TG4 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship final: Cork v Dublin (Sunday, Croke Park, 4pm, live on TG4)
DUBLIN manager Gregory McGonigle is hoping to lead his charges to All-Ireland glory on Sunday and deny defending champions Cork what would be an incredible fifth consecutive Brendan Martin and an equally impressive 10th title in 11 years.
The Derry native, has not had the best of records in Croke Park against Cork, losing out to the Rebelettes in both 2011 and 2013 when he was manager of Monaghan and that unforgettable, or forgettable perhaps from his point of view, All-Ireland Final 12 months ago when Dublin, with 20 minutes remaining, saw a 10 point lead overturned by Cork to snatch an unlikely victory from the jaws of defeat by the minimum of margins.
However, as McGonigle himself says, there are worse things that can happen in life than losing an All-Ireland final and he believes his team is clicking now at the right time of the season.
“There are worse things that can happen than to lose an All-Ireland final,” said McGonigle. “I am just delighted to be in charge and manage a brilliant team to an All-Ireland final. I would be delighted to get the team over the line and hopefully I can and I would be especially delighted for the players and their family members because these players have put in so much effort.
“I think the atmosphere is more relaxed this time around, even within myself too. Last year, we played very well all year while this year has had its ups and downs and while we didn’t necessarily struggle for form, we had injuries, exams, colleges football and helping the younger players make that step up and transition from minor football to senior football.
“I think things only started to click about three weeks before the Monaghan All-Ireland quarter-final game and to be honest we never really panicked much before that point and while we were not as good as we would have liked to have been against Monaghan, we got the result we needed. And then against Armagh, I think it is the first time, over the two years I have been here, that we executed our game plan as clinically, as in the players stuck to their tasks.”
This is a very different Dublin team from the one that experienced total heartache at the final whistle against Cork last year. There have been significant changes in personnel and, as McGonigle says, you cannot really compare the 2014 side and 2015 side to establish if Dublin are in a better place this time around.
He explains: “Some of the girls have had the benefit of playing in last year’s All-Ireland final, but for some this is a new experience. I have been talking about this all year and we are still very much a team in transition. We have lost 12 players from last year, 16 of our squad are under 21 players, so we are a very young team and there are both positives and negative in regards to experience from that.”
McGonigle too points to his side’s strength in depth and believes the bench could have a big say on the result come 6pm on Sunday evening. He feels too that Cork’s bench are equally as strong whichever bench can make the bigger impact will be crucial in the location of the Brendan Martin Cup for the next 12 months.
"Both teams have strong benches and can make an impact. It’s a tough call trying to pick a starting 15, probably the hardest team I have ever had to pick for an All-Ireland final,” he said.
Cork seem to be a much stronger side this year compared to last and will be favourites to retain that piece of silverware that seems to have permanent residency on the River Lee. Eamonn O’Ryan has opted to stick with the starting 15 that dispatched Kerry in the semi-final last month with four players making their starting debuts in Croke Park including Aisling Barrett, Marie Ambrose, Aine T O’Sullivan and Aisling Hutchings.
TG4 All-Ireland Junior Ladies' Football Championship final: Louth v Scotland (Sunday, Croke Park, 11.45am, live on TG4)
THERE may not be any Ulster team in this year’s TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship Final on Sunday but there will certainly be a lot of local support for the 10 ex-pats who will dawn the navy, purple and white colours of their adopted county Scotland to take on Louth in the first of three games at Croke Park.
One of those is former St Brigid’s GAC, Belfast, player Helen Ward (née Keenan), who admits that while they never dreamed of getting to this final stage when they started out on their inaugural inter-county season, they now have the belief that anything is possible and they are determined to show they are certainly not just going to make up the numbers against a highly-fancied Louth side.
“Reaching an All-Ireland final is incredible. I still don't think it has hit me really. It's the dream of anyone who plays the sport and we really feel honoured to be given the opportunity,” said the corner forward.
“This is obviously our first year entered in to the competition and if anything we thought it would be a great chance to play competitive matches to prepare for our British Club Championship - we never dreamed we'd get this far. We continue to surprise ourselves.”
Scotland suffered a heavy defeat to Louth in round one of the All-Ireland series, but bounced back with a superb win over Derry in the semi-finals to get another chance at the Leinster champions, who by contrast have eased to this decider.
Ward is joined by another Saffron, full-back Bronagh Hegarty, on the squad, along with
Donegal quartet Olive McCafferty, Karen Feeney, Angie Callaghan and Annette Loyd, Tyrone’s Shauna McWilliams, Monaghan’s Laura Sherry, Siobhan Reynolds from Cavan and Fermanagh’s Katie Mohan.
For Ward, Sunday will be a real family affair – her husband Alan, a Roscommon man, is the team manager and their young daughter Molly is the team’s mascot – and it is very much a case that you do not see one without the seeing the other two!
Ward only took up football when she was 18, playing for St Brigid’s before moving to Edinburgh to study at Queen Margaret University some eight years ago now where she joined the university Gaelic team. It was at university where she met her now husband, who was also her coach back then. Deciding then to stay on in the Scottish capital, she now plays her club football with Dunedin Connollys, of which Alan is chairman and also plays for the men’s team too. And while some might wonder what it is like to play under the same man who is also your husband, for Ward, “it's pretty normal for us” although she does admit, it has it's moments, “but if anything it makes me work harder to prove myself.”
Balancing working in a nursery, with a young family and playing football is not easy when just one parent is involved, never mind two, but it just proves that women can indeed multi-task! And being away from home too makes it that more difficult, but as Ward says, football is that link to family life when you are not at home.
“It is difficult to balance family life, work and football - but we decided, while she was little enough, we'd give it a go. It hasn't always been easy but she's there at every training session strapped to her daddy's chest - thank goodness for baby carriers! If she doesn't turn out a great footballer I'll be very surprised!
“Playing football in Edinburgh is more than just a hobby, it's that link to home when you are away from home and it's where we've made most of our friends and Molly has become our little mascot.”
TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Ladies' Football Championship final: Waterford v Kildare (Sunday, Croke Park, 1.45pm live on TG4)
WATERFORD have been the out-and-out favourites for this year’s TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship title since the beginning of the season and it will take a top drawer performance from Kildare if they to be denied the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup.
Incidentally, this clash between the two counties is a repeat of the recent Camogie All-Ireland Intermediate Final, which Waterford won.
This is the Munster side’s third final since 2010 and they are hoping it is a case of third time lucky having been denied a return to senior football by two Ulster sides - Donegal in 2010 and Armagh in 2012.
Waterford clinched their seventh Munster title in a row back in early summer defeating Tipperary before dispatching Sligo and Leitrim in the All-Ireland series. They have numerous players of note including McGrath sisters Karen and Michelle in defence, Wall sisters Linda and Mairead and impressive forwards Sinead and Michelle Ryan, Shauna Dunphy, Aileen Wall to name but a few.
Kildare are hoping for an immediate return back to the senior ranks after their re-grading down to the middle tier for this year, winning the Leinster Championship defeating Offaly and blitzing a trail to the decider, where unarguably the best two intermediate teams will prepare to lock horns. This is their first final appearance since 2004 when they won the Junior Championship title defeating Sligo in the decider.
In their All-Ireland semi-final win over Offaly, they found the back of the net five times, with Eadaoin Connolly grabbing a hat-trick.
