TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship Final
TWO Ulster sides - Armagh and Donegal - between them have met this year’s All-Ireland Senior finalists four times this season.
Ulster champions Armagh met Kerry in the Division Two league final in Croke Park back in April and again at the quarter-final stages of the senior championship. Donegal met Meath in Croke Park twice, in the Division One league while they came up against the All-Ireland champions just two weeks ago in the semi-finals.
In all four games, both Ulster sides could have won but on all four occasions they came up short.
There are not too many teams who have as good an insight into Sunday’s two finalists and the captains of each side, Donegal’s Niamh McLaughlin and Armagh’s Kelly Mallon, share their thoughts.
It’s much too close for McLaughlin to call an outright winner. She sees Meath’s strengths in their defensive unit and the fact they are appearing in a fifth straight All-Ireland final (three in-a-row intermediate finals between 2018 to 2020 and last year’s senior final) means they have vast experience of All-Ireland finals day.
“They are so strong defensively. They have had four or five years now trying to get the system nailed down and they have it finely tuned at this stage,” said McLaughlin.
“This is something like their fifth consecutive All-Ireland final which brings massive experience in Croke Park so they won’t be phased at all.
“Going forward all their players have such a good skill level of moving the ball through the hands and they are so patient in their build-up that their attacking game is really hard to combat so if you don’t go defensive against them you just invite them on to you too. Winning is a habit so their collective confidence is going to be really high at the minute because they are on such a great run.”
If Kerry are to cause Meath problems they need to go player-to-player on the champions, just as Dublin did, while the ability of the Kingdom’s forwards to score from distance is something they should look to do frequently.
“Kerry are really physical and they are aggressive too so if they push high like Dublin, it could be awkward for Meath especially on their shorter kick outs.
"Kerry obviously have a lot of quality, quality forwards which could cause Meath a lot of problems and they are all girls who can kick from 30-35 metres so they won’t have to get sucked into the trap that Meath like to put on teams so I think if Kerry get their tactics right that could be a big thing. If they sit back in big numbers that is going to suit Meath but if Kerry can go for it early and put Meath on the back foot I think it will be very interesting.”
Mallon has put her head on the line and, interestingly, went for a Kerry victory.
“It’s a tough one to call but I think Kerry will edge this one if they can get to grips with Meath’s system early on,” said Mallon, something that McLaughlin also alluded to.
Mallon feels Kerry’s strength is the core of their team as well as their ability to mix up their game.
“Their height and physicality up the middle is a huge strength, particularly if they’re struggling to get a short kick out away. They have a great ability to vary their playing style, they can kick long or run it through the hands and their transition from defence to attack is fast and direct,” she said.
However, where Meath can have upper hand is how they react to whatever is thrown at them.
“Meath are a team that can react really well to whatever is thrown at them but if Kerry can get off to a good start and force Meath to push out it’ll make for a more entertaining contest.
“If Kerry don’t start well my concern would be whether they have the patience in attack and defence to break down 12 - 13 Meath players. They also depend on the breaking ball a lot for kick outs so if Meath can get under them that’ll cause Kerry problems.”
