her commitments to Longford.

“There’s a good few in college who are based either in Dublin or Maynooth. There is a few in Galway as well, I think, but there’s a few of us working in Dublin. There is a good few commuting up and down,” O’Brien added.

“I love my job. I’m lucky with the lab I work in. I’m working microbiology, I work mostly routine hours. For weekend shifts, there is less staff on. It’s easier to change it, so it does work well for football. I can get off for games and training. Longford luckily is not too far away. It’s an hour and a half each way in the car.

“Thankfully James’s is on the N4. I head straight down from work if I’m working, so it’s not the worst. Luckily I’m from the town, so we normally train near enough there. I can go home and get a bit to eat before I head down to the pitch and then come back up that night. It’s not too bad. I’m close enough that I can still do that.”