TG4 ALL-IRELAND SENIOR FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FINAL

Kerry 3-14

Galway 0-11

By Daire Walsh

Kerry joint manager Declan Quill paid tribute to the character of their squad as they secured their first TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title since 1993 after being beaten in the final for the past two seasons.

Goals from Aoife Dillane, Hannah O’Donoghue and Emma Dineen were decisive at Croke Park, while Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh struck 0-6 on a day when the Kingdom collected the Brendan Martin Cup for the 12th time in their history, moving them ahead of provincial rivals Cork at the top of the roll of honour.

“It’s unbelievable. I was here last year. There’s a massive difference in sport between winning and losing,” said Quill. “We were involved in a situation last year, not happy with our performance. Just got totally overrun by Dublin.

“The emotion now, to see all the parents, the girls celebrating. Our own kids outside on the field. Look, winning is everything as they say in sport at this level really.”

Quill said that he and joint manager Darragh Long were privileged to manage a squad that put in an enormous effort to come back and lift the TG4 All-Ireland crown after finishing runners-up for the past two years.

“It’s a team game. If you look at Hannah O’Donoghue, Lorraine Scanlon. They had to swallow not starting, but then they knew they had a job to do when they came on. They weren’t happy not starting obviously and you can use that in two different ways. You can see the girls when they came on how they used it and they put in two phenomenal performances, the two of them when they came on.

“It’s a team game, it’s a panel game. We’ve 35 girls there training non-stop. Only 20 can play and the hardest thing about management is picking a team. Leaving girls out is really, really hard. We’re very, very happy and we saved the best performance for the last day,” added Quill.

Kerry got on top in the opening half and five points without reply from Ní Mhuircheartaigh, including two excellent contributions from play, put the Munster champions firmly in the driving seat.

Galway finally responded with Roisin Leonard’s second point of the game, only for marauding defender Dillane to fire a looping shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Dearbhla Gower to push Kerry 1-8 to 0-3 in front at the break.

Olivia Divilly pointed for Galway after the restart but Mary O’Connell soon joined her midfield partner Anna Galvin on the Kingdom scoresheet.

Teenage star Niamh Divilly supplemented the earlier effort from her sister Olivia with a fine point, but Kerry remained in the driving seat when Dineen and Ní Mhuircheartaigh both raised white flags in quick succession.

Olivia Divilly did knock over a close-range free at the opposite end, but the final outcome was effectively placed beyond when, just moments after her introduction as a substitute, O’Donoghue clinically dispatched the ball to the Galway net via a Ní Mhuircheartaigh pass.

Now rampant, Kerry added a third goal through Dineen inside a final quarter that also saw O’Donoghue (two) and the evergreen Lorraine Scanlon kicking points.

Galway did find the target through Andrea Trill, Charlotte Cooney, Leonard, Olivia Divilly and Shauna Hynes during this juncture, but Daniel Moynihan’s westerners came up short in their quest for a first All-Ireland senior crown in 20 years.

“It’s disappointing. I don’t we probably played to the level we needed to beat a fantastic Kerry team,” said Moynihan. “We knew we needed to hit form. All 15 players needed to play at their best and unfortunately we didn’t.

“Leading up to the game, training wise, everything was good. Players were switched to what was required of them. It’s just one of those things. I can’t put my finger on it right now, but preparation wise we were in a good place. Game wise, we started quite well. Especially that first 15 minutes, I think we controlled a lot of the game, even though Kerry had those few scores. We weren’t converting and that was the issue,” added Moynihan.

Scorers – Kerry: L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-6 (4f), E Dineen, H O’Donoghue 1-2 each, A Dillane 1-0, M O’Connell, A Galvin, N Carmody, L Scanlon 0-1 each.

Galway: O Divilly 0-4 (2f), R Leonard 0-3 (2f), C Cooney, N Divilly, A Trill, S Hynes 0-1 each. 

