ROYAL REDEMPTION: Cleary Eyes Long-Awaited Leinster Crown

By Daire Walsh

Whereas there wasn’t a huge sense of familiarity with the venue when she first joined the panel in 2016, Aoibhin Cleary and a plethora of her Meath team-mates are now well accustomed to big outings in Croke Park.

Although Megan Thynne featured for the county at the ground in a drawn All-Ireland intermediate camogie championship decider against Cork in September 2017, it wasn’t until the following year’s All-Ireland intermediate final showdown with Tyrone that the Meath ladies footballer first lined out in GAA HQ.

Cleary started that game and has also been a part of the Royals starting line-up for the 10 encounters they have played on Jones’ Road since then. This has included three All-Ireland successes (two senior and one intermediate) as well as Lidl National Football League Division 1 and Division showpiece victories.

She was also part of the Meath team that faced Dublin in Leinster LGFA senior championship finals in 2022 and 2024, and will now lead out her native county as captain for their latest top-tier provincial final against the Jackies in Croke Park.

“Back when I would have started and the first time the team got to Croke Park at that time was the 2018 All-Ireland, intermediate All-Ireland against Tyrone. At that time it was huge. I suppose growing up, it was something that was a dream of a lot of ours. A lot of time it didn’t seem really attainable. When it did come to it, it was a massive occasion,” Cleary acknowledged.

“I suppose now as the years have gone on, there’s a couple of players who have played there numerous times. Especially across 2020, 2021, 2022 and then there’s still some players that are on the panel now this year who have never played there yet either. It is a special place to play and it’s a huge prize.

“The Leinster championship, getting to play the Leinster final in Croke Park and hoping lifting it as we never have before. It’s definitely a huge prize to get to Croke Park. It’s always such an honour to get to play there.”

As Cleary alludes to, a Leinster senior title is the one piece of silverware that the current crop of Meath footballers are yet to get their hands on. The Donaghmore/Ashbourne did kick a point when the Royals defeated Wexford to secure the Leinster intermediate football championship at Netwatch Cullen Park on July 10, 2017, but since returning to provincial senior action in 2022, Cleary and Meath have suffered three consecutive final defeats to Dublin.

The Royals had previously enjoyed considerable success in to the top-tier of the Leinster LGFA, winning four senior titles on the bounce from 1997 to 2000. Understandably, Cleary would dearly love to end their 25-year barren spell in Croke Park later today against a Dublin side that are searching for a 12th Leinster senior crown in-a-row.

“Leinster is one thing we have been chasing for a few years now and haven’t managed to get our hands on yet. It’s definitely a big aim for us this year. Getting to the Leinster final and then hopefully eventually getting up those steps to lift it.”

Of course, as back-to-back winners from the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship in 2021 and 2022, Meath’s ambitions for 2025 will extend beyond the provincial series. Having gotten the better of Kerry to retain the Brendan Martin Cup three years ago, the Royals saw their All-Ireland SFC campaigns ending in quarter-final defeats to the Kingdom in the past two seasons.

Should Meath triumphed in GAA HQ later today, they will enter Group 4 of the All-Ireland senior championship along with the runners-up from the forthcoming Munster final and Leitrim. If they come out on the wrong side of the result this afternoon, they will join the victors of yesterday’s Ulster final at St Tiernach’s Park in Clones and Kildare – who the Royals defeated by a single point in the provincial championship at Cedral St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge last weekend – in Group 3.

“I suppose our last two seasons we’ve finished disappointed, losing out to Kerry in the quarter-final both years. We 100% want to push on further than that,” Cleary added.

“That’s a good bit down the track at the minute, but we 100% want to push on and be getting to semi-finals and finals again. It’s a long way to go before we’re even looking at a potential quarter-final.”

CROKE PARK DREAMS: Carla Rowe Leads Dublin With Pride and Purpose

By Daire Walsh

It won’t be the first time for her side to grace the venue for a provincial decider, but Carla Rowe is thrilled that Dublin are back in Croke Park for today’s TG4 Leinster LGFA Senior Championship final against Meath.

