SATURDAY WAS A sensational day of ladies football action.
Donegal stunned Dublin in Carrick-on-Shannon first, Mick Bohan’s side crashing out of the TG4 All-Ireland senior championship at the quarter-final stage. An hour or so later, Cork were knocked out by Mayo in Ennis as Shane Ronayne’s first year at the Rebels’ helm came to a shuddering end.
Two massive shocks, the Dublin-Cork dominance well and truly broken. It’s the first time since 2002 neither county will contest the All-Ireland final. 20 years. Quite some time.
Last year’s monumental win meant Meath broke a 16-year stranglehold, either Dublin or Cork having lifted every Brendan Martin Cup since 2005. Galway were the last county to climb the steps of the Hogan Stand before that.
The Rebels’ reign of terror yielded 11 titles in 12 years, Dublin the only team to break the chain with their maiden crown in 2010. Bohan’s Sky Blues won their next in 2017 after three heartbreaking final defeats on the bounce. The perfect four in-a-row followed, before Meath sensationally ended their Drive for Five last September.
The Royals march on, their title defence continuing after a last-gasp quarter-final win over Galway on Saturday.
Emma Duggan was the buzzer-beating hero in Tullamore as Eamonn Murray’s side prevailed by a single point, and they now meet Donegal in the last four in a repeat of the Division 1 league final.
EMMA DUGGAN!! CRÍOCH DOCHREIDTE!! 😀😍
— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) July 9, 2022
That crossbar has been busy this evening!
@meathladiesMLGF @DunboyneGAA
#ProperFan #GAABEO
pic.twitter.com/aiP0qCd40W
After kicking the winner with the last kick of the game the night before, I challenge you all to find Meath ladies footballer Emma Duggan https://t.co/J4wiL3Z48c
— Niall McNamee (@niallmc14) July 11, 2022
“We didn’t panic, with 20 seconds left it looked like a draw and it was going to extra-time, and we got the ball to the right person at the right time,” Murray said afterwards.
“We needed that tough game, we played Cork last year in the semi-final and that brought us on. This is the game that will bring us on leaps and bounds.”
What a chance this is for Meath to go back-to-back, the Big Two for quite some time out of the running.
What an opportunity it also is for Donegal, and for Kerry and Mayo who face off in Saturday’s other semi-final, Croke Park hosting the mouth-watering double-header.
From the get-go, there was a sense that this championship was the most open in recent memory, but now it well and truly is wide open moving into the real business end.
“There are certainly five or six teams who genuinely have a chance,” Bohan said at the championship launch in May, “while before you’d be paying token to that. You’d be saying, ‘Such and such is dangerous’ but you wouldn’t believe it.
“That’s a testament to a lot of good work going on. I do see the gap is tightening.”
Saturday’s win was a significant one for Donegal, their first championship one over Dublin; the county yet to contest an All-Ireland senior final, Dublin having featured in the last eight.
“We know Dublin well and we’ve come across them this last couple of years at the same stage here,” as Donegal captain Niamh McLaughlin explained after the 3-7 to 1-7 win.
“We got the tactics spot on, we stuck to the plan and we played for the 60 minutes, that was the main thing. We’ve a habit of letting other teams have their spell and we didn’t really let that happen. I just knew from the work we had done we weren’t losing the game.”
Similar statements came out of the Mayo and Kerry camps, the Green and Red consigning Cork to their earliest championship exit since 2004 and the Green and Gold ending Armagh’s season at this stage for the second year in-a-row after a 4-12 to 2-14 thriller.
“There is massive belief in this squad but it always needs hard work as well,” Mayo boss Michael Moyles reflected, the young and rising Westerners without some big names due to AFLW and injury (Sarah Rowe, Niamh Kelly, Grace Kelly, Aileen Gilroy, Rachel Kearns).
“We are delighted to get through and can now look forward to heading to Croke Park for the semi-final for what we know will be another tough game.”
That last-four battle is a massive chance for both counties; Kerry last appearing in the final in 2012, their recent resurgence under Declan Quill and Darragh Long particularly notable after no shortage of turbulence in the county, and Mayo enduring their own struggles in the wake of their last showpiece in 2017.
The Kingdom sit joint-top of the roll of honour, themselves and Cork both winning 11 titles. To see these proud footballing counties dining at the top table once again, shaking things up, is exciting.
1990 @Monaghan_LGFA Formed, 1992 Junior All Ireland Champions -30 years in the TOP flight (2 Senior All Ire titles, 9 All Ire Final Appearances during that time!!)
— Niamh Kindlon (@NKindlon) July 9, 2022
A tough day today but We will be back 💪Hard luck to the team & management!!! #LGFA
While it was a weekend to remember for Donegal, Meath, Kerry and Mayo, with golden opportunities lying ahead, it was a difficult one for another traditional ladies football heavyweight in Monaghan.
The Farney were relegated to the intermediate grade for 2023 after defeat to Waterford.
25 years ago, the two counties locked horns in an All-Ireland senior final, so a battle to avoid the drop was very different territory. Westmeath were also relegated last week, but no doubt both counties will be back stronger.
Anything could happen, as we saw this weekend, and time and time again over the past few months in ladies football.
