Gaelic Games

Meath have the nous and experience to retain their crown

Kerry have enjoyed a great campaign but final step against reigning champions may prove too par

Paris McCarthy of Kerry in action against Cork. McCarthy is one member of a potent Kingdom attack that has scored 16 goals since the start of the Munster championship. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho
Paris McCarthy of Kerry in action against Cork. McCarthy is one member of a potent Kingdom attack that has scored 16 goals since the start of the Munster championship. Photograph: Ken Sutton/Inpho
Paul Keane
Sat Jul 30 2022 - 05:00

TG4 All-Ireland ladies senior football championship final

Kerry v Meath

Croke Park, 4pm (Live on TG4)

You might imagine that in a straight head-to-head between the National League’s Division 1 winners, Meath, and the Division 2 winners, Kerry, there can be only one outcome.

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This has been a perplexing season though for anyone attempting to draw straight lines between past results and present form.

All-Ireland finalists Meath and Kerry, for starters, are both provincial runners-up, the Royals coming up short of Dublin and the Declan Quill/Darragh Long-managed Kingdom losing out to Cork in the Munster final.

Then there was that remarkable Saturday afternoon in early July when the entire complexion of the All-Ireland series changed.

Dublin and Cork, the provincial champions, who’d shared the Brendan Martin Cup between them from 2005 to 2020, were both dumped out at the quarter-final stage. Just for good measure, Kerry sent 2020 All-Ireland semi-finalists Armagh packing too.

Suddenly, four teams with one All-Ireland win between them since 2003, were through to the semi-finals. One of them, Donegal, hadn’t ever been to a final.

“I actually did a screenshot on my phone the other day of a poll from the start of the year of who was going to be in the All-Ireland final,” smiled Meath’s Emma Duggan this week.

“It was Dublin of course, and Cork, we were there too, but Donegal, Galway, Kerry, nowhere to be seen.”

Meath remain favourites to complete the job and if the holders retain their title as anticipated, it won’t seem too much like an outlier season after all.

But if Kerry can pick up their first title since 1993 and move out in front in the all-time roll of honour with a dozen All-Irelands, that will be one for the ages.

And any team with such an ability to score goals carries far more than just a puncher’s chance. In six games since the start of the Munster championship, Kerry have rattled the net 16 times. In the All-Ireland series, they’ve hit both Armagh and Mayo for four goals each.

Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh, the championship’s top scorer with goals against Cork, Westmeath and Armagh, represents the sharpened point of Kerry’s incisive attack though Niamh Carmody, the richly talented Paris McCarthy and Siofra O’Shea – she has struck three goals in the last two games – have also displayed their net-bulging ability too.

Their appetite for destruction in front of goal contrasts with Meath’s carefully-choreographed game plan which at its heart is a counter-attacking system.

If Kerry are bold and overcommit, then Meath will be only too happy to punish them on the break and to pen them in on their own kick-out for extended spells.

Eamonn Murray’s Meath have every reason to wish to succeed too. Quite aside from the fact that this is still only the county’s second senior final ever, it is expected that the management team will change considerably for 2023 while there are question marks over the availability of key players like Vikki Wall, Orlagh Lally and Emma Troy for next season.

For all sorts of reasons, not least of which is the competitiveness of the championship at large, the pressure is on Meath to capitalise on this golden opportunity.

They’ve relied on Duggan to bail them out of tight spots in recent games and, while it’s made for captivating viewing, they’d happily live without the stress. That means starting better than they have been, even if they appear to enjoy sussing out their opposition for long spells before eventually striking with lethal intent.

The last time the teams met, in the 2021 Division 2 league final, Meath won by 10 points, 2-16 to 1-9. They appear to have the players and, crucially, the experience to land another landmark win.

Kerry: C Butler; J O’Sullivan, K Cronin, E Lynch; A O’Connell, A Costello, C Murphy; L Scanlon, C Lynch; N Carmody, S O’Shea, A Galvin (capt.); P McCarthy, D O’Leary, L Ní Mhuircheartaigh.

Meath: M McGuirk; S Ennis (capt.), M.K. Lynch, K Newe; A Leahy, E Troy, A Cleary; M O’Shaughnessy, O Lally; M Thynne, E Duggan, K Nesbitt; V Wall, S Grimes, N O’Sullivan.

Referee: Maggie Farrelly (Cavan)