Galway ladies kick off league against Kildare
GALWAY senior ladies footballers kick off their bid for that elusive promotion spot from Division 2 of the National League when they travel to Kildare for their season opener in Carbury on Sunday (2pm).
Having been pipped for the Division 2 title and promotion to the top flight by Kerry in 2013 – and having come so close to both in recent seasons – the Tribeswomen will be hoping they can take that ultimate step this year.
Certainly, their back-to-back Connacht final wins over great rivals Mayo and consecutive All-Ireland semi-final appearances over the past two years would suggest this evolving Galway squad is heading in the right direction.
Added to this, supporters will be buoyed by the county reaching the All-Ireland U-21 decider, beaten by Cork, last year and by the county’s minors seizing All-Ireland glory with a replay win over Dublin in 2013. So, new talent is now emerging.
Of course, on the club scene, you had Kilkerrin/Clonberne winning their first ever county senior crown while Claregalway’s journey turned out to be one of the fairytale stories of the Autumn as they went all the way to claiming an All-Ireland intermediate club title.
When all these strands are knitted together, it should give Galway fresh impetus in 2014. “We have [brought in new players],” confirms Galway boss Barry Downey, “although we actually had brought in a number of them, particularly U-21s, at the back end of last year.”
From the U-21 set-up, Claregalway duo Orla Dixon and Amy Rohan, who lined out in the 2013 National League, are included in the senior set-up as are the likes of Maedhbh Moloney and Roisin and Tracey Leonard, all of whom also saw League action last year.
Kilkerrin/Clonberne pair Olivia Divilly and Nicola Ward have been drafted in from the successful minor panel while, in addition to Rohan and Dixon, other Claregalway representatives in Galway’s 32-woman squad are Charlotte Cooney and Deirdre Brennan.
Full preview in this week's Connacht Tribune