Galway ladies footballers aiming to make history

GALWAY ladies footballers will look to secure their first ever National League Division 1 title when they face reigning League and All-Ireland champions Cork in an intriguing decider at Parnell Park on Saturday (3:45pm).

Despite appearing in finals in 1979, 2005, 2007 and 2010, the Tribeswomen have never won this competition where as Cork go in search of their 10th title this weekend, including a coveted three-in-a-row. In all, the Leesiders have featured in 12 finals in the history of the competition – Saturday being their 13th.

Galway will be hoping that will be an unlucky omen for their opponents who, really, have been the benchmark for ladies football in the country over the past decade. That said, Galway camogie’s victory over All-Ireland champions Cork in their National League final on Sunday will give the ladies footballers reasons to be optimistic.

“Galway (camogie) went there with a young team by all accounts and took them on. It is a boost,” acknowledges manager Kevin Reidy. “At the same time, Cork have a few dual players and they will not want to lose two weekends in a row. Look, it is a separate game but it was great to see Galway win the camogie,” says the Galway manager, who still is without forward Roisin Leonard as she recovers from a knee injury.

To date, Galway have had a fine run in the league, with their only defeat coming against Cork – 1-14 to 3-7 – back in February. Reidy notes it was far from a harrowing loss. “We took an awful lot of positives out of that game and we played very well,” he continues. “At the same time, we didn’t put Cork away when we had the chance to put them away. Look, they are not the best team in ladies Gaelic football for nothing. They came back at us and got the couple of scores and the two late points to catch us. But we still took a lot of positives out of it.”

Indeed, the Tribeswomen regrouped and subsequently put together a sequence of results that included victories over Kerry, Monaghan and near rivals Mayo in the group stages. Consequently, they finished top of Division 1 – ahead of Kerry and Cork – to secure a semi-final berth against fourth placed Dublin, a side they had drew with, 2-9 to 1-12, earlier in their campaign.

The penultimate meeting proved to be a far different affair as Galway ran out convincing 4-13 to 3-4 winners over Dublin – Noelle Connolly, Patricia Gleeson and Tracey Leonard (2) netting the victors goals and the experienced Emer Flaherty giving a tour de force performance at the heart of their defence.

Full preview in this week’s Connacht Tribune.