The 2022 currentaccount.ie All-Ireland Ladies club football champions will be crowned over the weekend with teams from five counties going in search of silverware.
On Saturday, there is a historic double-header in Croke Park with All-Ireland Ladies Club Finals being played there for the very first time.
The first game throws-in at 3pm and sees the Intermediate final between Longford Slashers taking on Tipperary's Mullinahone.
Longford Slashers will become the very first team from Longford to contest an All-Ireland Ladies club football decider – with Mullinahone making an impressive step-up from the Junior ranks to reach Saturday’s showpiece. It was just last February when Mullinahone appeared in an All-Ireland Junior where they came up short against Dublin opponents St Judes.
To recover from that Junior Final heartbreak and go all the way to an Intermediate Final just ten months later speaks volumes for the determination and character that exists within the panel. Mullinahone will certainly bring a massive hunger to Saturday's final but that will be matched by Longford Slashers, who no strangers to adversity themselves.
In their Leinster Final against Meath opponents Skryne, the Slashers conceded three early goals and looked to be in real trouble. But Slashers, extremely well-organised and hard-working, set about their task with aplomb and worked their way back into contention.
They recovered to lead by 2-8 to 3-4 at half-time and were 3-10 to 3-6 winners at full-time, with Jessica Barry accounting for 2-5 of the winning total.
Longford Slashers are unchanged for this one but Mullinahone have two changes to the team that lined out from the start against Derrygonnelly, with Rosa White and Ailish Langton listed to start ahead of Gaule and Michaela Kenneally.
Longford Slashers: E Casey; L Kenny, E Reilly, G Kenny; O Nevin, E O’Brien, C Farrell; A O’Brien, A Cosgrove (capt.); L Nolan, G Shannon, K Lee; Kate Shannon, J Barry, Kara Shannon.
Mullinahone: A Browning; E Horan, G Horan, A O’Brien; E Cody, M Walsh, J Brett (capt.); N Shelly, L Dowling; R White, L O’Shea, A O’Shea; C Gunn, A Langton, K Egan.
Next up will be the Senior Final clash between Monaghan’s five-time winners Donaghmoyne, who last won in 2016 and the current title holders Kilkerrin-Clonberne of Galway, which throws-in at 5pm.
Having suffered an agonising one-point defeat in the 2019 Final against Cork’s Mourneabbey at the TUS Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, Kilkerrin-Clonberne exacted sweet revenge last January to claim the coveted Dolores Tyrrell Memorial Cup and will do everything in their power to hold onto it.
Kilkerrin-Clonberne landed the Galway title against before securing a fifth successive Connacht crown. The team has great inter-county experience throughout, from TG4 All Star nominated goalkeeper Lisa Murphy, to Morrissey, who wore the number 15 shirt in the semi-final.
Hoping to stop them defend their title is Donaghmoyne. They captured a 20th Monaghan crown before landing a fourth Ulster title on the trot (14th in total) – and perhaps one of their most satisfying after playing much of the game with 14 players.
St Ergnat’s, Moneyglass, were potentially dangerous opponents but Donaghmoyne managed this fixture well and followed up with an impressive dismantling of Dublin and Leinster champions Kilmacud Crokes in the All-Ireland semi-final, and on home soil.
Donaghmoyne, too, have players past and present who have worn the Monaghan county shirt with distinction. The four Courtney sisters in the starting line-up provide energy and drive, as do the precociously-talented Garland twins, Amy and Lauren.
In the forward line, Cathriona McConnell made headlines for her exploits last time out – playing on the day after she was married.
No doubt this will be an exciting and competitive game with both teams possessing strong determined squads.
Both teams are unchanged from their respective semi-final victories.
Donaghmoyne: L Martin; J Geoghegan, N Callan (capt.), A Callan; F Courtney, S Courtney, E Traynor; C Courtney, E McElroy; A Garland, R Courtney, S McConnell; C McConnell, L Garland, A Burns.
Kilkerrin-Clonberne: L Murphy; C Costello, S Gormally, C Dunleavy; K Mee, N Ward, H Noone; S Divilly, L Finnegan; O Divilly, L Ward (capt.), L Noone; E Noone, A Morrissey, C Miskell.
Sunday sees the Junior Final take place in Kilmallock in Limerick, with Cork's Naomh Abán take on Galway's Salthill-Knocknacarra at 1pm.
Naomh Abán represent the Rebel county on Sunday after coming through the semi-final and claiming a 0-12 to 0-7 win, with Alannah Hoare and Grace Murphy contributing half of that tally between them.
Their opponents are Salthill-Knocknacarra will will fly the flag for Galway and Connacht, in what will be a first All-Ireland Ladies Football Final appearance for the club.
Kate Thompson stepped up to the mark in their semi-final with a winning late score as Salthill-Knocknacarra edged past O’Dwyers from Dublin on home soil at The Prairie.
These are two players that Naomh Abán will need to keep a close eye on but a number of Salthill-Knocknacarra chances went begging against O’Dwyers, admittedly in difficult conditions, and this is an area they’ll be hoping to address.
Both teams are unchanged for this one.
Naomh Abán: L Hughes; U Twohig (capt.), M Dineen, A Creedon; E Kelly, R Corkery, M.E. Kelliher; A McDonagh, G Lucey; A Hoare, E Murphy, C Phelan; A Maher, L McDonagh, G Murphy.
Salthill-Knocknacarra: L Carroll; O de Bairead, A Mullen, S Donnellan; E Madden, S Divilly, R Reddington; Z Rather, A Finnerty (capt.); L Kelly, L O’Donnell, K Thompson; D O’Connell, A Manley, A Nash.
Tickets are on sale for all three games at https://ladiesgaelic.ie/buy-your-tickets-now-for-the-2022-currentaccount-ie-all-ireland-club-finals/
Can't make the game? Both of Saturday’s games will be live on TG4: https://www.tg4.ie/en/player/watch-live/, while viewers can access the LGFA’s live-streaming portal https://page.inplayer.com/lgfaseason2023/item.html?id=1940390 to watch Sunday’s Junior Final.