KERRY: C Butler; E Lynch, K Cronin, A Dillane; A O’Connell, C Murphy, D Kearney; M O’Connell, A Galvin; N Carmody, S O’Shea, N Ní Chonchúir; D O’Leary, E Dineen, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh. Subs: H O’Donoghue for Ní Chonchúir (43), L Scanlon for Kearney (48), K Brosnan for Carmody (52), C Lynch for Dillane (54), K O’Sullivan for Ní Mhuircheartaigh (57).

GALWAY: D Gower, M Jordan, S Ní Loingsigh, K Geraghty; C Cooney, N Ward, A Ní Cheallaigh; M Glynn, A Davoren; N Divilly, L Ward, O Divilly; E Reaney, L Coen, R Leonard. Subs: A Trill for Reaney (24), E Gavin for Ní Cheallaigh, M Banek for Jordan (both 38), S Hynes for Glynn (47), A Morrissey for N Divilly (49).

Referee: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).

Fermanagh 1-11 Louth 0-12

Daire Walsh

Kerry end the famine with emphatic win in TG4 All-Ireland senior final

TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship final

Kerry 3-14

Galway 0-11

By Daire Walsh

Aoife Dillane, Hannah O’Donoghue and Emma Dineen struck goals at Croke Park on Sunday as Kerry convincingly overcame Galway to secure their first TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship title since 1993.

Veteran attacker Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh also helped herself to an impressive haul of 0-6 on a day when the Kingdom collected the Brendan Martin Cup for the 12th time in their history. This, in turn, moves them ahead of provincial rivals Cork at the top of the roll of honour for the competition.

Following early traded scores between Kerry skipper Niamh Carmody and Galway’s Roisin Leonard, the Kingdom stretched two points clear courtesy of unanswered efforts from Dineen and midfielder Anna Galvin.

While Galway brought the gap down to the bare minimum with a fine point by Olivia Divilly, Kerry were proving to be the more clinical side in front of the posts.

Thanks to five points without reply from ever-influential Corca Dhuibhne ace Ní Mhuircheartaigh, including two excellent contributions from play, the Munster champions were firmly in the driving seat.

Galway finally responded with Leonard’s second point of the game, only for marauding defender Dillane to fire a looping shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Dearbhla Gower to offer Kerry a commanding 1-8 to 0-3 buffer on the stroke of half-time.

Olivia Divilly got their Connacht counterparts underway on the restart with a fine solo point but Mary O’Connell soon joined her midfield partner Galvin on the Kingdom scoresheet.

Teenage star Niamh Divilly supplemented the earlier effort from her sister Olivia with a fine point, but Kerry remained in the driving seat when Dineen and Ní Mhuircheartaigh both raised white flags in quick succession.

Olivia Divilly did knock over a close-range free at the opposite end, but the final outcome was effectively placed beyond when, just moments after her introduction as a substitute, O’Donoghue clinically dispatched the ball to the Galway net via a Ní Mhuircheartaigh pass.

Now rampant, Kerry added a third goal through Dineen inside a final quarter that also saw O’Donoghue (two) and the evergreen Lorraine Scanlon kicking points.

Galway did find the target through Andrea Trill, Charlotte Cooney, Leonard, Olivia Divilly and Shauna Hynes during this juncture, but Daniel Moynihan’s westerners came up short in their quest for a first All-Ireland senior crown in 20 years.

Scorers – Kerry: L Ní Mhuircheartaigh 0-6 (4f), E Dineen, H O’Donoghue 1-2 each, A Dillane 1-0, M O’Connell, A Galvin, N Carmody, L Scanlon 0-1 each.

Galway: O Divilly 0-4 (2f), R Leonard 0-3 (2f), C Cooney, N Divilly, A Trill, S Hynes 0-1 each.

