2024 AIB All-Ireland Ladies Football Junior Club Championship Final – Mungret St Paul’s (Limerick) 0-12 Na Dúnaibh (Donegal) 0-4

Mungret St Paul’s (Limerick) defeated Na Dúnaibh (Donegal) by 0-12 to 0-4 in the AIB All-Ireland Ladies Football Junior Club Championship Final on Sunday December 15th at Parnell Park Dublin.

*REPORT*@mungretgaa are @AIB_GAA All Ireland Junior Club Champions after victory over @NaDunaibh in Parnell Park this afternoon!

✍🏻 @DaireJWalsh was there for us!@LKLadiesGaelic @DonegalLGFA #TheToughest #LGFAClub https://t.co/FvhuGf2aTQ

— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) December 15, 2024

Mungret St Paul’s (Limerick) 0-12 Na Dúnaibh (Donegal) 0-4

By Daire Walsh

Grainne McKenna and Jayne Casey registered a combined nine points at Parnell Park as Mungret St Paul’s secured the AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Championship crown with a convincing final victory over Donegal’s Na Dúnaibh.

Supplementing the 0-5 haul amassed by her experienced attacking colleague McKenna, Casey bagged two points in each half as the women from the Treaty county impressively claimed a national success after holding their opponents scoreless in the second period.

Aiming to become the first Limerick side since Murroe/Boher in 2014 to win an All-Ireland junior ladies club title, Mungret opened up an early gap in this contest thanks to a brace of points from corner-forward Casey.

Na Dúnaibh eventually got moving through Lauren McBride’s successful free on six minutes and while Mungret responded with a place-ball effort from McKenna (who has represented both Monaghan and Limerick at inter-county level), the Donegal side brought the gap back down to the bare minimum when midfielder Caoimhe McLaughlin split the posts on the run in fine style.

Yet Mungret attacked in waves throughout the opening period and created additional daylight between themselves and their Ulster counterparts with unanswered points from Niamh O’Keeffe, Clare O’Meara and McKenna. However, after her goalbound strike rattled the woodwork off an earlier attack, Lauren McBride found the target from frees in the 27th and 29th minutes to leave Na Dúnaibh just two points in arrears (0-6 to 0-4) at the interval.

Nevertheless, Mungret reinforced their authority on the resumption as a result of both Casey and McKenna increasing their personal tallies. The latter was having a major influence on the game and she subsequently fired over her second point from play as the final quarter approached.

Industrious wing-forward Aoife Morrissey also got in on the scoring act, before McKenna and Casey once again raised white flags to leave Mungret eight points in front with just 13 minutes remaining on the clock.

This put John Horgan’s side into a seemingly unassailable position and even though Na Dúnaibh – who had Shannon McGroddy in their starting line-up, ten years after she won an All-Ireland senior club title in the colours of Termon – were awarded a penalty four minutes from the end of time, Deirdre Doherty fired her spot-kick past the right post as Mungret eased to the title.

Scorers – Mungret St Paul’s: G McKenna 0-5 (3f), J Casey 0-4, C O’Meara, A Morrissey, N O’Keeffe 0-1 each.

Na Dúnaibh: L McBride 0-3 (3f), C McLaughlin 0-1.

MUNGRET ST PAUL’S: C Bateman; C O’Neill, L Dunne, C Moloney; J Buckley, S Burke, M Clancy; A Ryan, C O’Meara; E O’Rourke, N O’Keeffe, A Morrissey; J Casey, G McKenna, N Crowley
Subs: Y Culhane for O’Rourke, F Morrissey for Crowley (both 38), C Coughlan for O’Keeffe (45), J O’Malley for Buckley (52), M O’Malley for Casey (55).

