Women's Football Championship: All you need to know

admin admin | 05-11 16:15

SUNDAY

TG4 Leinster Senior Championship final

Dublin v Meath, Croke Park, 11.45am

WATCH: Live on Spórt TG4 YouTube

TG4 Connacht Senior Championship final

Galway v Mayo, St Brigid's, Kiltoom, County Roscommon, 2pm –

WATCH: Live on Spórt TG4 YouTube

TG4 Connacht Intermediate Championship final

Leitrim v Roscommon, St Brigid's, Kiltoom, County Roscommon, 4pm –

WATCH: Live stream via Connacht LGFA (€)

WEATHER

Current indications suggest Sunday will bring a mix of cloud and sunny spells with showers or longer spells of rain, some heavy with the chance of isolated thunderstorms. Highest temperatures of 15 to 19 degrees in light and variable breezes.

Silverware Sunday

In the Leinster final at Croke Park, with an 11.45am start, it's holders Dublin, aiming for an 11th successive provincial title, up against Meath, who go in search of a first Leinster crown since 2000.

In Connacht, meanwhile, it’s Galway against champions Mayo in the at St Brigid’s, Kiltoom in a game that has a 2pm start. At the same venue, at 4pm, Leitrim take on champions Roscommon in the Intermediate decider.

Dublin v Meath

The sides met in a dress rehearsal last weekend ahead of the final, to conclude the round-robin phase, with Dublin running out comfortable winners against an admittedly second-string Royal County outfit.

Leading scorer for Dublin last Sunday, the vastly experienced Nicole Owens, is held in reserve for the final, an indication of the huge strength in depth in the Dublin set-up.

In total, manager Mick Bohan makes seven changes in personnel as the provincial and All-Ireland champions target more silverware.

Coming into the starting line-up are goalkeeper Abby Shiels, Leah Caffrey, Niamh Donlon, Olwen Carey, Grace Kós, Niamh Hetherton and Kate Sullivan.

Making way are netminder Rachael Fleming, Niamh Crowley, Hannah McGinnis, Aoife Kane, Kate Murray, Annabelle Timothy and Owens, all of whom are listed on the Dublin bench with the exception of Crowley, who picked up an ankle injury last Sunday.

Meath, meanwhile, make 13 changes in personnel as their big guns return.

Captain and goalkeeper Monica McGuirk returns in place of Robyn Murray, while there are also starts for Mary Kate Lynch, Nicole Troy, Niamh Gallogly, Lisa Young, Máire O’Shaughnessy, Aoibhín Cleary, Megan Thynne, Shelly Melia, Ciara Smyth, Ella Moyles, Marion Farrelly and Emma Duggan.

Ciara Lawlor and Katie Newe, who captained the team last time out against Dublin, are the only players who retain their starting positions as, along with Murray, Olivia Gore, Karla Kealy, Tori Foster, Isabel O’Connor, Aisling McCabe, Rachel Casserly, Meadhbh Byrne, Seona Lynch, Orlaith Mallon, Megan Collins, Kerrie Cole and Ailbhe Leahy drop out.

Dublin: A Shiels; M Byrne, L Caffrey, N Donlon; S Goldrick, O Carey, L Magee; J Dunne, G Kós; C O’Connor, O Nolan, C Rowe (capt.); H Tyrrell, N Hetherton, K Sullivan

Meath: M McGuirk (capt.); C Lawlor, M.K. Lynch, N Troy; N Gallogly, L Young, K Newe; M O’Shaughnessy, A Cleary; M Thynne, S Melia, C Smyth; E Moyles, M Farrelly, E Duggan

It's a repeat of the 2023 final in Connacht

Galway v Mayo

Both teams concluded their Lidl National League campaigns in contrasting styles against Waterford.

Mayo beat the Déise to conclude their league campaign on a positive note, with top flight status retained, but Galway lost to Waterford and suffered relegation to Division 2.

Galway will hope that the championship brings much better fortunes, while Mayo will be hoping to retain the provincial crown they won last year against the Tribeswomen.

Galway were aiming for five-in-a-row in the western province but Mayo came good to land the Connacht title for the first time since 2016.

Both counties have been inactive in a competitive sense since the league campaign, with Galway preparing for their first outing since 7 April, while Mayo haven’t played since 24 March.

It may take both sides a little time to settle into the game but a cracking encounter is anticipated and Galway have made just one change to the team that lost to Waterford, with Chellene Trill coming in for Emilie Gavin in defence.

Mayo, meanwhile, have opted for three changes in personnel, with captain Saoirse Lally, Ciara Durkan and Aoife Staunton coming in for Hannah Reape, Saoirse Delaney and Sinead Walsh.

Galway: D Gower; M Jordan, S Lynch, C Trill; K Geraghty, N Ward, C Cooney; M Glynn, A Davoren (capt.); O Divilly, S Hynes, M Walsh; E Reaney, L Coen, R Leonard

Mayo: L Brennan; S Lally (capt.), N O’Malley, K Sullivan; E Ronayne, C Durkan, D Caldwell; A Geraghty, E Murray; F McLaughlin, C Needham, S Cafferky; A Staunton, M Cannon, L Cafferky

Leitrim v Roscommon

A repeat of last year’s final sees Roscommon put their title on the line against opponents Leitrim.

With Sligo in the Junior ranks, this is a straight shoot-out for the Connacht title, although both counties did warm up with good wins against Sligo in the round-robin phase, which afforded all teams valuable game time ahead of the All-Ireland series.

Roscommon have enjoyed a productive season to date, booking a return to Division 2 of the Lidl National League while also contesting a Division 3 decider with Clare.

Leitrim, meanwhile, finished second in the Division 4 standings following the group stages but they missed out on a final place and promotion after losing to Limerick in the semi-finals.

The winners of Sunday’s final will join Wicklow and Tyrone in Group 4 of the All-Ireland series, while the runners-up will regroup for Group 3 fare alongside the Leinster champions, Westmeath or Wexford, and Antrim.

Leitrim: M Monaghan; E Quigley, C Tyrrell, C Owens; S Reynolds, K Bruen, E Bruen; N Tighe, M Guckian (capt.); V Egan, L O’Dowd, M Devaney; A Clancy, S Quinn, Á Redican

Roscommon: H Cummins; A McGrath, E Irwin, A Shanagher; R Fitzmaurice, S Wynne, C Cregg; J McDermott, K Nolan; L Fleming, S Farrell, E Thompson; A Hanly, L Shanagher, N Feeney (capt.)

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