Cork ladies footballers face long trip to Donegal for last league tie

It’s a great position for Cork senior ladies football manager Joe Carroll to be in as he heads to Donegal on Sunday.

His side have already qualified for the Lidl National Football League final ahead of their clash with Donegal at Ballyshannon, throw-in 12.30pm.

More importantly than qualifying for the league final, against Galway on April 12 at Croke Park, is they have secured promotion back to Division One for next season, having been relegated at the end of the 2024 campaign.

The only thing at stake for Cork is the ambition to keep their winning run going as they take on a side that have nothing to play for really.

Cork are currently on 15 points and will finish second behind Galway no matter what happens over the weekend. Donegal and Monaghan can close the gap on Cork if they win, with the latter away to Westmeath, but that’s all it would be a closing of the gap and no more.

Gaining promotion was not an easy task, especially in your first year in charge so credit has to go to Carroll and his backroom team to ensure they did, winning all bar one of their games to date.

Their loss was away to Galway, on a day when some 50-50 calls went in favour of the home side and were it not for that they could easily have a 100% record. But they won’t be concerned with that at this point and have the chance for a bit of revenge when they take on the Tribeswomen in the league decider.

It puts Carroll and his side in the nice position of enjoying their trip and will also give him the chance to give some players, either on the way back from injury or who haven’t had much game time so far, the opportunity to get some game time.

Carroll likes to win so this won’t be a game they will take lightly and he will want to make the long journey home with the points secured and enjoy a few celebrations at the end of the league campaign.

TOP FLIGHT RETURN

A goal from Laura O’Mahony helped secure Cork’s win over Clare to see them return to the top flight and she is one of the players they will be looking to as the season goes on.

Others that have impressed so far in the league included Róisín Ní Chorcora, Melissa Duggan, Emma Cleary, Abbie O’Mahony, Maire O’Callaghan, and captain Sarah Leahy, to name a few.

Some of them, particularly dual stars like Hannah Looney, Aoife Healy, and Libby Coppinger, might be rested this weekend as they all face football and camogie league finals over the same weekend in April.

Expect the likes of Orlaith Roche, Katie O’Driscoll, Abigail Ring, Sadbh McGoldrick, Amy, and Lydia McDonagh to possibly feature on Sunday, and their inclusion won’t weaken the Cork side in any way.

It has the potential to be a high-scoring and entertaining game and one where Cork and Donegal can try things out ahead of the provincial championships which will get underway in the coming weeks.