Tipperary Ladies Football

The Premier ladies had not only reached the Division 2 League final but had also gained promotion and would be competing in Division 1 for 2010. They were to face an experienced Down side in the Division 2 final which was played at St. Brigid’s GAA Grounds, Kiltoom, County Roscommon on Saturday 9^th May and was aired live on TG4. The ladies got off to bad start leaking two quick goals which proved to be the difference between the sides at the end and unfortunately, this Down side ended the Tipperary ladies winning streak and emerged victorious on a score-line of 2-12 to 0-11.

TIPPERARY LADIES SUFFER BAD START TO 2009 MUNSTER CHAMPIONSHIP &   ALL IRELAND QUALIFIERS

The Premier ladies were unlucky to draw the experienced Kerry side in their first game following gaining promotion to Senior status. They took on Kerry in Dr. Crokes GAA grounds, Killarney on Saturday 16^th May. The ladies were outclassed and were defeated on a score-line of 4-15 to 1-11.

Following a long wait, the team travelled to Tullamore on Monday 3^rd August, to take on Laois in their All Ireland Qualifier in a game which was shown live on TG4 and unfortunately was to prove to be their last game of the year. Laois showed the Premier Ladies that they’ve alot of work to do to compete in Senior ranks and hopefully by next year, they will be ready to take on the might of these experience Senior teams. The girls were defeated by Laois on a score-line of 0-14 to 0-03.

Following their successful League Campaign, the girls will now compete in Division 1 National Football League for 2010 and will continue their preparations for the Senior Munster and All-Ireland campaign s for 2010. Congratulations to the players and management trio of Shane Ronayne, Conor O’Dwyer and Lenny Fitzgerald for 2009 and may we wish the Players and Management team for 2010 every success.

2009 INTERPROVINCIAL LADIES FOOTBALL BLITZ

The interprovincial ladies football blitz took place on Saturday 30^th May in Co. Westmeath and Tipperary were represented by Shane Ronayne who was a selector on the day and the following ladies helped Munster to win out the blitz: Angie McDermott, Gillian O’Brien, Mairead Morrissey and Edel Hanley. Jennifer Grant was also selected to compete but was unable to attend on the day.

2009 BORD GAIS NATIONAL FOOTBALL DIVISION 2 LEAGUE ALL-STARS

Following such a successful league campaign, the following five Tipperary ladies were named as part of the Bord Gais National Football League Division 2 team for 2009. Aoife O’Dwyer was named at right corner back; Siobhán Costello was named at left half back; Angie McDermott was named at centre-field; Gillian O’Brien was named at left half forward and Edel Hanley was named at right corner forward. The girls received their presentation at an awards ceremony which was held in Croke Park on Tuesday 9^th June, 2009.  

2009 Minor Munster Campaign

The Tipperary Minor Ladies opened their Munster Campaign with a hard fought victory over Waterford in Cahir on Wednesday 8^th April. The girls had to come from behind to claim their five point victory with a score line of 2-14 to 3-06. This is an extremely talented bunch of girls and they knew they would now need to up their game to have any chance of claiming a Munster title.

They now faced Limerick in the Munster Semi Final on Wednesday 15^th April. The Limerick girls were comprehensively defeated by the Premier girls on a scoreline of 8-13 to 1-4 and Tipperary marched into a Munster Final where they will once again face Waterford. They displayed the excellent skills this team possess which are pace, skill and clinical finishing in front of goal but they knew following their first round game against Waterford that they would be no walkover and they started to prepare for their Munster Final which eventually was to take place on Thursday 30th April on home turf in Newcastle, Co. Tipperary.

The game had been postponed the previous weekend due to the bad weather and was then due to be played in Tourin, Co. Waterford but we could say the God’s were on our side when the venue was again changed due to the bad weather. The game was a hard fought battle with both side giving an excellent display of football and all involved should be extremely proud of their contribution to both this game and ladies football in general. The Tipperary girls got off to an excellent start but Waterford crept back into the game in the second half but the Premier girls showed great heart, determination and perseverance and again claimed a five point victory with a score line of 4-12 to 3-10. Ann Marie O’Gorman, captain of the Tipp team lifted the Munster title on behalf of the team and the Tipperary girls now looked forward to the All Ireland semi-final which is due to take place on Wednesday July 15^th.

2009 Minor All Ireland Campaign

They faced Westmeath on the Wednesday 15^th July in Banagher, Co. Offaly in the All Ireland semi final. This was to prove an extremely one-sided game with Westmeath being completely outclassed by the Tipp girls and they were to ease through to an All-Ireland final against Roscommon following their convincing victory of 5-13 to 1-04.

The girls were mentally and physically prepared to make their bid for an All Ireland title thanks to the great work of their management team of Shane Ronayne, Martin Ryan & Ciara Ormonde. However, Roscommon were to prove much tougher opposition in Ferbane, Co. Offaly on Friday 31^st July. The Tipp girls fought hard all over the field especially in defence but unfortunately our finishing in front of goal was to prove the difference between the teams on a wet windy evening and the Tipp girls were piped at the final hurdle by a kick of the ball on a score line of 2-07 to 1-07.