Back on May 28, 2022, a Hannah Tyrrell goal from a penalty proved crucial in guiding the Jackies towards a 1-7 to 1-5 provincial showpiece victory at the expense of Meath in GAA HQ. While Rowe didn’t feature in that game, she registered an impressive haul of 1-3 when she captained Dublin to another Leinster final win over the Royal County in Croke Park on May 12 of last year.

Both of the above games were part of double headers with provincial men’s football finals in north Dublin and while Laois Hire O’Moore Park in Portlaoise hosted a similar affair between the same two teams in 2023, today’s Leinster LGFA spectacle will share the same billing as the much-discussed clash of Louth and Meath for the Delaney Cup.

“I think it’s a great idea, I think it’s good. The more games we can get in those big venues and make a big deal of it, and get crowds behind us, it’s fantastic. It’s great for us on the pitch. It’s great for our families, who obviously give up so much supporting us,” Rowe said.

“It’s also really good for those supporters who come out all the time. Young girls and young boys who are seeing the sport and hopefully it will be a really good spectacle.”

After serving as co-captain of the team with Niamh Collins in 2022, Rowe was made standalone skipper of Dublin a year later. Having watched on when her team-mate Sinead Aherne climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand in Croke Park to collect the Brendan Martin Cup for four years in succession from 2017 to 2020, it was the Clann Mhuire ace’s turn to lift the All-Ireland crown when the Jackies defeated Kerry on August 13, 2023.

On a day when the aforementioned Tyrrell kicked eight points in a superb first-half display, Rowe helped herself to an impressive tally of 0-4 in the second period as Dublin claimed a 0-18 to 1-10 win at the expense of the Kingdom. Unsurprisingly, captaining her county to victory in this game remained the proudest moment of her football career thus far.

“It always brings a smile to my face. Always something that you want to chase after. Being able to give that feeling to young girls is something that drives us older girls and certainly drives me on.

“I want any of the young girls who are in our squad, who work so hard and put effort in, to be able to just feel that feeling. Because that’s what pushes you in the darker days of losses or winter, or hard training. Definitely the goal for this year, but we’ll take it step by step. We won’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”

Whereas Mick Bohan was at the helm for the five TG4 All-Ireland SFC titles that she has won as a Dublin player, 2025 finds Rowe playing under the joint-management team of Paul Casey and Derek Murray.

The star attacker was already familiar with this duo, given Casey first joined Bohan’s backroom set-up as a selector in 2018 before Murray was also added to the mix four years later.

While the fact that the county’s new managers were heavily involved with the squad before this year is a help, Rowe’s time on the inter-county scene pre-dated Bohan’s eight-season stint with the Jackies.

The school teacher at Balbriggan Community College was handed her Dublin senior debut by Greg McGonigle in 2014 and featured under the Derry native in three consecutive All-Ireland finals at Croke Park. All three of these games ended in defeat to Cork, before Bohan eventually guided the Jackies to their second Brendan Martin Cup crown – and their first in seven years – in 2017.

“There’s loads of change. It’s really fresh, huge energy. Obviously a lot of the girls would know Derek and Paul, and we’d really, really respect the two lads. That just brings a freshness and a new energy to training,” Rowe added.

“Once it continues on an upward trajectory and once we can continue pushing and progressing, that’s what we want and that’s what the lads want from us at the end of the day. Mick was obviously a one of a kind manager and so, so successful. Every manager brings different things.

“Greg obviously got us to three All-Ireland finals and we just couldn’t get over the line. Mick got us over the line on numerous occasions. You’ll always have those people to be grateful for along the way. It’s great to be able to have a mix and match of different styles of management, and be able to adapt and change.”

