Galway champions bid to reach All-Ireland final at the fourth time of asking

By Pádraic Ó Ciardha

HAVING dominated the championship in Galway and shown their class at provincial level, the next step for the Kilkerrin-Clonberne ladies football team is to do it on the national stage and they have a big opportunity to do so this weekend. Dublin powerhouse Foxrock-Cabinteely come to Clonberne Sportsfield this Sunday (2pm) as they and the home side go head-to-head for a spot in the All-Ireland final.

This is the fourth time Kilkerrin-Clonberne have reached the semi-final stage in recent years, but they are still waiting to make the breakthrough and reach the All-Ireland final. They suffered narrow defeats to Termon of Donegal and Mourneabbey of Cork in 2014 and ‘15 respectively before Mourneabbey again got the better of the Galway champions last year on their way to the All-Ireland title.

Kilkerrin-Clonberne will be determined to take their chance this time, however, and they are certainly in good form heading into this weekend. Kevin Reidy’s side continued their dominance locally, winning a seventh successive county title in September before cruising to another Connacht crown when they made light work of Roscommon champions Kilbride two weeks ago.

The north Galway side’s main test so far came when they took on Cora Staunton’s Carnacon in the provincial semi-final but Kilkerrin-Clonberne were again too strong for their opponents, running out 4-9 to 2-5 winners. It’s saying something that one of their toughest games still resulted in a ten point victory, but the Kilkerrin-Clonberne manager insists that there have been lessons to take from all their games in this campaign.

“Every game we’ve played this year, we’ve learned something from it,” says Reidy. “The last day playing Kilbride, they were putting 15 behind the ball at times and asking questions of us. We still managed to score 3-21 so we’d be happy with that. At times against Carnacon, we were under pressure but we did well in defence and were decent enough in attack as well.”

That so few teams can put it up to this Kilkerrin-Clonberne side only speaks to their quality. They boast no fewer than four 2019 All Star nominees with goalkeeper Lisa Murphy, defender Nicola Ward, Louise Ward at midfield and Olivia Divilly in attack all receiving recognition for their roles in Galway reaching this year’s All-Ireland senior final.

There is an abundance of talent coming through at underage as well. Lynsey Noone captained the Galway minors to All-Ireland glory last year while Siobhan Fahy, Chloe Miskell, Hannah Noone and Ailish Morrissey picked up Connacht minor medals earlier this year. Many of those youngsters have already become integral parts of this Kilkerrin-Clonberne side but their manager says that they are still improving.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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