KERRY: C Butler; E Lynch, K Cronin, A Dillane; A O’Connell, C Murphy, D Kearney; M O’Connell, A Galvin; N Carmody, S O’Shea, N Ní Chonchúir; D O’Leary, E Dineen, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh. Subs: H O’Donoghue for Ní Chonchúir (43), L Scanlon for Kearney (48), K Brosnan for Carmody (52), C Lynch for Dillane (54), K O’Sullivan for Ní Mhuircheartaigh (57).

GALWAY: D Gower, M Jordan, S Ní Loingsigh, K Geraghty; C Cooney, N Ward, A Ní Cheallaigh; M Glynn, A Davoren; N Divilly, L Ward, O Divilly; E Reaney, L Coen, R Leonard. Subs: A Trill for Reaney (24), E Gavin for Ní Cheallaigh, M Banek for Jordan (both 38), S Hynes for Glynn (47), A Morrissey for N Divilly (49).

Referee: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).

Galway need to hit the ground running against Kerry

Daire Walsh

Ladies JFC final: Captains taking a journey into the unknown

Daire Walsh

Experience can count for a lot on the big stage, and in the form of Aine Breen and Shannan McQuade, today’s junior teams – Louth and Fermanagh – have captains that are well-acquainted with All-Ireland ladies football final day in Croke Park.

An unused substitute for their All-Ireland junior championship success over Scotland in 2015, Breen started Louth’s showpiece defeat to Limerick in the same competition at GAA HQ three years later. The St Patrick’s club star was then introduced off the bench when the Wee County overcame the challenge of a Fermanagh side that featured McQuade amongst their ranks in the 2019 junior final in the same venue.

While she was happy to be part of a wider squad effort for those 2015 and 2019 triumphs, Breen admitted captaining her side to victory against Fermanagh later on today (throw-in for the junior final at Croke Park is 11.45am) would be extra special.

“It would be a massive honour. Looking back, seeing Michelle [McMahon] in 2015 and Kate [Flood] in 2019 lifting the cup, you never really think it’s going to be you. For me to do that, it would be an absolute honour. I think to do so on behalf of the team that we have at the minute would be a dream come through essentially,” Breen acknowledged.

“I guess in 2015 and 2019 I wasn’t starting essentially, but I think it’s no different whether you’re number 1 or number 30. You still want the team to win. Of course when you’re out on the pitch and when you’re able to, in one sense, control what’s happening out there, it’s that bit special. As captain I think it’s even more special.”

Five years prior to being on the receiving end of that aforementioned defeat to Louth in 2019, McQuade lined out for Fermanagh in an All-Ireland intermediate championship reversal to Down at Croke Park. She was also a starter when the Erne side played out a thrilling draw with Antrim in the All-Ireland junior final of 2022, before coming out on the wrong side of a replayed encounter with the Saffron women at the Athletic Grounds in Armagh.

She does have a junior championship crown to her name from 2020, but that decider win over Wicklow was played out in an empty Parnell Park on Dublin’s northside at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In stark contrast to the precocious teenager who made her Croker debut all of a decade ago, McQuade now feels like a much more rounded footballer for her latest appearance in the stadium.

“The nerves probably ate me up that day [in 2014], it was my first day out. I think I was 16, 17 going onto Croke Park that day. I’m a lot older now than I was then. Hopefully lessons learnt and I’m looking forward to taking it all in on Sunday,” McQuade said.

“Fermanagh hadn’t been there in a few years and it obviously meant a lot to us [to make the 2014 final]. I think we were distracted maybe by the big occasion, but I’ll be definitely telling the other players on the team to enjoy the experience and to not let it consume you. It’s another pitch, just with a big stadium around it. Just enjoy it.”

While it is the exact same opponents as their most recent outing in Croke Park, Breen believes the fact Louth and Fermanagh haven’t met competitively since that junior final in 2019 means that both teams will arguably be taking a journey into the unknown today.

“It’s funny that we actually haven’t met each other since that final, being in different grades and that. We haven’t met in this year’s championship, we weren’t in each other’s group. I think both teams are really looking forward to it,” Breen added.

“I think just the fact we haven’t met each other, there’s probably a little bit of the unknown. Hopefully we can just bring excitement. Both teams will really go at it.”

