Football

GAA: Ladies Football: Review of 2018

16 September 2018: Chloe McCaffrey of Tyrone in action against Orlagh Lally of Meath during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Intermediate Championship Final match between Meath and Tyrone at Croke Park, Dublin. Picture by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile.
16 September 2018: Chloe McCaffrey of Tyrone in action against Orlagh Lally of Meath during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Intermediate Championship Final match between Meath and Tyrone at Croke Park, Dublin. Picture by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile. 16 September 2018: Chloe McCaffrey of Tyrone in action against Orlagh Lally of Meath during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Intermediate Championship Final match between Meath and Tyrone at Croke Park, Dublin. Picture by Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile.

TYRONE’S All-Ireland Intermediate Championship success was the main highlight of the year for Ulster teams as we close the book on the 2018 season.

In all, five national titles came to the province in 2018, including three that reside in the one county, two All Stars and a Players’ Player of the Year Award.

Donegal’s Treasa Doherty and Tyrone’s Neamh Woods received All Stars at the Ladies All Stars Awards banquet earlier this month with Woods, who captained Tyrone to that All-Ireland Intermediate Championship crown, deservedly receiving the Intermediate Players’ Player of the Year award too, as voted by the other intermediate players in the country.

Doherty and Woods were just two of 11 players from the province who were nominated for an All Star award; the Donegal player named at corner back while Woods was selected at midfield.

Three All-Ireland titles came to Cavan this year – all at underage level. Loreto Cavan rewrote the history books for the second time in less than a week back in April when they completed an historic All-Ireland schools double wining the senior and junior ‘A’ championships – with 15 of the school’s students pocketing two All-Ireland medals in 2018. The third All-Ireland title to come to Cavan this year was in the form of the Under 14 ‘A’ Championship with the Breffni County triumphing over Dublin in the final.

Sticking with underage All-Ireland success and back at the beginning of the year, the first piece of national silverware was won by the Ulster schools’ interprovincial team, who retained their title back at the end of January.

There was also success for the third level colleges at O’Connor Cup weekend with four titles coming to the province.

Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University Jordanstown won the O’Connor Shield and Lynch Cup respectively with St Mary’s University College Belfast and Ulster University Coleraine following in their victorious footsteps to take home the Moynihan and Lagan Cups as well.

The first half of the year was all about the league and unfortunately there were no Ulster league champions. Cavan came closest losing out to Tipperary in the Division Two final back in May.

In Division One, Monaghan did enough to ensure they remained a top tier league side for a 27th season but they did struggle with just two victories from seven. Donegal narrowly missed out on a semi-final berth while Dublin claimed their first division one national league title beating Mayo in a repeat of the 2017 All-Ireland final.

Cavan suffered Division Two final heartache for a second successive year as Tipperary edged them controversially in this final. Trailing by a point with 20 seconds left on the countdown clock it looked like Cavan had been awarded an penalty but after consulting with his umpires, the referee changed his mind and instead hopped the ball. Tipperary won possession, and a free, and with that time ran out. Armagh reached the semi-finals of Division Two losing out to Tipperary while Tyrone missed out on the knockout place.

In Division Three, Down reached the semi-finals – quite a turnaround from 12 months previous when they just avoided relegation – but lost to finalists Meath, who were beaten by Wexford, while in Division Four, Antrim qualified for the last four but lost to eventual champions Wicklow while Fermanagh missed out and Derry finished just above bottom placed Kilkenny in the table.

And in the midst of the league, eight Ulster players were among a 41-strong TG4 Ladies Football All-Stars party, who arrived in Bangkok in mid-March, for the eighth LGFA All-Star tour. The Monaghan trio of Sharon Courtney and sisters Aoife and Ciara McAnespie along with Donegal’s Karen Gurthrie were part of the 2016 All-Stars team while Donegal sisters Ciara and Niamh Hegarty and Armagh’s Aimee Mackin, who won All-Stars in 2017 lined out with that team along with nominee Cavan’s Aisling Doonan. The 2016 All Star team earned the bragging rights after a one point, 7-19 to 7-18, win over their 2017 counterparts.

