Lurgan and Crosserlough clash in ladies SFC final

Ladies football

Crosserlough and Lurgan meet in a clash of the titans in the Ladies Senior Football Championship final this Saturday at Kingspan Breffni (3pm).

With wins over Templeport and Gowna respectively in the semi-finals, both sides come into the decider with confidence. Crosserlough won the title in 2019 before losing the final last year to Lacken while Lurgan have not been in the final since completing a four-in-a-row in 2018.

“At the start of the year we set a target to be in the county final, it was ambitious with a young team but Lurgan have been in many senior finals and that's the aim every year,” stated Lurgan manager Emmet Daly.

“We had a lot of debutants this year but we have gradually improved. Crosserlough beat us by two points in the first game although they had a game under their belts at that stage and it was our first championship match and we hadn't played with a full team with a couple of challenge matches being cancelled and county players unavailable.

“We beat Killygarry then, they had beaten us twice before that this year and then we played Gowna in the semi-final in Ballymachugh and got off to a dream start, we had four goals scored after 15 minutes. That was our best performance.”

While there are a lot of rookies on the Lurgan side, they have a considerable core of experience; Laura Keogan, Niamh Daly, Eimear Gilsenan and Evelyn Baugh each have seven SFC medals to their name while Catherine Dolan and Emer Corcoran have four apiece.

Daly was happy to pin the favourites' tag on the opposition.

“Crosserlough are a great team, they have beaten us in the last two semi-finals. Lacken put on the performance of the season to beat them in the final last year. They are hot favourites, they're laced with county stars so it's a big challenge for us but we'll try our best.”

Crosserlough manager Mark Greaney, for his part, says that choosing the starting team will be a difficult task.

“We have no injury worries at the moment, we have a full squad to choose from,” Greaney told the Anglo-Celt.

“We have a very strong panel, there are six or seven players on the bench who I think would start on other teams in the county.”

Crosserlough have six county senior players in their squad, namely team captain Shauna Lynch, Neasa Byrd, Sinead McKenna, Muireann Cusack, Lauren McVeety and Ciara Finnegan, although Finnegan is ruled out for the season unfortunately with a cruciate ligament injury.

Greaney has been very happy with the response of his players to date.

“In fairness, and I've said it to them all year, they listen which is great for any manager, they take instruction and nobody is bigger than the team.

“The group we were in with Crosserlough, Killygarry and Mullahoran was very competitive and I think those strong, competitive games have stood to us. We then had a tough battle with Templeport in the semi-final which was closer than the scoreline would suggest.”

Lurgan are back in the final after a three-year absence but Greaney is not surprised.

“For me personally, I wouldn't view Lurgan as a surprise package. I am a Killygarry man and I saw them in the league against Killygarry and I could see the quality that was there and knowing they had a few county players to add back into the mix, I am not surprised they are in the county final.

“They have a very good quality of player and lots of experience to call on in the likes of Laura Keogan, Catherine Dolan, Niamh Daly and a few others.”

The Crosserlough manager is joined by selectors Dessie Smith and Benny Byrd, with Barney O'Reilly assisting with training and Mary Donohoe and Anne Marie Boylan filling the role of team liaison officers.

Along with Daly on the Lurgan backroom are Brian Donohoe, Mattie Cahill, Karen Brady, Niall McHugo and John Farrelly.

The senior final will throw in at 3pm; the Junior Championship final between Laragh and Drumgoon is the curtain-raiser (1pm).