Cork ladies football: Minor and U16 sides going well in provincial championships

CORK'S minors and U16s are performing admirably in the ladies football provincial championships.

Each of the underage representative sides are eyeing potential All-Ireland runs later in the year. The early signs look good across the competing inter-county age-grades including Jamie Cronin’s Cork minors.

The latter have one round of Munster minor A championship games to complete, away to Tipperary on Saturday.

Cronin and his management team has overseen an undefeated Munster campaign thus far. Wins over Clare (5-6 to 2-6), Kerry (3-7 to 2-6), Waterford (5-12 to 0-5) and Limerick (4-20 to 1-4) have been registered in the round-robin section. Avoiding defeat to Tipp will seal a Munster final berth.

Captained by Mourneabbey’s Kate Williamson and containing plenty of sharpshooters, this is a Cork side improving with each outing.

St Michael’s Amy Sheppard, Aghada’s Brianna Smith, Glanmire’s Ava Fitzgerald, Éire Óg’s Órlaith Cremin, O’Donovan Rossa’s Éabha O’Donovan and Ilen Rovers’ Maebh Collins and Kate Carey are some of the players who have been on the Rebels’ scoresheet this term.

Cork lost last year’s ZuCar All-Ireland minor championship semi-final to Kildare by two points. This year’s Cork panel is eager to go at least one better and are on track to achieve that goal.

At U16 level, Denis Mulvihill’s Cork panel concluded the round-robin section of their Munster LGFA U16A championship at the SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh 4G pitch last Saturday.

Having overcome Waterford (1-12 to 0-7), Clare (4-16 to 2-4), Tipperary (110- to 1-9) and Kerry (4-11 to 0-8), the Rebels went in search of a clean sweep against a visiting Limerick.

A 0-15 to 1-7 success saw Cork secure maximum points from the group stage and a Munster LGFA U16A final appearance against Kerry on April 21.

LUXURY

Mulvihill had the luxury of making 15 changes from Cork’s previous outing against the Kingdom. Yet, the hosts found themselves 1-4 to 0-4 behind to a dogged Limerick at the break.

It took a player of the match performance from Nemo Rangers and inter-county captain, Caoimhe Geraghty, who finished with 0-8, to help Cork get over the line. Carla O’Regan (0-2), Evelyn McCarthy, Ellen Connolly, Megan Barrett, Ava Coughlan and Lauren Finnegan (0-1 each) scores cemented the hosts merited win.

Kenneth Burns is managing this year’s Cork U16B’s and they overcame Limerick 2-17 to 0-4 in the final round of the Sharon O’Keefe U16 B Championship group stages at the SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh 4G pitch last Saturday.

Orlaith Murphy (2-5), Sorcha O’Rourke (0-5), Rachel Murphy (0-2), Ciara O’Regan, Theresa Dorgan, Orna Higgins, Ciara O’Keefe and Katie Crowley (0-1 each) scores helped cement a place in this year’s Sharon O’Keeffe decider on April 14. There, Cork will face Kerry in another eagerly anticipated showdown.

Cork U16 Bs' undefeated run in the early stages of the provincial competition owed much to Autumn Devereaux (Youghal), Sarah Finnegan (captain, Mourneabbey), Julie O’Reilly (Douglas), Erin Healy (Éire Óg), Katie Crowley (Courcey Rovers) and Róisín Ní Liatháin’s (Naomh Abán) scoring prowess.

BLITZ

A mention too for the Cork U14 A and U14 B squads under the guidance of Paddy Lucey and John Fitzgerald. The Rebels' youngest inter-county panels are in the University of Limerick on Saturday for a Munster grading blitz. Both Cork U14 panels impressed in their non-grading blitzes a fortnight ago at the same venue.

So, Cork is well positioned heading into the business end of the 2024 Munster LGFA minor and U16 championships. Let’s hope the county’s representatives have some silverware to show for their efforts before season’s end.