Mungret St Paul's target All-Ireland final spot

“WE NEVER expected that we would still be talking about football and putting up Christmas trees in the same breath,” said Mungret St Paul's ladies football manager John Horgan this week.

The city-based club are aiming to become the first Limerick club since Murroe-Boher in 2014 to reach the All-Ireland ladies football junior final.

Mungret St Paul's face Coolera Strandhill in this Saturday's All-Ireland junior ladies football championship semi-final at 1:30pm in the Tubbercurry GAA grounds.

Horgan and his team are looking forward to this weekend's All-Ireland semi-final showdown.

“The group has been together for a long time, this is our third year. Every year, there has been incremental improvements. There's been a lot of younger players coming onto the team which has been a huge help.”

The Mungret St Paul's manager has put the depth in his panel down as a key factor in them getting over the line.

“The depth of our panel has been the difference between winning and losing a lot of matches. It's a special group, they are joy to be around. They really lead themselves, we are just to set things up for them. There's a lot of very driven players there. It's a really good group, a lot of talent but a lot of honesty and hard work.”

Last year, Mungret St Paul's were defeated by Galtee Gaels in the Limerick intermediate football championship semi-final.

“Last year, we felt we didn't give our best display when we needed it. We felt we underperformed. At the end of last year, we got together as a group, we decided that there was no point in doing the same thing again and expecting a different result.

“It started in January, with eight weeks of S & C and Cardio with Megan O'Mara in Train Gym. It was a huge driver and it set the tone.”

Mungret St Paul's went on to defeat Knockainey in this year's Limerick intermediate football decider. The Limerick intermediate champions entered the Munster junior championship.

Horgan's charges recorded victories over Abbeydorney and Midleton in the Munster championship which saw them win a provincial title.

This weekend Coolera Strandhill are their opponents. The Sligo side cruised past Paris-Bordeaux Gaels in last weekend's All-Ireland quarter-final.

“We are probably going up there as huge underdogs, the home ground of Connacht champions. They are obviously a very good side. We'll be going into the lions den as they say.

“We'll give it everything and we'll give it our best shot. We are in bonus territory. There's no fear and there'll be no regrets, win or lose it's been a successful year. We don't want to come out second best, we want to win and we'll be doing everything we can to win.”

Mungret St Paul's are now 60 minutes away from an All-Ireland final. Na Dúnaibh take on Kilcock in the other All-Ireland ladies football junior semi-final on Sunday at 1pm in Letterkenny, Co Donegal.