LEINSTER LGFA PRESIDENT EMPHASISES UNITY, HERITAGE AND GRASSROOTS SUPPORT

By DAIRE WALSH

There was a proud moment for Arthur Corrigan on January 18 of this year when the Kildare native was announced as the new President of the Leinster Ladies Gaelic Football Association at their 2025 Convention in The Grand Hotel in Moate, Co. Westmeath.

Having previously held a number of positions within the association, Corrigan has now assumed the provincial reins from Trina Murray – who took over from Mícheál Naughton as National President of the LGFA at an Annual Congress held at The Clanree Hotel in Letterkenny at the beginning of March.

On the day of his inauguration in Moate (the hometown of the aforementioned Murray), Corrigan was joined by his wife and three daughters. As he explains, family has always been at the heart of his involvement in the LGFA.

“They’ve all played a part and even in my inauguration piece, even though I don’t remember it all! Growing up all the years, I started in club and one of my daughters was playing. Then there was the jersey washing and there was all of that. Then it was moving onto gates and programmes. Folding programmes and getting ready, all the little jobs,” Corrigan said.

“Folding jerseys, getting jerseys into bags in the right order, while they were learning their numbers. Little memories like that and they remember them as well. It has always been a part of the family.

“They’ve grown up being reared on sport as well. Coming from Kildare we’re covered with sport. Be it football, hurling and camogie, racing. Any sport at all and I’ve played quite a few of them too. I’ve been lucky enough.”

After being approached at a birthday party around the turn of the 21st century about the possibility of getting involved, Corrigan became heavily invested in the LGFA section of his local club Naas.

Eager for those within the club to receive as much playing time as possible, he got in touch with the Kildare county board to see what could be done. From there, he helped those within the Kildare LGFA to ensure the sport remained vibrant in the county and he subsequently found himself occupying a number of positions – including that of county chairperson.

“My club is Naas. It was up and running [ladies football], but it was hit and miss. There wasn’t enough numbers, but we got in at the time when numbers began to start and it suddenly began to become cool for girls to be playing football and they were beginning to play it in the schools and everything like that.

“From there you’re looking to see, okay we need matches for these girls that we’re training. So how do we get matches? Then we found out about the county board. You go to a county board and there was only six or seven people trying to keep everything going. Fixtures were hit and miss.

“My ethos has always been ‘don’t give out, help out’. People are always giving out ‘oh, we can’t get fixtures’. Well my ethos is ‘get involved, see what I can do to help’. It started from there. I helped with fixtures, helped with registration, took on many roles and eventually was county chairperson then as well.”

Over the course of his time as Leinster LGFA President, there are a number of key areas that Corrigan – who will present a provincial title to the winner of today’s final between Dublin and Meath – will be looking to focus on. Perhaps the biggest topic on the agenda over the next few years is the planned integration of the GAA, the LGFA and the Camogie Association, and Corrigan believes it is important that his association maintains a strong identity during this transition.

“The one big caveat that is sitting out there is integration and how that is going to work. We’re not quite sure yet, there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes. It will come to a provincial and county level. We hear a lot about the one club model and all the codes within the clubs working together. Trying to get that to work,” Corrigan added.

“How’s that going to look then when it comes to provincial or even the county level as well. So we’re going to have to work on that and make sure that the most important thing is ladies football don’t lose their identity. We’re all moving into a new GAA and that’s the most important thing for the girls playing everywhere.

“It’s not just the inter-county, it’s the club members as well. That’s the most important piece. Development is a passion of mine as well, so we’ll work with the development team as well. That we go to all the counties and we find what are their challenges. Try and learn some of the things that they can share maybe with others that are tackling something that they’ve already done. It’s just to spread the word a little bit more.”

Dublin finish strongly to make it 12 in a row in Leinster

TG4 Leinster Senior Football Championship Final

Dublin 2-13

Meath 1-12

By Daire Walsh

Dublin produced a stirring final quarter display at Croke Park on Sunday afternoon to hold off a strong challenge from Meath and claim their 12th consecutive TG4 Leinster Senior Football Championship title.

