Ladies National Football Leagues
ULSTER’S three Division One teams will hope to return to winning ways this weekend as the Ladies National Football League reaches the halfway point.
Donegal’s unbeaten start to the season ended away to Kerry last Sunday, while Armagh fell to Mayo in a game they felt was certainly there for taking and Monaghan, very much in the mix at half-time against Galway, fell away in the second half.
This Sunday sees Monaghan away to Kerry, just like their male counterparts in the top tier, while Donegal travel to Parnell Park to take on Dublin, whose unbeaten run also came to an end last weekend against champions Cork.
Armagh travel to Tuam Stadium, where they will be welcomed by Galway.
The Monaghan-Kerry game is a massive one in terms of keeping relegation worries at bay.
Kerry, in their victory over Donegal, finally got their first points of the league, as did Mayo. That leaves Monaghan, Armagh, Kerry and Mayo all on three points with one win, while the other four teams are all on six points with two wins.
It’s a very close league at both ends and only after the next couple of rounds might you see a clearer picture of who will make the knock-out stages, who will just miss out and who will be relegated to Division Two for 2018.
Three games in and Division Two is already a closely contested league with potentially six teams vying for just four semi-final spots.
The big game here this weekend is the Ulster derby between Cavan and Tyrone (Tomorrow, Kingspan Breffni Park 3G, 2pm).
Tyrone made a great start to live in the second tier after being relegated in 2016 with two wins from two but that came to an abrupt halt against Westmeath, at home, last weekend, while after a defeat to that same opposition in the first round, Cavan have responded in the right way to put together two consecutive wins over Clare and Kildare.
The two Ulster sides along with Laois, Westmeath and Sligo, are all on six points after three games with Waterford on four points.
It’s hard to call a favourite for this one and both managers know, as results have already shown, that any team in that league is capable of beating any of the other on their day.
Tyrone boss Gerard Moane views Cavan as the favourites with having home advantage and also wanting to build on their recent wins.
For Moane, after last Sunday’s defeat to Westmeath, his side are keen to get straight back out and right some wrongs.
“We created a lot of chances but we were not clinical enough while Westmeath were and they punished us. It’s another learning curve for a very young team,” he said.
“We don’t have time to dwell on it, we need to move on quickly and we are looking forward to the Cavan game and embrace the challenge they will present to us. We are looking to be more clinical and put them under pressure.
“This is a very, very tight league and results in the first three rounds have already shown that everyone can be defeated on any given day.”
And Cavan manager Aidan McCabe doesn’t read anything into Tyrone’s relegation from Division One last year or their intermediate championship status.
“They lost out in the All-Ireland quarter-finals last year to Clare and we know how strong they are while they also had a good win against Sligo,” said McCabe.
“They are a very good mobile side, with some good experienced players and some very good young players coming through.
“If we don’t get off to a good start and take care of ourselves then Tyrone will certainly take care of themselves.”
McCabe has been involved with Cavan for the last couple of years under Conor Barry and felt it was the right time to step up after Barry’s sudden departure in January, just weeks before the league was due to begin.
An opening day defeat to Westmeath was a result of 60 minutes on the pitch and nothing else as they did not put enough up on the scoreboard for all their possession.
However, they bounced back with two wins, first over Clare in a nip-and-tuck game that they came out on the right side of and then against Kildare last Sunday, and away from home too, putting a slow start behind them to turn the game completely around in the second half.
“Six teams are fighting for four semi-final places that will leave two teams very unhappy come the end of the league rounds and each game is like a knockout one from here on in.
“The last couple of years, the Division Two league had that one out stander it was Armagh inn 2015 and Donegal in 2016 they were the reigning Ulster senior champions starting out those years.
“This year, with no disrespect to anyone, there is not one team head and shoulders above the rest and that’s what makes every game crucial in your challenge to make even just the semi-finals.
“Those are a long way away in my view we have two home games left against Tyrone and Waterford and we need to be sure to perform to the highest level to take those points away.”
Both managers, like nearly every manager in the country this week, have had fingers and toes crossed that their players come through their colleges’ games unscathed as the O’Connor Cup and the HEC’s other competitions are cranked up a gear ahead of the tournament weekend on March 10 and 11.
“Our biggest worry is hoping that our players don’t get injured with their colleges,” said Moane. “We have a lot involved in the O’Connor Cup competition this week, the likes of Niamh O’Neill, Grainne Rafferty, Emma Mulgrew and Emma Smyth, and you just hope they come out of those games with Queens and Jordanstown ok and are recovered between training for their university and training for their county and a game as well.”
Fixtures:
Saturday
Division 1: Mayo v Cork
Division 2: Westmeath v Clare, Waterford v Kildare
Division 3: Limerick v Offaly, Roscommon v Down (Kilglass, 2pm), Tipperary v Meath
Sunday
Division 1: Kerry v Monaghan (Listowel, 12noon), Galway v Armagh (Tuam Stadium, 2pm), Dublin v Donegal (Parnell Park, 2pm)
Division 2: Laois v Sligo, Cavan v Tyrone (Kingspan Breffni Park 3G, 2pm)
Division 3: Leitrim v Wexford
Division 4: Louth v Kilkenny, Longford v Carlow, Derry v Wicklow (Watty Graham’s Glen, 2pm), Antrim v Fermanagh (The Dub, 1pm)
