Minor ladies prepare to take on the Kingdom

Ladies football

Aideen Coyle

All roads lead to O’Connor Park, Tullamore this Saturday (throw-in, 2pm) as the Cavan minor ladies footballers seek to make history when they take on Kerry in the All-Ireland ‘A’ final.

Cavan have never won this particular competition, with their only previous All-Ireland final appearance coming in 1980 when, coincidentally, they also faced the Kingdom.

The minors continued a brilliant season for Cavan ladies underage with a convincing 6-10 to 0-09 victory over Kildare in the All-Ireland semi-final. In turn, they became the third Breffni ladies’ side to advance to the national final after the U14s narrowly lost their final after extra time and the U16s defeated Mayo in their decider two weeks previously.

In reaching the decider, the Ulster minor champions find themselves in somewhat uncharted territory. Another milestone reached in this momentous season for the county is that Cavan have also become the first Ulster side to reach all three national finals in the same season.

Cavan cruised past the Leinster champions and 2023 runners-up after a truly blistering display which saw them net on six occasions, with national basketball star Emma Tolan bagging herself a hat-trick in the tie. Another stand-out player on the day and across the season has been midfielder and team captain Ellie Brady, whose skill and athleticism makes her a handful for any opposition.

Cavan had their plans in place for that game, stated manager Gerry Charters.

“We did a bit of homework on them and went to see them. We thought they would have been better but the girls did great. No more than the U16s, they had a lot of work done in the first half and it was just a matter of keeping the scoreboard ticking over in the second half,” he said.

Vice-captains Alex Peters and Sarah Clarke are also big players for the squad which boasts an array of talent. The panel comprises of players from 16 different clubs in the county, many of which have already tasted All-Ireland success with the county last season in the U16 grade and in previous seasons with Loreto College.

Key to last year’s U16 success was team captain Katie Mai Reilly who plays an integral role defensively for Charters’ side, who have been very strong in that area to date.

The defensive unit have worked exceptionally hard across the season, keeping an impressive clean sheet in the semi-final meeting with Kildare.

The minors have been on a fantastic journey thus far this season after a strong Ulster run saw them comprehensively lift the Ulster title after a 2-9 to 0-7 win over Donegal. The side, under the management of Crosserlough man Charters, have won all their games to date and have recorded a remarkable 25-79 across the seven ties.

Charters is not short of scoring forwards in his squad despite knee injuries unfortunately ruling out the talented Clodagh Clarke and Mia Lynch.

Attackers Kate Fegan, Ella Sheridan, Emma Tolan and Katie O’Meara have shone amongst many more as Cavan’s squad depth has been integral, remarked Charters.

“The biggest problem for us is when you look at the bench there is another 15 or 18 girls who could come into any of those spots on the field. They’re all well capable of coming in and doing a job.”

Cavan will face the Munster champions on Saturday at 2pm in Tullamore after the Kingdom recorded a convincing 6-8 to 1-10 win over the reigning champions Galway in their last four meeting.

“We have seen Kerry play and have a lot of homework on them. They scored 6-10 in their All-Ireland semi-final as well. The top two teams in the country are in the All-Ireland final so there won’t be anything between either of us. The football ability is all there with every one of the girls. As management, we’re only guiding them along,” added Charters.

Captain Brady added: “I’m so excited. With the U14s setting the tone at the start of the year and the U16s with a great win, we have great reason to go and push on and do it for ourselves and each other.”