Joy for Skibb ladies footballers as Midleton and Clon come up short

A bumper weekend of AIB Munster LGFA finals produced a solitary Cork winner in O’Donovan Rossa and plenty of memorable moments.

Two days, four finals, four winners, four losers, huge attendances, multiple talking points, and a positive weekend for Munster LGFA at the Mallow GAA grounds.

That sums up my past weekend’s work as a freelance journalist.

Ladies football needs all the media attention it can get. In that regard, this past weekend’s four provincial finals provided a welcome end-of-year boost.

One of the most positive aspects of Saturday and Sunday’s games was how well supported the three Rebel teams, Clonakilty, O’Donovan Rossa and Midleton, were. There’s little doubt that O’Donovan Rossa’s provincial intermediate final victory in Sunday’s curtain-raiser was the weekend highlight from a Cork LGFA point of view.

Clonakilty and Midleton had their moments the day before but this Skibbereen club’s capturing of back-to-back Munster titles made plenty of headlines inside and outside the province. Hardly surprising when Rossa’s have now followed up their 2023 All-Ireland, Munster and county junior A triumphs with 2024 county and Munster intermediate trophies.

They made hard work of it, having to come from two points down at the break and producing a late four-point surge to see off St Ailbe’s from Limerick, 0-10 to 0-7.

INCREDIBLE

“It is hard to describe, it is an intangible thing, but this group of players are so close, so bonded and they will back each other up for every single thing,” O’Donovan Rossa manager James O’Donovan commented.

“There is no giving out, it is 'I will fix it for you'. It is just this never-give-in attitude that they have. They are just an incredible bunch.

We have a brilliant environment and they have just grown so much over the last couple of years. Munster Intermediate champions. It is hard to believe.”

Hard to believe maybe, but this O’Donovan Rossa panel is two games from securing six major titles in less than 24 months.

The Skibbereen club’s players and their adoring fans hadn’t left Mallow when the weekend headliner, the 2024 Munster senior A final began.

In contrast to the low scoring intermediate decider just before, Kerry champions Castleisland Desmonds exploded into life.

Just 11 minutes had passed when Waterford’s Comeragh Rangers found themselves 3-3 to 0-2 behind. Those early Amy Curtin (2) and Andrea Murphy goals would crucial to the outcome.

Comeragh are no bad team as evidenced by their defeat of 43-in-a-row chasing Ballmacarbry in the Waterford senior decider.

Settling into the game, Rangers gave their supporters plenty to shout about before eventually succumbing 3-8 to 1-10.

“We had spoken about getting off to a good start because we knew what kind of team Comeragh are and that we needed to get ahead of them,” Castleisland manager Dan Kearney said.

“It was a dream come true really, the start we got. When the third goal went in, we were 10 points up. They clawed it back and we were always in danger especially in the second half when they came at us in waves.” 

LEFT IT BEHIND

Last Saturday, Clonakilty pushed Ballmacarbry all the way in the Munster senior B decider before succumbing 2-10 to 0-13 after extra time. Only a late Karen McGrath goal, in the second period of additional time, finally killed off the West Cork club’s hopes.

“We felt like we left that game behind us,” Aherne commented.

I thought we had the game there for the winning at the end of normal time. Unfortunately, we didn’t take our chances.

“Besides that, I can’t fault the girls one single bit. They have been incredible, not just today, but all throughout the year. Their attitude, commitment, everything, I can’t ask any more of them.” 

The same was true of Midleton, competing in the Munster junior A final following their marvellous JAFC county final triumph over Dohenys and provincial semi-final win over Shamrocks.

A low-scoring 0-7 to 0-5 defeat to Limerick’s Mungret was hard to take especially in such difficult conditions.

Yet this Midleton team has plenty to look forward to, not least intermediate football in 2025.

So, a long weekend of Munster finals finished with one Cork representative still standing. Let’s hope O’Donovan Rossa can keep their campaign for another two games.