All-Ireland Finals Preview

All three Ladies Football Championship finals, Senior, Intermediate
and Junior will take place in Croke Park on the 23rd September.
The Finals Day triple header at GAA headquarters will get under
way at 12.00noon with the Junior final. This will be followed
by the inaugural Intermediate final at 2.00pm while the showpiece
Senior final throws in at 4.00pm. All three games will be televised
live on TG4.

Cork and Mayo will battle it out for the Brendan Martin Cup as
the National League champions aim to put an end to the Rebelettes
dominance and deny them three in a row. Cork have been in exceptional
form throughout the Championship and have gone from strength to
strength during the knockout stages of the competition. After
comfortable group victories over Galway, Monaghan and Roscommon,
the Rebelettes dispatched Dublin in an awesome display at Wexford
Park. The defending champions again raised the bar blitzing Leinster
champions Laois in the semi-final and the Leesiders look destined
to reclaim the trophy which has taken up residency in Cork over
the past two years. But Cork must overcome Mayo, the only side
to beat them in the last three years, if they are to achieve their
dream treble. This Mayo team has laid dormant since they last
won the Senior All Ireland title in 2003 and in Cora Staunton
they have one of the most potent predators in the game. The Carnacon
forward has been in devastating form this season scoring an average
of 10 points a game and she currently leads the Comverse Golden
Boot competition by a proverbial country mile.

Mayo were never really troubled during their group matches and
sailed to facile victories over Waterford, Kerry and Dublin. They
then went on to beat Monaghan before eventually getting on top
of Tyrone in their semi-final clash in Breffni Park. This will
be the second time the two sides have met this year with Mayo
ending Cork’s unbeaten run of over 30 games in the semi-final
of the Suzuki National League. The first ever Intermediate final
will witness Wexford take on Leitrim for the Mary Quinn Memorial
Cup. Both teams were drawn in Group 2 of the Intermediate Championship
and it was Leitrim who topped the group thanks to a hard-fought
two point victory over the Model County. Leitrim qualified directly
into the semi-finals while Wexford had to navigate their way past
Cavan to secure a semi-final show down with Tipperary. Tipperary
were dispatched thanks to a late Wexford charge while Leitrim
had to fight all the way against Clare to secure their place in
the final.

The Junior final will be contested by London and Kilkenny. The
Exiles topped Group 1 thanks to a comprehensive victory over Antrim
and a draw with Derry. In Group 2 Kilkenny beat Carlow, Wicklow
and Offaly to advance to the semi-finals. London snuck past Carlow
to secure their first appearance in an All Ireland final in 14
years while Kilkenny’s impressive victory over Derry ensured the
Cats campaign would end in Croke Park.