Colm O'Neill inspired Mourneabbey goal machine Laura Fitzgerald
Ahead of the currentaccount.ie All-Ireland Ladies Club Football finals are Laura Fitzgerald of Mourneabbey, Cork, left, and Louise Ward of Kilkerrin-Clonberne, Galway. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile
MOURNEABBEY star forward Laura Fitzgerald is hoping to keep her goalscoring run going in the currentaccount.ie All-Ireland ladies club football final on Saturday.
The Cork side take on Kilkerrin-Clonberne from Galway in the final at St Brendan's Park, Birr, throw-in 1pm, a repeat of the 2019 decider.
That season was the last time this competition was played and Fitzgerald had a big say in that encounter as well, scoring the winning point with just 20 seconds left on the clock.
This year in the Munster and All-Ireland series she has 10 goals to her name so far and will be hoping to add a few more in the final.
“I'm very lucky really as the players outside of me are the ones creating the chance and I just get to finish them off. Without their hard work I wouldn't be in that position and in some ways I have the easy task of finishing the chances they create,” said Laura.
She has been part of their journey that has seen Mourneabbey win seven Cork titles in eight years and seven Munster crowns in the same time. They could have added another Munster title in 2020 but the competition wasn't played then, the same year they lost the Cork final to divisional side West Cork.
Like most of her teammates, she will be hoping to make it three All-Ireland titles in a row, and in both 2018 and 19 they defeated their opponents on Saturday on their way to glory.
“We are expecting nothing short of a battle and we will have to play a lot better than we did in '19 to have any chance of beating them on Saturday.”
Her goalscoring exploits on their journey to the final have been a massive part of ensuring they got there and says that former Cork player, Colm O'Neill, had a part to play in that.
“He's a neighbour from where I grew up in Ballyclough and I used to see him out practicing and he inspired me to get involved.
“I played with the local boys' side first but then at 14 had to join a girls club and Mourneabbey was the closest to me. It has been a roller-coaster of a journey since then, as we lost out in county semis and finals before we eventually made the breakthrough in 2014.
“Since then we have been lucky enough to win Cork, Munster, and All-Ireland titles and hopefully we can add another on Saturday."
