Ulster Club Ladies’ SFC final
Bredagh (Down) v Clann Eireann (Armagh) (Sunday, O’Neill’s Healy Park, 2.30pm)
THERE will be a new team at the top of the tree in Ulster ladies’ club football with this novel final pairing of Bredagh and Clann Eireann.
Down champions Bredagh have been here before, however, this is their second final in three years. They lost to Donaghmoyne after a replay in 2021, a game they could have won first day out.
Last year their Ulster campaign ended at the first hurdle against Moneyglass and after capturing their 10th Down title and their sixth in-a-row this year, their attentions immediately turned to Ulster.
Mark Doran’s side have been impressive on their way to this final with victories over Kinawley (4-11 to 0-5) and Errigal Ciaran (4-8 to 1-8) with captain Eilish Ward and Viv McCormack in fine goalscoring form.
Bredagh’s dominance of ladies’ football in Down over the last decade has stemmed from continuity and seeing their conveyor belt of underage players successfully make the transition from minor to the senior team and they have gone from strength to strength.
Aislinn McFarland plies her trade for Antrim, Orla and Laoise Duffy, Aoife Laverty and Vivienne McCormick are all key members of the All-Ireland junior winning Down team.
They will have learned a lot from their last Ulster final appearance, and indeed from all their past outings in the competition and will hope to use that advantage over Clann Eireann to land them a first Ulster senior club title. Clann Eireann are in new, but ultimately exciting, territory.
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Bredagh's Eva Hicks doesn't want any regrets after Ulster final showdown with Clann Eireann
They retained their Armagh title with victory over Carrickcruppen in the final before seeing off Drumlane in the Ulster quarter-finals and then Moneyglass, last year’s beaten finalists, in the semi-finals.
It was the first time since 2017 that Clann Eireann had reached the last four of the competition, having struggled in previous provincial championships.
Under new Armagh manager Gregory McGonigle this year, Clann Eireann seem to have found another gear and it showed in the semi-final last day out.
They, like their opponents have a good mix of experience and youth. Niamh Henderson captains a side that has the inter-county experience of Orchard stars Clodagh McCambridge, Cait Towe, Niamh Coleman and Tiarna Grimes as well as Catherine Lawless, Grainne Carville, Dearbhla Coleman and Aoibhinn Henderson, while Aoibhinn Donohue, Niamh Murray and Eimear McConaghy are exciting young forwards.
This final has all the makings of a real tight battle between two sides who are on the verge of creating yet more history on this Ulster finals day. Only a brave one will call it.
