Two old foes are preparing to lock horns in this year's currentaccount.ie All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football final after Kilkerrin-Clonberne advanced to another decider with a 2-8 to 0-8 victory over Donaghmoyne.
They will come up against in-form Mourneabbey for the first time since 2019, and the pain of that defeat three years ago is still fresh in the minds of the Kilkerrin-Clonberne ladies.
Captain Louise Ward describes it as a "long journey" to return to the final after the 2020 competition was halted due to Covid.
“We’ve been waiting for this, it’s a while since 2019 when we were playing Mourneabbey down in Limerick,” says Ward. “It’s been a long road back to that, but credit to the girls over the last eight weeks, they’ve put in some shift and that really showed out there.
“We started well, other days we haven’t got the start, but we really got that today. Probably in the third 15 minutes, we let it slip a little, I think we only scored one point in that patch, but we finished strong as well and we’re happy with that.”
Louise's twin sister Nicola Ward was critical in the victory over the 2015 and 2016 champions, scoring the two goals in the opening.
Nicola Ward pounced for their first goal in the eighth minute, and the Galway outfit had a 1-2 to 0-1 lead at first water break. And just before the break she again finished to net helping Kilkerrin-Clonberne to a six-point lead.
Although Monaghan's Eimear Traynor was shown a yellow card for a foul on Hannah Noone, they fought hard in the second half.
Cathriona McConnell led the charge with a free and a point to close the gap to 2-3 to 0-6 with 20 minutes remaining.
Although Ailish Morrissey responded for the Galway outfit, Cora Courtney and McConnell scored points to close the arrears to just two at the final water break.
However, that was as good as it got for the Monaghan outfit as five-time champions Galway regained the initiative. Olivia Divilly scored another three points with Eva Noone also contributing, sealing the victory to send them back into the final.
Scorers: Kilkerrin-Clonberne: N Ward 2-0, A Morrissey 0-4, O Divilly 0-3 (2f ), E Noone 0-1.Donaghmoyne: C McConnell 0-6 (4f ), L Kerley 0-1 (f ), C Courtney 0-1.
KILKERRIN-CLONBERNE: L Murphy; A Costello, S Gormally, C Costello; C Dunleavey, N Ward, K Mee; S Divilly, H Noone; O Divilly, L Ward, L Noone; E Noone, C Miskell, A Morrissey.Subs: S Fahy for Mee (50 ), N Divilly for Miskell (50 ), A Clarke for H Noone (59 ).
DONAGHMOYNE: L Martin; J Geoghegan, N Callan, S Courtney; H Kingham, F Courtney, R Courtney; A Finnegan, C Courtney; A Burns, E Traynor, L Garland; C McConnell, L Kerley, A Garland.Subs: A Callan for Geoghegan (42 ), Á McElroy for A Garland (59 ).
Referee: Gus Chapman (Sligo ).