This talented bunch of girls makes the future of ladies football in Tipperary look very bright with some of this team being drafted onto the Senior and no doubt many more of the girls will represent Tipperary at the Senior ranks in the coming year. Keep up the good work everyone.

2009 U16 Munster Campaign

The Tipperary U16 ladies opened their Munster Campaign with a comprehensive victory over Waterford in Ardfinnan on Easter Monday evening 13^th April. The girls were superior all over the pitch and were to march onto their next game with a victory on a scoreline of 9-16 to 1-07.

The girls next opponents were their Limerick counterparts. This game was played in Sean Treacy Park in Tipperary Town on Friday 30^th April. The girls added to their comprehensive victory with another victory against Limerick thanks to the sharp shooting of their forward line. The girls emerged from this game worthy winners on a scoreline of 6-14 to 2-05.

This bunch of girls are extremely quick, skilful and obviously very accurate in front of goal with after two games already scoring a tally of 15-30. This is an achievement in itself. Waterford again stood in their way of a Munster title. This game was played on Wednesday 8^th July in Cappaquin, Co. Waterford. When the two teams met earlier in the Championship, Tipperary had a comprehensive victory over Waterford, this game was to prove to be a much closer encounter. The Tipp girls led for all the game but Waterford kept eating away at their lead. The Tipp girls led 2-08 to 2-0 at half time. Yet again the sharp shooting in front of goals proved the difference between the two teams and the Premier County were victorious on a full time scoreline of 3-12 to 5-05. Eimear Myles, captain of the U16 team lifted the Munster Title on behalf of her team-mates.

2009 U16 ALL IRELAND CAMPAIGN

They faced Westmeath on the Wednesday 22^nd July in Banagher, Co. Offaly in the All Ireland semi final. This was to prove a one-sided game with Westmeath being outplayed by the Tipp girls all over the field. The Tipp girls kept up their high scoring record scoring 2-10 and keeping Westmeath to just 0-03 at the full time whistle and through to an All-Ireland final against Roscommon which was played on the 8^th August.

The girls were prepared to take on Roscommon in this All Ireland final thanks to the great work of their management team of Libby Grogan, Conor O’Dwyer, Derry Peters and Kathleen O’Sullivan. The game was played in Ferbane, Co. Offaly and was the girls closely contested game of the year. Following the disappointment of the Minor defeat to Roscommon, the U16 girls were to prove more successful. On the day, each of the girls gave 110% and ended a 31 year wait and claimed the All Ireland title with a scoreline in Tipp’s favour of 1-11 to 0-08.

This talented bunch of girls makes the future of ladies football in Tipperary look very bright. A number of the players have been drafted onto the Minor panel and no doubt many more of the girls will represent Tipperary at Minor and Senior level in the coming years. Keep up the good work everyone.

THREE OUTINGS FOR THE TIPP LADIES  U14 FOOTBALL TEAM IN 2009

On Saturday 14th March in Cahir the Tipperary County u14 girls played Waterford in their opening match in the Munster Football Championship. While going down by a score of 4-7 to 5-5, this game could have gone either way. The Tipp girls got of to a great start scoring 1-3 to a point and would go in at half time leading by 4pts. Unfortunately as the second half wore on, the physically smaller Tipperary team started to tire and despite their best efforts they just came up short.

Saturday 24th March all roads led to Cappamore as the Tipp girls faced Limerick who had lost to Clare the previous week, so all was to play for. In the first half Tipperary played into a strong wind and were just 1pt down at half time, on a score line of 2 goals to 1-4. The second half was nip and tuck and with a minute to go Tipperary led by a point, but disaster struck with Tipperary conceding 2 late goals to lose on a score line of 5-2 to 5-7.Tipperary scores: Aisling Mc Carthy 2:0, Claire Walsh 1:1, Denise O Donnell 1:0, Edel Nyland 1:0 & Shauna Quirke 0:1.

Despite losing the 2 games to date this team is full of talented young footballers, but they are physically smaller than the two teams they have played to date. Another fact is that this young squad had 2 weeks preparation prior to the start of the championship while their opponents have been training since early January.

They also played Clare at home on Sunday 4th April and were heavily defeated. They now need to look to 2010 and start their preparations for a more successful campaign. Special thanks to their management team for 2009 of Karl McCarthy, Eamon Lacey, Maria Leahy, and Tony Fox.

Tipperary Squad: Aisling Mc Carthy, Emma Corcoran, Kirsty Downey, Emma Buckley, Aisling Armitage, Lorna McEniry (Cahir), Judith Purcell, Emma Lacey, Gemma O Dwyer, Sinead Kenderick, Elaine Butler (Moyle Rovers), Dara Walsh - Captain, Sally Quinlivan, Rachel O Dwyer, Michele Kehoe (Clonmel Commercials) Sinead Kennedy, Jackie O Gorman, Makela Maher (Brian Borus), Dervela Hennessy & Shauna Quirke (Cappawhite), Ciara Walsh & Bridget Doyle (Killenaule), Edel Nyland (Templemore), Maura Condon (Emly), Denise O Donnell ( Lattin Cullen ) & Aine McCarthy (Thurles).