Monaghan on Cork revenge mission

MONAGHAN skipper Sharon Courtney has targeted revenge against Cork in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies SFC final at Croke Park on September 25.

Cork dished out a 4-13 to 0-11 hammering when the sides met in the 2008 decider, but Ulster champions Monaghan now appear better equipped to face the formidable challenge of the Leesiders.

Monaghan booked their place in the final with a thrilling 4-15 to 2-12 semi-final victory over Kerry at St Brendan’s Park, Birr on Saturday. It was the second successive year the Kingdom lost out at this stage of the competition but the beaten Munster finalists produced a gritty performance and came from eight points down in the first- half to lead twice after the restart.

But Monaghan hit 2-5 without reply in a devastating 15-minute spell, while Kerry lost centre-back Aisling Desmond to the sin-bin for 10 minutes. And the Farney girls, who led 2-7 to 0-8 at half-time, eased to the final whistle.

The winners scored 4-11 from play during the course of an impressive attacking display, but it was captain Courtney who claimed the player of the match award for her display at full-back.

She said: “We’re delighted. It was touch and go there for a while but we pulled it out of the bag and we can’t wait for the final. In other years we would have let that go and lost that game but the girls showed great character and our experience told. We weren’t going to leave it behind again. This is where we’ve wanted to be. We took it game by game this year and we’re finally here (in the final). I hope we can do the business this year. We went into that All-Ireland final in 2008 with high hopes. Unfortunately it didn’t happen for us on the day but we’ve regrouped and hopefully we can get over the line.”

Kerry boss William O’Sullivan, whose side has faced both All-Ireland finalists this year, reflected: “I suppose Cork will be favourites but Monaghan have enough pace about them to trouble them. It should be a good match. The turning point for us was their third goal, added to the fact that we had a player in the bin for ten minutes. Against the likes of Monaghan, you need 15 players on the pitch. But it’s just one of those things; there’s no blame attached to the person sinbinned. These things happen in Ladies football. We’ll just go away now and come back stronger next year.”

Meanwhile, Westmeath overturned a five-point half-time deficit against Limerick in Saturday’s TG4 All-Ireland Ladies IFC semi-final to win 1-10 to 1-7 and set up a September 25 final meeting with Cavan at Croke Park.

Westmeath will contest a first All-Ireland final since the 1987 senior decider against Kerry when they make a landmark appearance at GAA HQ later this month.

And Emma Clarke inspired New York to an historic 0-10 to 0-5 win in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies JFC semi-final against Wexford. New York returned to the competition following a 12-year absence and Cavan native Clarke scored seven points as the Exiles booked their place in a first junior decider since 1999. Philip Sheridan’s team face Wicklow in the decider on September 25, looking to make up for the final defeat by Tyrone 12 years ago.