Kerry 3-14; Galway 0-11
If at first you don’t succeed, just keep on going! That must have been the Kerry ladies footballers motto over the past three years as finally they overcame adversity from the last two finals to finally hit the promised land against Galway in Croke Park on Sunday.
A generation had grown up since their last victory 31 years ago not knowing the pleasure of bringing the Brendan Martin Cup to the Kingdom so this 12-point win over Galway was long overdue to followers of the green and gold.
Predicting this outcome would have looked foolhardy some months ago following the Kingdom’s demise in the league final to Armagh.
However, as Muhammad Ali once said, it is not the knock down that counts but how you get back up, and certainly the management team and the squad regrouped magnificently to win the Munster and now All Ireland titles since that reverse.
The latest victory means Kerry now move back ahead of great provincial rivals Cork by having won the most SF championships.
However after last year, both co-managers shook hands in the middle of the pitch as Dublin’s Carla Rowe lifted the cup amid a sea of blue on the Hogan Stand and decided that was it for them.
Kerry's Mary O'Connell lifts the Brendan Martin Cup. Inpho/Ben Brady
Immediately after the final whistle was blown then, Darragh Long and Declan Quill agreed to step aside.
“We were in the middle of the field last year looking up at Carla getting the Cup for Dublin and blue everywhere," explained Declan. “We shook hands and he said 'That's it'. And I said, 'That's it for me too'. He has kids at home, I have three kids at home as well. It is hard to keep everything going."
The pair had a rethink the following morning in the hotel and a few things dawned on them. "We could have thrown in the towel, and we were super close to doing that. We thought we had run our race. We thought we had asked as much of the girls as we could ask of them. But we sounded girls out and they wanted us back. Unfinished business.
"It was tough losing against Meath two years ago but we probably weren't expected to win. A lot of people maybe thought we'd win last year, so that one hurt. And last year still hurts even though we have now won it today.
"But today is also going to make up for every bit of sacrifice we have asked of them and that they have asked of us over the last couple of years. It was a dream scenario to be in that position a couple of minutes out,” he admitted.
Not unexpectedly, their leader on the field was the ebullient Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh who dictated the scoring graph for her team while there was also major input from sub Hannah O'Donoghue, who shot 1-2 to wrap up a class cameo performance.
Ironically it was at the other end of the pitch that full-back Kayleigh Cronin put on a display for the ages to collect the player of the match in this landmark victory.
In fairness, this was a day when all players were on their game for the winner as Emma Dineen also weighed in with 1-2; arguably the score that killed the final as a contest came from marauding wingback Emma Dineen whose left-footed goal on the cusp of half-time pushed Kerry into a 1-8 to 0-3 lead.
Even at that early juncture, you could tell from the Galway body language that they were already a beaten docket and they will have some soul searching to undergo if they are to eradicate this game and their failure to compete from their collective memory.
It is now 20 years since their last win in this competition and five since they suffered their last reverse at this stage in 2019.
That said, they can take comfort in the Kerry songbook as only 12 months ago it was they would traipsed off the hallowed Croke Park sod crestfallen after a Hannah Tyrrell-inspired Dublin beat them out the gate.
No one remembered that occasion more than Ni Mhuircheartaigh who felt she flopped on that big occasion and obviously was determined that the same thing would not repeat itself on Sunday.
She had five points to her credit by the interval from frees and play and was kicking sumptuously off either foot in totting up her scores. Although specifically marked by Maryanne Jordan, she reveled in the attention as she prompted and exposed the losers’ rearguard with her athleticism and skills.
Any thoughts of a Galway fightback on the resumption didn’t materialize as Kerry landed three points to negative the maroon ladies’ efforts and leave the winners with an eight-point lead.
O'Donoghue’s introduction was a killer blow for Galway as she struck home the second goal after Ní Mhuircheartaigh found her with a perfect pass to unlock their opponent’s defense.
The super sub then added a point and produced a brilliant pass across the goal for Emma Dineen to wrong-foot the inside backs and goalkeepers with her trickery before stroking the ball into an empty net - signed, sealed and delivered.
In the intermediate final, Tyrone staged an amazing comeback but came up just short against an Ailbhe Clancy inspired Leitrim side who held on to win by the slenderest of margins 3-11 to 3-10.
In the Junior Final, Fermanagh had too much experience for a young Louth side and ended up winners on a 1-11 to 0-12 margin with Emma Smyth the star turn for the winners with 1-9 to her credit.
Kerry: C Butler; E Lynch, K Cronin, A Dillane (1-0); A O'Connell, C Murphy, D Kearney; M O'Connell (0-1), A Galvin (0-1); N Carmody (0-1), S O'Shea, N Ni Chonchuir; D O'Leary, E Dinneen (1-2), LNi Mhuircheartaigh (0-6, 0-4f) Subs: H O'Donoghue (1-2) for Ni Chonchuir 43, L Scanlon (0-1) for Kearney 47, K Brosnan for Carmody 52, C Lynch for Dillane 53, K O'Sullivan for Ni Mhuircheartaigh 56.
Galway: D Gower; M Jordan, S Lynch, K Geraghty; C Cooney (0-1), N Ward, A Ni Cheallaigh; M Glynn, A Davoren; N Divilly (0-1), L Ward, O Divilly (0-4, 0-2f); E Reaney, L Coen, R Leonard (0-3, 0-2f) Subs: A Trill (0-1) for Reaney 24, E Gavin for Ni Cheallaigh 38, M Banek for Jordan 38, S Hynes (0-1) for Glynn 46, A Morrissey for N Divilly 48.
Ref: J Murphy (Carlow).
