2024 Lidl Ladies National Football League Finals
Fixtures
Saturday, 6 April
Carlow v Limerick (Division 4), Birr, 2pm
Clare v Roscommon (Division 3), Birr, 4pm
Sunday, 7 April
Kildare v Tyrone (Division 2), Croke Park, 1pm
Galway v Waterford, (Division 1 relegation p/o), Ballinasloe, 2pm
Armagh v Kerry (Division 1), Croke Park, 3pm
ONLINE
Latest scores and match reports on rte.ie/sport.
RADIO
Updates on RTÉ Radio 1's Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport.
TV/STREAMING
The Division 1 and 2 deciders from Croke Park will be live on TG4, while the Division 3 and 4 action in Birr will be streamed live on Spórt TG4 YouTube.
WEATHER
Storm Kathleen will bring very strong and gusty southerly winds to all areas on Saturday, with severe and damaging gusts in the south and west during the morning and afternoon. Coastal flooding and wave overtopping are likely. Showers will move northeast across the country through the day. Highest temperatures of 12 to 15 degrees.
Bright and blustery on Sunday with sunny spells and scattered showers, some of them heavy. Highest temperatures of 10 to 13 degrees in fresh to strong and gusty southwesterly winds with gales on western and northwestern coasts during the morning, gradually easing later. More on met.ie.
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Division 1: Can Armagh take the throne off the Kingdom?
Both teams have rung the changes ahead of Sunday's Lidl National League Division 1 final – as Armagh prepare for their maiden appearance in a top-flight decider against the Kingdom, who are the current champions.
With a final place already secured, Armagh made changes against Dublin for their Round 7 group game, which resulted in a heavy defeat.
Manager Gregory McGonigle has recalled Anna Carr between the sticks in place of Brianna Mathers, while there also starts for Róisín Mulligan, Cáit Towe, Dearbhla Coleman, Niamh Coleman, Caroline O’Hanlon, Aoife McCoy, Aimee Mackin and Niamh Henderson.
McGonigle’s starting line-up will show nine changes in personnel from the Dublin outing, with Maeve Ferguson, Laura Kavanagh, Ciara Garvey, Eimear O’Brien, Sarah Quigley, Megan O’Callaghan, Maeve Lennon and Niamh Reel also listed on the bench.
The Kerry side that accounted for Galway to book another final slot shows four changes in personnel, with Cáit Lynch, Deirdre Kearney, Niamh Ní Chonchúir and Hannah O’Donoghue coming in for Kate O’Sullivan, Ciara McCarthy, Danielle O’Leary and Katie Brosnan.
Kerry, chasing a 13th top flight title and back-to-back crowns, were once undisputed Division 1 league queens. From 1980-1985, they won six successive titles and followed that up with five-in-a-row from 1987-1991.
The long wait for a 12th title ended in 2023 when the team managed by Declan Quill and Darragh Long got the better of Galway in impressive fashion at Croke Park.
Armagh, meanwhile, are preparing for their first Division 1 final and recent progress for the Orchard County has been rapid as they were Division 2 finalists in 2022, losing to Sunday’s opponents on that occasion, before going one better and landing second-tier silverware and promotion last year, with victory over Laois.
Any worries that Armagh might be overwhelmed by Division 1 football were quickly allayed as they scorched through the group phase of the competition, winning six games in a row before the Dublin loss.
If recent form is a barometer, both sides are in good shape heading into this one and it’s Armagh who have the psychological pre-match edge after winning against Kerry in early March.
Kerry made the trip to the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds and suffered their first, and only, defeat of the campaign.
Division 1’s leading scorer, Aimee Mackin, was in scintillating form on the day and she’s a player Kerry will need to keep tabs on.
But Kelly Mallon is also in excellent form in attack, while Kerry have Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh leading the way in the scoring stakes, with the likes of Emma Dineen, captain Niamh Carmody and Hannah O’Donoghue also contributing handsomely to date.
Indeed, it was O’Donoghue’s impact off the bench that helped Kerry get past the challenge of Galway in Round 7, and book a place in Sunday’s final.
The scoring prowess of Mackin and Ní Mhuircheartaigh will prove crucial to Sunday’s result.
Mackin scored 2-06 when the sides met earlier in the league, with Ní Mhuircheartaigh, used sparingly to date, coming off the bench midway through the second half to register a point.
Going back to 2022, when the sides last met in the championship, the lethal pair were very much to the fore on that occasion.
This time, it was Ní Mhuircheartaigh who scored 2-06 in Kerry’s quarter-final victory, with Mackin producing a majestic display of her own that yielded 0-11, six of those from play.
These are two of the very best in the business, All-Star calibre forwards with the ability to hurt any opposition.
And on current form, they’ll have big roles to play for their respective counties in their provincial championships and into the All-Ireland series, the latter to commence in June.
As a pre-championship appetiser, and with national silverware at stake, Sunday’s division 1 final is a tasty dish.
Speaking on RTÉ 2fm's Game On during the week, Waterford legend Michelle Ryan was leaning towards Armagh who appeared to be that "little bit more settled" with their panel during the round-robin and are arriving into Sunday with plenty of momentum bar the blip against Dublin.
Meanwhile, there is also a winner-takes-all clash between Galway and Waterford in Ballinasloe that will determine who plays Division 1 football again next year – and who will drop down to Division 2 for 2025.
Two proud footballing counties meet at Duggan Park and with so much at stake.
Cork are already relegated and the big question now ahead of throw-in is who will join them?