Marking the end of the leagues, 16 players from eight of the province’s counties were recognised across the four Lidl National Football League divisions on the 2018 Teams of the Leagues.

Attentions turned to the championship in June with the first piece of provincial silverware contested between Antrim and Derry for Ulster junior honours. And it was the Oak Leaf County that turned in a super display to land their first Ulster junior title in 10 years winning 3-15 to 1-14.

Tyrone claimed a hat-trick of Ulster intermediate titles with ease defeating Down 6-22 to 1-7 in the final. They overcame the Mourne ladies in the previous round and the sides met again in the July decider with Down defeating Fermanagh in the other semi.

Donegal won back-to-back Ulster titles and a second in three years with a resounding defeat of Armagh in the final in Brewster Park, Enniskillen.

Maxi Curran’s side were rampant scoring 9-21 with hat-tricks for both Yvonne Bonner and Geraldine McLaughlin. Armagh, appearing in their first final since 2014, will have been disappointed with how the game panned out, although they did score 4-8, but it wouldn’t be the last time the sides would meet this summer.

The provincial under-age competitions saw Cavan win the minor A championship along with the under 14 A championship, that team going on to win the All-Ireland title. Antrim’s under 18 and under 14 team won the minor B and under 14 B Ulster titles with Donegal claiming the under 16 A crown and Armagh the B title.

The All-Ireland series this year took on new look format with the senior teams divided into four groups of three and the winners and runners-up of each group progressing to the knockout stages while the bottom teams would enter relegation playoffs.

In Group One, Donegal finished top of their table with wins over Kerry and Tipperary and they set up a quarter-final with Armagh, who finished second in group two behind Cork and above Monaghan.

With Cavan suffering defeats to Dublin and Mayo in group four, they entered the relegation battle and despite defeat to Monaghan, whose victory ensured their senior status, Cavan avenged their division two league final defeat to Tipperary with victory in the playoff final to send Tipperary back to intermediate championship football for next season after just a year at the top.

Donegal and Armagh’s rematch in Healy Park was a much closer affair this time although the result was the same with the Ulster champions progressing to their first ever senior semi-final although they had to dig deep to eek out a 0-19 to 1-13 victory. And with hopes high of getting to an All-Ireland final they faced Cork in the semis but they came up short as goals in either half for Cork helped them to a 2-11 to 0-11 win while in the other semi-final Dublin saw off Galway to set up the final eagerly anticipate Dublin Cork final.

Tyrone breezed through the All-Ireland intermediate group stages with wins over WIcklow and Offaly followed by a quarter-final victory over Wexford. They probably faced their first real test all summer in the semi-final against Sligo when they found themselves level with their Connacht opponents going into injury time after being six points ahead. But a fist point from captain Neamh Woods and an assurance goal from Chloe McCaffrey in injury time saw them over the line to set up a final encounter with Meath.

Down and Fermanagh found themselves in the relegation battle and while the Mourne County defeated Longford to save their intermediate status, Fermanagh made an immediate return to junior football for 2019 less than 12 months after winning the All-Ireland junior title with defeats to both Offaly and Longford.

Derry having reached the All-Ireland junior final in 2017 came up short in the semi-finals against Louth who snatched victory from the jaws of defeat in a game effected by a lengthy stoppage due to an injury Louth player. When it did eventually resume with just minutes of normal time remaining and Louth trailing by two points they somehow managed to find the back of the net through Kate Flood to book their place in the final against Limerick. Antrim missed out on a place in the knockout stages, their one win coming against Kilkenny in the group stages not enough after defeats to Louth and London.

