All three Leinster LGFA Minor Finals will be streamed Live
By Aisling Clery
It has been a busy few months for Minor Championship teams, but finally tomorrow night six counties go in search of provincial silverware.
Meath take on Kildare in the A Final, Dublin face Longford in the B Final, while Westmeath and Wicklow battle it out in the C Final. All games have a start time of 7.30pm.
As in 2021, all three finals will be live streamed. Jerome Quinn will bring us the action from Kinnegad live on our Facebook page, while FM104’s Declan Drake will be live from Clonard GAA also on our Facebook page.
Over in Athy, Loaf of Bread GAA Podcast host Jason Keelan will commentate on Westmeath’s battle with Wicklow on the Leinster LGFA Youtube channel.
Minor A Championship Final: Kildare v Meath, 7.30pm, Coralstown Kinnegad, S McHugh
Meath have won the last two Minor A Finals, defeating Kildare in 2019 and Longford in 2021.
They head to Kinnegad tomorrow hoping for a third successive provincial A title and it is perhaps fitting that Kinnegad is the venue for the final as it is the same venue the two sides battled back in 2019 when 2021 Meath Senior All Ireland winner, Orlagh Lally, captained Meath to their first Minor A title in some years.
On that occasion just two points separated the teams as Meath won by 3-13 to 3-11 with TG4 All Star, Emma Duggan hitting 1-10.
This year’s Final promises to be just as exciting an encounter. The sides last met in Round Two of the competition, Kildare winning in Páirc Tailteann by 2-14 to 2-10.
Niamh Farrelly and Sophie Ngai hit the net for the Lillies on that occasion and while Roisin McManus reduced the deficit to a single score for Meath on 47 minutes, Kildare finished stronger and points from Erin Brereton Foley, Niamh Farrelly, Amy Larn and Sophie Ngai ensured what was their second win in the competition.
Both sides defeated Dublin and Laois to go top of the group and qualify for the A Final and there can be no doubt that both sides will be eager to get their hands on some provincial silverware with the All Ireland semi finals coming up shortly.
The game can be accessed by clicking here from 7.15pm or so with Jerome Quinn on commentary.
Kildare: N Barnes; N Hayes, E Glancy, A Mernagh; S Galvin, R Sargent, O Monaghan; A Larn (C), M Doyle, E Birchall, E Kendrick, S Ngai; G Murtagh, A Cullen, N Farrelly.
Meath: R Murray; T Kyle (C), L Brown, N Troy; S Caulfield, C Lawlor, L Dwyer; S Murphy, T Foster; E Kennedy, C Smyth, L Hassett; O Mallon, A Foley, A O’Leary.
Minor B Championship Final: Dublin v Longford, 7.30pm, Clonard GAA, B Redmond
A novel pairing in the B Championship sees Dublin and Longford go head to head for provincial honours.
While it has been a challenging season for the Dublin footballers, they lost out to Meath and Kildare in the group stages, Longford will still be wary of the sting in the Dublin tail and with experienced manager Fintan O’Curry in charge and TG4 All Ireland winning captain Denise Masterson in the management team, the Dublin team will be filled with words of wisdom and encouragement before taking the field.
Dublin defeated Wexford by two points in their semi-final and they will look to ensure they are on the right side of the scoreboard at the full time whistle.
Longford, however, have had a steady season, enjoying wins over Louth, Wexford and Westmeath qualifying for the B semi-final where they faced last year’s B Champions Laois.
Despite poor weather conditions, Longford surged to a 4-11 to 1-11 win in Pearse Park with Kate MacEntire, Kate Shannon and Ella Duggan finding the net for Pat Tiernan’s side. They will relish the challenge Dublin will present making this final one to savour.
The game can be accessed by clicking here from 7.15pm or so with Declan Drake on commentary.
Dublin: L Quane; A Ní Mhurigheasa, R Callery (C), L Nolan; S Power, A Rafter, H McGinnis; N Crowley, H Bolger, K Donaghy, E Ní Maolagain, S McIntyre; E Connolly, M McAuley, A McKeating.
Longford: L Tierney; L Shannon, G Kenny, R Fallon; F Talabi, C McCormack (C), E Duggan; E O’Reilly, S Gallagher; M Glennon, K MacEntire, S Macken; K Shannon, E Lynn, A Hayden.
Minor C Championship Final: Westmeath v Wicklow, 7.30pm, Athy GAA, G Carthy
After their respective semi-final victories, Westmeath and Wicklow meet in this year’s Minor C Final.
Westmeath were 7-10 to 3-09 winners over Offaly in their semi-final while Wicklow had six points to spare over a resilient Louth team, Dominic Leech’s team winning 4-14 to 4-08.
Westmeath struggled in the group stages, losing out to Wexford and Longford but they recorded a strong win over Louth in their second round, suggesting they will be a tough contest for Wicklow.
However, on the other hand, Wicklow enjoyed a strong win over Offaly in their opening round before convincing wins over Carlow and Kilkenny ensured a semi final place.
Both sides will be eager to ensure victory here to bolster the development being carried out at underage level in each of the counties.
Jason Keelan will be on commentary for this one which can be accessed by clicking here.
Westmeath: A O’Donnell; J Ballesty, A Murphy, J Conway; AM O’Reilly, C Moran, C Doyle; S Seery, C Gaffney; A Dutullio, R Higgins, L Seery; M Monaghan, C Coogan, A Martin.
Wicklow: S Lacey; Z Fennell, O Ní Ghallchobhair, A Carroll; LJ Shannon, ER O’Toole (C), C O’Brien, L Bourke, E O’Sullivan; A Harmon, S Fisher, S Adams; M Sweeney, L Arnold O’Reilly, PR Cullen Dunne.
