DONAGHMOYNE’S EXPERIENCED CAPTAIN experienced captain Majella Woods has revealed the club’s determination to create history in next Sunday’s Tesco Homegrown All-Ireland ladies senior club football final.
The Monaghan and Ulster champions meet Mayo stars Carnacon in a repeat of last year’s decider.
Holders Donaghmoyne are three-time All-Ireland senior winners but they have never managed to successfully defend the Dolores Tyrrell Memorial cup.
But that’s the aim for Woods and Donaghmoyne ahead of the Carrick-on-Shannon showdown and the 30-year-old forward admitted: “It was great to win three All-Irelands but it would be even better for the club to win back-to-back. That would make history and if we could do it, it would be unbelievable.”
The eagerly-anticipated club showpiece will represent a fourth successive final for last year’s runners-up Carnacon, with Donaghmoyne getting ready to contest a third decider in five years.
And it has been billed as a titanic shootout between two of the most lethal forwards in ladies football – namely Carnacon’s nine-time All Star Cora Staunton and Donaghmoyne’s Monaghan ace Cathriona McConnell.
Staunton enjoyed another incredible campaign with Mayo and since then, she’s been busy shooting the lights out at club level.
But Donaghmoyne have their own ace forward in McConnell and Woods smiled: “Teeny’s on fire and hopefully there’s one more game to get out of her!”
Woods, who scored 1-3 in the first half of the Ulster final replay victory against Donegal outfit Termon, is also backing the Courtney sisters Sharon and Fiona to put the shackles on Staunton.
She said: “Sharon marked her (Staunton) well last year.“Even her sister Fiona could mark her – either one of them.
“If Cora is marked out of it, you have a chance but I don’t know how you can stop Cora!”
Woods, a former All-Ireland U14 medallist with Monaghan, added: “This game could go either way – the two teams know each other well.
“We were lackadaisical in Ulster – we were lucky to get a replay (against Termon).
“We were well ahead at half-time, let it slip and relied on Teeny for a draw.
“It was a wake-up call. From the replay on, Donaghmoyne lifted their game. It took us a wee while to start in Clare (All-Ireland semi-final against Banner) but we upped our game since the wake-up call.”