Four points adrift in a game that took place as part of a double-header with the Leinster men’s decider featuring Meath and Louth in GAA HQ, Dublin registered an unanswered haul of 0-8 in the closing 15 minutes to keep a firm grip on the provincial prize.

Supplementing a brace of scores from Emma Duggan, Vikki Wall, Marion Farrelly and Ciara Smyth all found the target as Shane McCormack’s Meath pulled five points clear in a blistering start to the contest.

Yet Dublin finally got up and running through the reliable Hannah Tyrrell just shy of the first quarter mark and while Meath responded with a brace of successful Duggan frees, Tyrrell had Dublin back in contention when she rattled the net off her right foot on 21 minutes.

In fact, after a second goal from Eilish O’Dowd followed traded scores between Wall and Caoimhe O’Connor, raiding corner-back Niamh Donlon kicked an excellent 29th minute point to hand the Jackies a slender 2-3 to 0-8 interval cushion.

Dublin introduced Carla Rowe and Kate Sullivan on the resumption to join first half substitute Sinead Goldrick, but it was Meath who made the bright start to the second period as Niamh Gallogly smashed home a superb 32nd minute goal. Although Niamh Hetherton and Sullivan did find the range at the opposite end, a Duggan point from play in between these efforts ensured the Royals were in the ascendancy.

The dynamic Dunboyne duo of Duggan and Wall were dovetailing to excellent effect and they combined for three points to help the Royals establish a 1-12 to 2-5 buffer moving into the final-quarter.

However, Dublin were determined to hold onto their provincial crown and after Tyrrell kicked three points on the bounce, Rowe restored parity from a free on the stroke of 50 minutes.

The momentum was now suddenly with the Jackies once again and thanks to successive points from play by Hetherton, Goldrick, Rowe and Sullivan, they pushed on to retain their title.

Scorers – Dublin: H Tyrrell 1-4 (0-2f), E O’Dowd 1-0, N Hetherton, K Sullivan 0-2 each, C Rowe 0-2 (1f), N Donlon, C O’Connor, S Goldrick 0-1 each.

Meath: E Duggan 0-7 (5f), V Wall 0-3 (1f), N Gallogly 1-0, M Farrelly, C Smyth 0-1 each.

DUBLIN: A Shiels; J Tobin, L Caffrey, N Donlon; H McGinnis, M Byrne, L Magee; E O’Dowd, G Kos; C O’Connor, C Darby, S McIntyre; H Tyrrell, N Hetherton, A Timothy. Subs: S Goldrick for McGinnis (19), K Sullivan for Darby, C Rowe for Timothy (both h-t), N Crowley for Donlon (41), R McDonnell for McIntyre (60).

MEATH: R Murray; A Sheridan, MK Lynch, K Newe; A Cleary, S Wall, K Kealy; O Sheehy, M Farrelly; M Thynne, N Gallogly, C Smyth; E Duggan, V Wall, K Cole. Subs: K Bermingham for Farrelly (20), E Moyles for Smyth (45), M Collins for Cole (54).

 Referee: Barry Redmond (Wexford).

Donegal’s Niamh Carr is looking forward to an Ulster final showdown against Armagh

By Daire Walsh

They have had a long wait since the end of their Lidl National Football League Division 2 campaign, but Niamh Carr and Donegal will finally return to competitive action at St Tiernach’s Park in Clones later on today.

A little under six weeks on from finishing their NFL journey for 2025 with a narrow defeat to Cork in Ballyshannon, the O’Donnell County will face Armagh in the TG4 Ulster Senior Championship decider in the Monaghan venue this afternoon (throw-in 3pm). Originally due to take place next weekend, this fixture was brought forward to form a double-header with the Ulster men’s final featuring the same two counties in Clones.

The anticipation is that a total of 29,000 spectators (i.e. a full capacity crowd) will pass through the turnstiles of St Tiernach’s Park over the course of the day. Having witnessed first-hand the impact a joint billing can have for the female code, Carr is hopeful there will be a healthy attendance for their curtain-raising clash with the Orchard County.

