All-Ireland Ladies Football Intermediate Championship Final: Kerry 3-14 Galway 0-11
Kerry ended a 31-year wait for glory with an utterly dominant victory over Galway in the All-Ireland senior women’s football final at Croke Park.
Kerry, who had suffered heartbreak losing finals in 2022 and 2023, finally got up the steps of the Hogan Stand as champions – something the county had last managed in 1993.
Aoife Dillane’s goal just before half-time swung the contest decisively in Kerry’s favour, sending the Kingdom in with a 1-8 to 0-3 lead at the break in front of 30,040 at Croke Park.
Hannah O’Donoghue and Emma Dinneen added second-half goals as Kerry claimed a record 12th All-Ireland senior women’s title.
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For Galway, it is the county’s second All-Ireland final defeat in seven days after Padraic Joyce’s men fell to Armagh last Sunday. They are in the camogie final next weekend.
Kerry captain Niamh Carmody opened the scoring in this decider with a point in the second minute but when Róisín Leonard replied it appeared we were set for a closely-fought contest.
But from the moment Dineen nudged Kerry back ahead in the fifth minute with a point, the Kingdom led all the way until the final whistle.
Galway went almost 20 minutes between their second and third points – during which time they registered three wides, had efforts blocked down and failed to capitalise on other chances.
During that scoreless period for Galway, at the other end of the field it seemed that Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh couldn’t miss – the Kerry forward popped over five successive points to give Kerry a 0-8 to 0-2 lead by the 25th minute.
Leonard finally got Galway moving again on the scoreboard two minutes later but the key moment in the game arrived just before the interval when some nice quick Kerry interplay cut open a gap in the Tribe defence and the move ended with Dillane’s shot looping over Dearbhla Gower and dropping in under the crossbar.
The half-time hooter sounded almost immediately and while Kerry raced towards the dressingroom, Galway trudged off looking somewhat shellshocked. Kerry had the momentum before the goal anyhow, but Dillane’s strike landed like a hammer-blow on Galway.
To their credit, Daniel Moynihan’s side scored the first point of the second half but Kerry midfielder Mary O’Connell replied for the Munster champions and the Kingdom were soon setting the agenda again.
If Dillane’s goal was a hammer blow then O’Donoghue’s 44th minute strike was the nail in Galway’s coffin.
O’Donoghue was only on the pitch a matter of seconds when she took a neat pass from Ní Mhuircheartaigh, shook off the attention of Kate Geraghty and smacked the ball inside Gower’s near post.
Dinneen showed some lovely footwork in the closing moments to tuck away Kerry’s third goal but the game was long over as a contest by that stage.
The Kerry management took Ní Mhuircheartaigh off the pitch after that score, providing the long-serving Corca Dhuibhne forward, who made her debut in 2008, with a standing ovation.
Ní Mhuircheartaigh had finally won the All-Ireland she had long craved. So too had Kerry.
Kerry: Ciara Butler; Eilís Lynch, Kayleigh Cronin, Aoife Dillane (1-0); Aishling O’Connell, Ciara Murphy, Deirdre Kearney; Mary O’Connell (0-1), Anna Galvin (0-1); Niamh Carmody (0-1), Síofra O’Shea, Niamh Ní Chonchúir; Danielle O’Leary, Emma Dineen (1-2), Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh (0-6, 4f). Subs: Hannah O’Donoghue (1-2) for Ní Chonchuir (43 mins); Lorraine Scanlon (0-1) for Kearney (48 mins); Katie Brosnan for Carmody (52 mins); Cáit Lynch for Dillane (54 mins); Kate O’Sullivan for Ní Mhuircheartaigh (57 mins).
Galway: Dearbhla Gower; Maryanne Jordan, Sarah Lynch, Kate Geraghty; Charlotte Cooney (0-1), Nicola Ward, Aoife Ní Cheallaigh; Mairéad Glynn, Ailbhe Davoren; Niamh Divilly (0-1), Louise Ward, Olivia Divilly (0-4, 2f); Emma Reaney, Leanne Coen, Róisín Leonard (0-3, 2f). Subs: Andrea Trill (0-1) for Reaney (24 mins); Eimíle Gavin for Ní Cheallaigh (38 mins); Marta Banek for Jordan (38 mins); Shauna Hynes (0-1) for Glynn (47 mins); Ailish Morrissey for N Divilly (48 mins).
Referee: Jonathan Murphy (Carlow).
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