Ladies' Football: Lidl National Football League Division One
THE cobwebs will be well and truly blown away on Sunday afternoon with the opening round of the Lidl National Football Leagues across all four divisions.
The top tier throws up some interesting games straight away, none moreso than the Ulster derby between Division One newcomers Armagh and seasoned campaigners Monaghan in Emyvale.
Both sides see a change in management for 2016 with Armagh in the better position of having appointed former Orchard senior intercounty star Ronan Clarke back in November and allowing the All-Ireland medal winner a chance to put in place his plans and prepare efficiently for the league campaign ahead.
Monaghan, on the other hand, just a few weeks ago appointed former Meath and Fermanagh manager Paula Cunningham for the forthcoming season after Peter Clarke stepped aside.
While it certainly has not been ideal preparation, the Clones woman does have the advantage of knowing many of the squad. She has previously been involved with the county’s teams at underage level and the senior ‘B’ side back in 2006, and managed Ulster at inter-provincial level last year, as well as coming up against them when over opposition teams.
“Unfortunately we were appointed very late but this couldn’t be helped,” said Cunningham, who has brought in Dwayne McCarey and Anthony Murphy to help with the management side of things.
Cunningham has held open trials for the past two weeks in an attempt to get new faces on board, especially as she will be without a number of key players, including Cathriona McConnell, Linda Martin, Nicola Fahy, Caoimhe Mohan and Amanda Casey for the foreseeable future.
“We got a good response from the clubs with a lot of new faces presenting themselves.,” she added.
“Unfortunately alongside this we have a number of players who stood down from county football at the end of their campaign last year and have made travel plans, that kind of thing, for this year and are unavailable.”
She is not making any excuses, however, and will use the league to try out new players and ideas in preparation for the championship.
“We can only do of our best and we look forward to the challenge of developing new talent to slot in alongside the more established players,” she said.
“The first target will be to retain Division One status with a top four finish a bonus. Armagh, a local derby against one of the top teams not only in Ulster but in Ireland, it doesn’t come much more difficult.”
Mixing it with some of the top teams in the country on a weekly basis, Armagh manager Clarke expects each game to be like a championship encounter for the Division One newcomers.
And while he says he has not thought too much about targets and aims, ultimately retaining top tier status and a mid-table finish is the main priority.
“We want to take each game as it comes and build on from there. Each game will be like a championship match in Division One and if we can consolidate our position in the league with a mid-table finish, I think that is the main priority,” said the two-times Allstar.
“Every game will be tough in this division and Monaghan will be no exception. It is a big step up in class and hopefully so far we have done enough pre-season wise to get up and running on Sunday.”
Clarke has drafted in some new personnel with a number of minors making the step up to the senior squad and he realises that it will need to give it time so that they can make the transition between grades.
“Mostly, we have held on to the players from last season but there are some who have not been able to give the commitment because of work and that is understandable,” he added.
“But I have had a good foundation to build on and pre-season has went well, despite not getting too much pitch time.”
Tyrone are still without management in place for their opening round game against Galway but the county has been training since before Christmas.
The Red Hands managed to avoid the drop last season in a relegation battle against Laois while Galway were denied Division One honours by Cork but only after a replay.
