In a women’s All-Ireland Senior Football Championship semi-final match, Galway overcame their opponents Cork. This significant victory at Glenisk O’Connor Park marks Galway’s return to the championship decider after a gap since 2019. Róisín Leonard and Ailbhe Davoren have been instrumental in this win, making significant contributions with goals in the first half, respectively at the 14 and 27 minute marks.
Even though Katie Quirke played remarkably for Cork, yielding a total of 0-7, the clinical goals from Leonard and Davoren were key to Galway’s success overseen by Daniel Moynihan. Galway will now face off in the All-Ireland SFC final, the same level of competition as their male counterparts have reached.
Galway set a fast pace in the beginning of the game, leading Cork by two points within the first five minutes thanks to Olivia Divilly and Leonard. Subsequently, Cork managed to level the score courtesy of Quirke, and then took a brief lead when Ava McAuliffe made a spectacular shot.
However, Leonard reversed the game’s momentum by scoring off a penalty awarded when Charlotte Cooney was fouled by Aoife Healy of Cork’s defence. Kerry retaliated with charismatic Quirke adding another couple of points to Cork’s score. Yet, Leonard and Leanne Coen’s masterful teamwork set up captain Davoren for a goal, cementing Galway’s position.
Cork managed to reduce Galway’s lead, but the steady performance by the latter in the second half of the match, particularly a free kick by Leonard and point traded by Divilly, ensured Galway’s four-point victory in the concluding quarter.
Leonard proved to be dependable once again, increasing her score to 1-5 courtesy of another well-executed place-ball just nine minutes before the end of play. In a riveting conclusion, Cork’s Quirke and Laura O’Mahony responded with respective points but they could not prevent Galway from clinching a well-deserved victory.
Playing for Galway were D Gower, M Jordan, S Lynch, K Geraghty, A Ní Cheallaigh, N Ward, C Cooney, M Glynn, A Davoren (1-0), O Divilly (0-2, two frees), L Ward, N Divilly, A Morrissey, L Coen, and R Leonard (1-5, one penalty, three frees). Leonard and Morrissey were substituted by E Reaney and A Trill (both 53 minutes), while S Hynes and M Walsh replaced Ní Cheallaigh and Glynn at 44 and 47 minutes respectively.
On Cork’s team, we had S Murphy, M Duggan, S Kelly, S Leahy, A Healy, S Cronin, D Kiely, M O’Callaghan, A O’Mahony, E Cleary (0-1), L O’Mahony (0-1), A McDonagh, A McAuliffe (0-1), K Quirke (0-7, four frees), and R Leahy in play. Leahy was substituted for H Looney (24 minutes), while E Kiely replaced McAuliffe (37 minutes), before A Ryan substituted for A O’Mahony, and L McDonagh came on for A McDonagh, both at 44 minutes. Lastly, S McGoldrick replaced Healy at 50 minutes.
The match was refereed by Kevin Phelan from Laois.