“It has been a long enough spell between the last league game and the Ulster final. We kind of knew that at the start of the year. It was nice to get a good enough finish to the league and we’ve been working very hard. Trying to get challenge games in when we can, to keep up our match skills,” Carr explained.

“We’ve had a few double headers before, but we haven’t had one for an Ulster final. We definitely have noticed with the double headers that it does bring a bigger crowd in.

“During the league as well, a lot of games fell on the same day for the Donegal ladies and the Donegal men. I suppose crowds weren’t able to get to both games, so it’s nice that now the whole county can get together and support both teams.”

The reason Donegal have been idle since the end of their league odyssey on March 30 is that themselves and Armagh are the only two sides in the top-tier of the northern province. This was also the case last year and while Cavan were part of the competition in 2023, today’s teams also met in that season’s Ulster senior showpiece.

While Armagh were favourites to prevail on that day in Owenbeg, Carr and Donegal pulled out all the stops to earn a 1-10 to 0-9 victory. 12 months later, the Orchard women were expected to turn the tables on their O’Donnell counterparts after claiming the Lidl NFL Division 1 title a matter of weeks earlier, but it took a late Niamh Reel point to secure them a 0-17 to 1-13 win after extra-time in Clones.

Although Armagh competed in another top-tier league final against Kerry in Croke Park last month, and Donegal found themselves in Division 2 of the NFL for the second successive season, Carr believes their success over the Orchard in 2023 shows that the form book often goes out the window on the day of an Ulster championship game.

“That year that we won, 2023, we were complete underdogs going into that game. That was a fantastic win that day. I think when it comes to Ulster football and when it’s a final, anything can happen. We’re looking forward to it and we’re doing everything we can to prepare ourselves the best way.”

A business, geography and IT teacher at Newpark Comprehensive School in Blackrock, Carr has been playing her club football for the past couple of years with Dublin’s Kilmacud Crokes. She has helped the Stillorgan side to win a brace of county and provincial championships since officially joining forces with them and she also featured at right corner-back when Kilmacud lost to Galway’s Kilkerrin-Clonberne in the AIB All-Ireland Club Senior Football final at Croke Park on December 14 of last year.

Whereas some of the Dublin and Galway stars who were on the display in that game gradually reintegrated back into the inter-county code, Carr made an immediate return to the Donegal panel.

She started at left half-back in their NFL Division 2 opener away to Clare on January 26 and was a virtual ever-present for the rest of the campaign.

“That was probably a decision I thought was important for me. Just because I’m getting a little bit older now and some people might like to rest their body, but for me I think it’s better for me to keep going. I think there was maybe a three-week turnaround or so from my All-Ireland final with club to when I was back in with Donegal.

“That was just a personal choice of mine. I personally don’t want to be coming in mid-league. I like being there from the start. I enjoyed the few weeks off, but I got back in straight away for the first league game. It was grand.”

While Milford – located approximately five miles from her home village of Cranford – was her original club in Donegal, it wasn’t until the age of 17 that she first lined out for them. However, she had been playing Gaelic football up to that point for Loreto Community School in Milford, where she was close friends with future Republic of Ireland women’s soccer international Amber Barrett.

Barrett’s uncle Marty was the manager of the Milford minor girls team around this time and after being asked if she would be interested in joining the club, Carr jumped at the opportunity to get involved.

“I was very good friends with Amber in school. We played together on the soccer team and the Gaelic team. Amber was telling her uncle ‘oh there’s a girl that plays some Gaelic’. It was Amber that got me into playing with Milford, to be fair. Then I played with her and we played with Donegal together then,” Carr added.

“I give her a message before every international game. To see her hard work pay off, she’s just absolutely brilliant. I tell her every day that I’m talking to her that we’re so proud of her. Any time I can, I try and catch up with her. She’s a busy woman, but she always leaves time for us as well.”