The winner of this clash will stay up but if the game finishes in a draw, the team finishing higher in the table, and securing Division 1 football again, will be the team that registers the highest number of points (scores converted over the bar) in Sunday's game.
If they still can't be separated, the county with the best scoring difference will be safe and, ahead of throw-in, that’s Galway, who are -5 compared to Waterford’s -13.
Division 2: Unbeaten records on the line
With promotion to Division 1 achieved for 2025, silverware is the name of the game for Kildare and Tyrone in Sunday's division 2 final.
On paper, and known form, there will be very little to separate two excellent sides at the final whistle.
Kildare may start as slight favourites by virtue of the fact that they topped the Division 2 standings with 19 points from seven outings, with Tyrone two points further back, but both teams are unbeaten to date in 2024 and they drew when they faced each other in the group stages.
In what was a Round 6 dress rehearsal ahead of Sunday’s league decider, there was still a keen competitive edge.
The Lilywhites extended their long unbeaten record, and without the services of top scorer Róisín Byrne, as Maria Canavan’s penalty secured a draw for Tyrone towards the finish.
Canavan has led the way in the scoring stakes all season for the Red Hands, with the likes of Chloe McCaffrey and Emma Conroy also making significant contributions, while Byrne’s efforts for Kildare have been aided and abetted by team-mates such as Ellen Dowling, who scored 1-04 in that previous meeting with Tyrone, and Neasa Dooley.
Kildare’s progress in recent times has been quite remarkable. They were crowned division 3 champions last year before going on to land the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate title.
Now Kildare can look forward to Lidl National League Division 1 football next year and before that, a leinster championship campaign that also features Dublin, Meath and Laois, after which focus will switch to the All-Ireland series.
Tyrone will be hugely encouraged by their recent form too. They finished well down the pecking order in Division 2 last year, winning three and losing four of their group fixtures, but have been revived in spectacular fashion.
Sunday will provide a real indicator of just how far Tyrone have come, however. When they met Kildare in the quarter-finals of the 2023 intermediate championship, the Ulster side lost out by 0-05 to 1-12.
Kildare were dominant on the day before going on to achieve Croke Park glory and senior status for 2024.
Tyrone will hope to embark on a similar path in the championship during the summer and after watching Antrim clinch Ulster intermediate glory at their expense last year, the Red Hands will also be anxious to get back on top in their province.
That’s in the future, however, as both sides focus in on the immediate prize at stake.
Division 3: Little to separate Clare and Roscommon
There's huge motivation within both camps ahead of Saturday's division 3 final.
Clare were stung by defeat in the 2023 decider, when the Banner County lost a thrilling decider against Kildare at Parnell Park that went all the way to extra-time.
Roscommon, meanwhile, are aiming to win Division 3 silverware for the second time in three seasons.
After landing the title in 2022, the Connacht outfit suffered relegation last year but have bounced back at the first attempt to the second tier.
The fact that both of Saturday’s finalists have already achieved promotion should ensure that the shackles are off and they’ll play an expansive game in search of the silverware on offer at Grant Heating St Brendan’s Park in Birr.
Recent form suggests that there will be very little to separate them.
When they met in February in round 3, the counties played out a draw, 1-07 apiece.
This was the proverbial 'seesaw’ battle that saw the pendulum swing both ways before a stalemate ensued at the full-time whistle.
Clare were seven points down at half-time but, wind-assisted, they rallied in the second half.
Roscommon inched ahead late on but Clare claimed a merited draw in the dying moments when Fidelma Marrinan, ZuCar Golden Boot winner for 2023, nailed the levelling point.
On the day, it was Marrinan (1-04) and her attacking sidekick, Chloe Moloney, who accounted for all of Clare’s scores.
For Roscommon, Aisling Hanly scored 1-1, Laura Fleming (Roscommon’s top scorer in the League) contributed 0-03 from frees, Aisling Feeley landed two points from play, and Lauren Shanagher was also on target.
Marrinan is top scorer in Division 3 to date and she won’t be caught at the top of the charts.
The return of Ailish Considine to the Clare ranks this year is another major boosts and undoubtedly makes the team stronger.
Looking at the bigger picture and what lies in store come championship time, these are two teams who will fancy their chances of glory.
Roscommon failed to make it out of the group stages last year but they look a far better outfit this year, while Clare will aim to go one better.
Division 4: Unexpected pairing sets up intriguing decider
The general consensus was that Fermanagh and Leitrim would be playing in Saturday's division 4 semi-final – but Carlow and Limerick were determined to rip up the script.
When the dust settled on the group phase of the competition, Fermanagh were top of the pile on 19 points, followed by Leitrim on 18, and Limerick and Carlow on 11.
That left Fermanagh to play Carlow in the semi-finals, with Leitrim up against Limerick.
Leitrim were left disappointed by defeat in last year’s Division 4 Final against Antrim, when promotion was the big prize for the winners, while Fermanagh had lost out to Leitrim at the semi-final stage.
Ahead of the recent last-four clashes, Fermanagh and Leitrim were big favourites but Carlow and Limerick performed heroics to win and secure promotion to Division 3 for 2025.
Maeve O’Neill scored a last gasp winning goal as Carlow claimed a dramatic victory over Fermanagh, with Iris Kennelly striking a late, late goal for Limerick as they got the better of Leitrim in another wonderful finish to that game.
Now both of Saturday’s finalists can enjoy the occasion and the expectation is that this will be a tight game.
The counties met in round 7 of the group phase and that game resulted in a two-point victory for Limerick.
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