'We were very disappointed with our County final performance last year' says St Ailbe's ladies football manager Sile Moynihan

"WE were very disappointed with how we played in last year's county final so I suppose we felt like we had a lot of work to do this year to get back to that position." This was St Ailbe's senior ladies football head coach Sile Moynihan's reply to her sides third loss to Monagea in the senior A county final last season. 

Work has certainly been put into this St Ailbe's squad, who remain the only senior team to be unbeaten in this year's championship campaign, after winning the league final earlier in the season.

The team will now face Ballylanders in this weekend's senior A championship final in Cappamore at 3:30pm on Sunday, with the intermediate final taking place beforehand at 1pm. 

Speaking about the trojan work that has been put in by the entire squad all year head coach Moynihan went on to say: "I think we have played over 30 girls between the league and the championship this season. We gave a lot of the younger girls game time when our county camogie and footballers were away which was fantastic experience for them."

Ailbe's got the better of their rivals Monagea in the semi-finals of the championship with a narrow 1-12 to 2-7 victory to secure a spot in their fourth consecutive county final.

Getting the better of Monagea was a huge stepping stone for the side who had fallen short on three occasions to the formidable Monagea team.

Moynihan stated: "Look we were delighted to get the better of Monagea in the semi-final and almost right the wrongs of previous results against them, but we are under no illusions that we are still no further than we were last year. We were happy to beat Monagea but there is still no trophy there yet."

This will be Ballylanders first chance at championship glory since 2021, with St Ailbes and Monagea occupying the top two spots in the county for a number of years. 

Despite this Sunday's final is set to be a thrilling encounter with both sides fairly evenly matched. 

Ailbes head coach finished by saying: "Ballylanders have been there or there about's over the years and we have had serious battles with them. In the last twelve years Monagea have won four county titles, we have won four and Ballylanders have won four so it's fairly evenly matched and we wouldn't be writing them off at all."