Tipp's English sisters driven by their Déise DNA
Tipperary players Maria Curley, left, and Sarah English celebrate after their side's victory over Donegal in the 2025 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship Group 1 match in Bansha. Photo by Seb Daly/Sportsfile
Following on swiftly from their excellent start to the TG4 Munster senior football championship last weekend, Sarah English and Tipperary are preparing themselves for a ‘humongous challenge’ from Kerry in the latest stage of the provincial series tomorrow afternoon.
At Páirc Uí Rinn seven days ago, Tipperary pulled out all the stops to secure a magnificent 0-11 to 0-9 success over recently-crowned Lidl National Football League Division 1 champions Cork in their own backyard. In the first competitive fixture for the Premier County since bringing their own NFL Division 2 campaign to a close, English proved to be an instrumental figure as she contributed three points for her side from wing-back.
It was a very interesting opening to this year’s TG4 Munster SFC overall with defending champions Kerry suffering a 0-17 to 2-9 reversal against Waterford at Austin Stack Park in Tralee last Sunday. These results show that you can’t rely entirely on home comforts in this competition, but English is nonetheless pleased to be taking on the Kingdom at Clonmel Sportsfield tomorrow.
“Obviously Kerry will be a humongous challenge at the weekend. They’re probably still the top team in Munster at the minute and deservedly so with all they’ve achieved over the last few years. I think we’ll work really hard at training and hopefully we can bring the same intensity and work rate to Sunday,” English said.
“Obviously it will be a big challenge, but we’re really looking forward to it and it’s always great to play against the big teams. It definitely adds to the occasion of the Munster championship, especially being at home in Clonmel as well.
“I think since I’ve been involved with Tipp, we hadn’t beaten Cork in championship. So it was extra special to get over the line last Saturday. We worked so hard since finishing the league. Putting in really good, tough sessions at training and we put our focus into the upcoming Munster championship games. We were pleased to get a really good performance.”
Despite only being 22 years of age, English has a considerable amount of experience under her belt in the adult ranks of inter-county football. Along with her younger sister Clara, English was drafted into the Tipperary senior panel during the summer of 2021 after playing for the Premier’s minor team in the same year.
She went on to feature as a substitute for her county when they recorded a crucial win over Tyrone in a TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship relegation play-off at Coralstown/Kinnegad on August 28, 2021.
English has gradually gone on to become a regular starter in this Tipperary team since then and she helped the Munster side to reach the quarter-final stage of the TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship in 2025.
“My sister actually came in at the same time in the summer of 2021, when we just finished the minor championship. We were just kind of part of the training panel, but we were delighted to be there. It’s definitely a dream of yours when you’re growing up playing for Tipperary underage to play for the seniors,” English recalled.
“It was a really, really good experience and the girls were great to us when we came in. The likes of Maria Curley and Lauren Fitzpatrick and Anna Rose [Kennedy]. I definitely would have looked up to them and still do look up to them for sure. It was great to come in and I’m still in there now, so it’s fantastic.”
While their Ardfinnan club-mate Samantha Lambert (a three-time TG4 All-Ireland intermediate football championship winner with Tipperary) is a clear inspiration in their respective careers, there is someone within their own family that the English sisters can look towards for guidance.
Although Sarah and Clara have regularly locked horns with Waterford on the inter-county scene, their mother Sinead Walsh was a past stalwart of the Deise County. In addition to featuring as a starter for Waterford in a brace of back-to-back TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship final successes (1991 & 1992 and 1994 & 1995), Walsh was also part of the panel for all 10 AIB All-Ireland senior club championship titles that Ballymacarbry garnered from 1987 to 1998.
It was very much a family affair for Walsh herself during this period, leaving her daughters with no shortage of role models as they developed through the ranks of a rival county.
“I’m really steeped in the football here at home. She’s great, she’s definitely an inspiration as well to have. She has been there and she’s won things, so she knows exactly what it takes to win and all the hard work that gets put into it.
“They were such a fantastic team at the time and they’ve won so much. Having her there and even hearing my grandparents talking about it as well. My Mam’s sisters used to play as well, so having them around, it’s great. They can give you some wise words when I’m going out to play matches and good advice. I definitely look up to all of them.”
Though it already felt like the game had evolved from her mother’s time as a player, the introduction of several new rules has meant ladies football in 2026 feels a lot different for English and her colleagues than the one they experienced just 12 months ago.
Throughout the Lidl National Football Leagues and the Higher Education colleges competitions this year (both of which the MIC Limerick student featured in), the LGFA trialled 12 playing rule enhancements.
Six of these regulations mirrored the changes that have been brought into the men’s game – such as the ‘three up rule’ and the ‘solo and go’ – whereas the remainder were focused more so on the current rules of the LGFA.
These new rules were fully approved by the association at a Special Congress earlier this month and English is delighted they have been carried forward into this year’s championship and beyond.
“The game has changed massively and I think it’s a really, really good game now at the moment. It’s a really good spectacle. Introducing more kicking of the ball into the three inside is really, really good and the ‘tap and go’ just quickens up the game hugely,” English added.
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