Ladies Football Final: Kerry v Galway - three key battles

Three tussles that will shape Sunday's final.

Kerry footballer Síofra O'Shea and Galway footballer Kate Geraghty with The Brendan Martin Cup ahead of the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship Final on Sunday. Visit ladiesgaelic.ie for ticket information. Photo by Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

Kate Geraghty (Galway) v Síofra O'Shea (Kerry) 

Having suffered ACL injuries in 2021 and 2023, O'Shea has been injury free for the last couple of seasons and is thriving. She has tallied 3-25 in the All-Ireland series - 1-5 v Tipperary, 0-6 v Kildare, 1-6 v Meath and 1-8 v Dublin, with 0-14 from placed balls - and is a clear player of the year contender. Back door cuts, sensible fisted points, well-taken goals; she has displayed her full catalogue of skills. 

O'Shea's high catch, powerful run and fisted point 80 seconds into the semi-final win over Dublin amounted to early terms being laid down. It will be a clash of captains if the Kingdom skipper is marked by Galway's Kate Geraghty, one of the tightest in the business. Geraghty trailed Armagh star Aimee Mackin in the semi-final and held her to a single point from play.

Niamh Divilly (Galway) v Mary O'Connell (Kerry) 

Surging runs through the centre by the Kilkerrin-Clonberne dynamo created the first and last points of Galway's semi-final win. In between, Divilly, stationed next to her sister, Siobhán, at midfield, lorded the middle third and capped an excellent campaign with the player of the match award. Croke Park has been her playground in recent seasons as a five-in-a-row All-Ireland club medallist. 

Kerry had to rejig their midfield against Dublin following the knee injury picked up by Anna Galvin. That opened the door for Mikala Mulvihill to make her first Championship start though it was Caoimhe Evans who played alongside Mary O'Connell. An O'Connell-Niamh Divilly head-to-head would be a terrific one and could decide a lot in the vital engine room.

Nicola Ward (Galway) v Niamh Ní Chonchúir (Kerry) 

Ward's consolation when Galway came up short against Kerry in the 2024 final was to be named player of the year afterwards. She is in the conversation for the honour again and underlined her quality with a brilliant semi-final performance. The centre-point of Galway's defence, her probing runs forward ended in numerous lay-offs for colleagues to score against Armagh, a feature of Galway's campaign. Ward scored a point herself against the Orchard and had a goal chance that was saved. 

But Kerry have a huge threat at number 11 and keeping tabs on Nimah Ní Chonchúir, the Kingdom's Paudie Clifford-type quarter-back, could occupy much of Ward's time. Ní Chonchúir always puts in a huge shift and is capable of setting up scores with direct running, angled attacks or deftly played kick passes.