The 2018 All-Ireland Senior Championship final featured Dublin and Cork for the fourth time in five years with Dublin finally getting the better of Cork for the first time and in doing so, won back-to-back Brendan Martin Cups.Dublin captain, Sinéad Aherne, was the game's top scorer with 1-7 while Carla Rowe scored a goal in each half as Mick Bohan’s side ran out 3-11 to 1-12 winners. Cork’s top scorer was Orla Finn who scored 0-8 from free kicks.

The game was played in front of another record breaking attendance at Croke Park, for the second successive year, this time surpassing the 50,000 mark as a total of 50,141 - an increase of almost 4,000 - went through the turnstiles on Ladies All-Ireland Finals Day back in September.

The day started off with an All-Ireland junior championship title for Limerick who defeated Louth 5-6 to 0-8 to claim their second West County Hotel Cup after their 2010 victory. In between the junior and senior final, Croke Park was a happier hunting ground for Tyrone in 2018 compared to 12 months later when they finally were able to make their return to senior championship football with that emphatic 6-8 to 1-14 win over Meath with captain Neamh Woods, who scored a goal in each half, picking up the player-of-the-match award.

Dublin’s championship achievements saw them collect seven All Star gongs including a seventh for captain Sinéad Aherne and her third in-a-row while there was a sixth in seven years for right-half-back Sinéad Goldrick. All-Ireland finalists Cork picked up four awards in total; their captain Ciara O’Sullivan became a four-time winner with her sister Doireann O’Sullivan collecting her first. The remainder of the team was made up one each from Galway, Kerry and our Ulster duo. Aherne received the Senior Players’ Player of the Year award with Louth’s Kate Flood getting the nod for the junior award.

The club championships bring down the curtain on the season and with the inter-county scene over by mid September the provincial club championship took centre place.

Donaghmoyne regained their place at the top winning back the Ulster senior club title and bringing their haul to 11 in 14 years with defeat of Glenfin in the final. Another Monaghan champion, Emmet Og, - an amalgamation of Eire Og and Aghabog – surpassed all expectations claiming not just their county title but a first ever Ulster title defeating Kinawley in the final. They made it all the way to the All-Ireland intermediate club final but lost out to Clontarf just a few weeks’ ago. It wasn’t the ending they were hoping for but as manager Gerry Treanor pointed out afterwards, “We’re still the second best team in Ireland. That’s not too bad.”

It was a first Ulster title too for Tyrone side Trillick who took junior honours defeating Cavan champions Lavey in the final before bowing out to eventual champions Glanmire from Cork in the All-Ireland semi-final.

Donaghmoyne lost to Foxrock-Cabinteely, the Dublin and Leinster champions, in the All-Ireland senior club semi-final going down to a last gasp goal.

Two of the three All-Ireland club titles will reside in Cork for the next year – Glanmire with the junior cup while Mourneabbey became the first club team across all codes to win All-Ireland junior, intermediate and senior titles when they finally landed the Dolores Tyrell Cup with victory over Foxrock-Cabinteely. They put the heartbreak of three final defeats in the last four seasons - 2014, 2015 and 2017 - behind them with a 1-13 to 1-7 win leading the game from start to finish.

And last but not least, Down side Bredagh won their second Ulster minor club title in three years with an extra-time 4-12 to 5-7 victory over Cavan’s Lough Oughter Gaels in the final Ulster game of the year less than two weeks’ ago to bring the curtain down on the 2018 ladies football season.

Off the field of play and the LGFA is working hard along with other sporting bodies and partnerships to increase the visibility of women’s sport in Ireland.

Launched earlier this year and entitled ‘20×20’, the initiative is about creating a cultural shift in the perception of girls and women in sport. The name of the initiative is shorthand for 20% by 2020 and its targets are to see a 20% more media coverage of women in sport by the end of 2020, 20% more female participation whether at player, coach, referee or administration level by the end of 2020 and 20% more attendance at women’s games and events by the end of 2020.