Whereas Louth are aiming for an automatic return to the intermediate grade following their relegation at the end of the 2023 championship, this is the third year in succession that Fermanagh have been attempting to reclaim a place in ladies football’s second-tier.

Their semi-final victory at the expense of Limerick last month made amends for their loss to the Treaty outfit at the same stage of the competition in 2023, but even though they took great confidence from this game, McQuade is aware that her side will likely need to produce an even bigger display in order to overcome Louth.

“We know it’s going to be a challenge, Louth are an amazing team. They’ve had a good campaign here, they’re just down from intermediate. We’re looking forward to the challenge, but we’re not going into this thinking that we have it,” McQuade concluded.

Smyth leads the way as Fermanagh capture TG4 All-Ireland junior title for third time in eight years

TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship final

Fermanagh 1-11 

Louth 0-12

By Daire Walsh

Player of the Match Eimear Smyth struck a magnificent 1-9 against Louth at Croke Park on Sunday to propel Fermanagh towards their third TG4 All-Ireland Junior Football Championship title.

Already guaranteed the 2024 ZuCar Golden Boot award — awarded to the top-scorer across all three grades of the All-Ireland championship — in advance of this showpiece clash with an incredible haul of 7-39, Smyth once again produced the goods to secure Fermanagh’s first junior crown since 2020. While Kate Flood ended the action with 0-8 to her name, Louth fell short in their quest to claim a record-breaking fourth final victory at this grade.

Smyth and the ever-industrious Blaithin Bogue had created early daylight with unanswered points and while Flood’s routine free got Louth up and running, Smyth subsequently caught a ball ahead of Wee County netminder Rebecca Lambe Fagan before comfortably bagging a 10th minute goal.

Although CJ McGourty’s northerners twice moved five points clear with Smyth frees in the closing stages of the opening period, another place-ball effort from Flood was preceded by Niamh Rice’s impressive 0-2 salvo to leave Louth just three adrift at 1-5 to 0-5 at the interval.

An Aoife Russell score reduced this deficit to two points on the resumption, before Lambe Fagan pulled off two excellent saves from Fermanagh attacker Niamh McManus in the space of 60 seconds. McManus also rattled the post from an rebounded strike after the first of these shots was turned away.

Fermanagh did eventually reinforce their authority with Bogue and Smyth points, but the sin-binning of Ciara Clarke on the stroke of 40 minutes did come as a blow for the Erne women. By the time the Knockninny Gaels corner-back returned to the field of play, Louth had cut the gap to the bare minimum thanks to three points from Flood and a single contribution by substitute Mischa Rooney.

Smyth had split the uprights at the opposite end to ensure Fermanagh stayed in the ascendancy and she added another free to her outstanding haul before Flood did likewise on 52 minutes. Even though the latter kept Louth in contention with an eighth point, the imperious Smyth raised white flags either side of it to guide the Erne County over the line.

Scorers – Fermanagh: E Smyth 1-9 (0-6f), B Bogue 0-2.

Louth: K Flood 0-8 (7f), N Rice 0-2, A Russell, M Rooney 0-1 each.

FERMANAGH: M Maguire; C Clarke, M McGloin, E Keenan; S McQuade, C Murphy, C Bogue; B Bannon, L Maguire; D Maguire, J Doonan, A McCabe; B Bogue, E Smyth, N McManus. Subs: B Smyth for McManus (49), S Britton for D Maguire (57).

LOUTH: R Lambe Fagan; L Byrne, E Murray, E Hand; H Lambe Sally, A Breen, C Nolan; A Halligan, E Byrne; L White, A Russell, C McDonald; N Rice, K Flood, S Matthews. Subs: M Rooney for Lambe Sally (h-t), C O’Reilly for McDonald (49), R O’Connor Leonard for Russell (52), C Boyle for Matthews, K Doheny for White (both 60).

Referee: Gerard Canny (Mayo).