NA DUNAIBH: C Shevlin; J Roberts, C Hay, M Doherty; A O’Connell, E Trearty, M Wilkin; J Trearty, C McLaughlin; A McLaughlin, MT Boyce, S McBride; D Doherty, S McGroddy, L McBride
Subs: M O’Connell for Boyce (19), N Gallagher for Doherty (h-t), M Doherty for Wilkin (46), A Pasoma for C McLaughlin, D Shevlin for A McLaughlin (both 53).

Referee: Angela Gallagher (Meath).

Broadcast Information

Live on Spórt TG4 YouTube

Match Preview

PREVIEWS

Clubs from @CarlowLGFA, @DonegalLGFA, @dublinladiesg, @GalwayLgfa and @LKLadiesGaelic chase @AIB_GAA All-Ireland club gloryhttps://t.co/FZAW8U1u56#TheToughest

— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) December 13, 2024

Junior: Mungret St Paul’s (Limerick) v Na Dúnaibh (Donegal); Parnell Park, 2pm

CLUBS from Munster and Ulster will battle it out at Parnell Park in Sunday’s AIB All-Ireland Junior Club Championship Final.

Flying the flag for Limerick and Munster are Mungret St Pauls, who will take on Donegal and Ulster representatives, Na Dúnaibh.

Mungret St Pauls are just the third Limerick team to reach an All-Ireland Club Final, and they’re following in the footsteps of Murroe-Boher (2014) and Gerald Griffins (2000), who were both successful on Junior Final day.

Na Dúnaibh, meanwhile, will become the very first Donegal club to line out in an All-Ireland Junior club Final when they grace the Donnycarney venue.

Termon (winners in 2014) and St Eunan’s (runners-up in 1996) have contested Senior deciders and Na Dúnaibh will now become the third club from the county to appear in an All-Ireland Final.
This has already been a superb year for Mungret St Pauls, who won the Limerick Intermediate title with victory over Knockainey, before going on to lift the Munster Junior silverware following a gripping victory over Cork opponents Midleton.

After lifting the Donegal Junior crown, Na Dúnaibh, from the coastal village of Downings, went on to defeat Down opponents Warrenpoint in the Ulster Final.

In their respective All-Ireland semi-finals, both of Sunday’s finalists secured gritty victories.
On their travels, with the semi-final held in Tubbercurry against Sligo’s Coolera/Strandhill, Mungret St Pauls claimed a dramatic shoot-out victory on free kicks, after the sides couldn’t be separated after extra-time.

Meanwhile, Na Dúnaibh made home advantage count against Kildare opponents Kilcock, with captain Sinéad McBride’s goal proving pivotal in a three-point win.
Sunday’s opponents are well used to digging deep to grind out results and this Final could be no different.

From goalkeeper Charlie Shevlin, right through to corner forward Lauren McBride, who scored four points in the semi-final, Na Dúnaibh are a team with genuine class.

The same applies to Mungret St Pauls, who have Monaghan native Grainne McKenna in the mood to punish any defensive indiscretions with her prowess from placed balls, as evidence by a six-point semi-final haul.

All-Ireland Final day is one where wonderful individual displays feed into the overall team dynamic.

Take, for instance, the performance of Éabha O’Donovan here at Parnell Park in last year’s Junior Final, when the O’Donovan Rossa star collected 2-5 in a Player of the Match performance, to help steer her team to glory.

So, who will emerge as the matchwinners? All will be revealed over the course of 60 minutes and you couldn’t rule out a replay either.

If there’s a winner, and it’s Mungret St Pauls, an All-Ireland club title will be heading to Limerick for the first time in a decade.

Should Na Dúnaibh prevail, it’s a similar story, and they’ll become the first club from Donegal to savour an All-Ireland club title since Termon’s famous Senior win ten years ago.

The scene is set for what promises to be a rip-roaring encounter and when you consider that last year’s Junior winners, the aforementioned O’Donovan Rossa, contested an Intermediate semi-final recently, this might be just the start of a wonderful journey for the 2024 AIB All-Ireland Junior club finalists.

Team News

Mungret St Pauls: C Bateman; C O’Neill, L Dunne, C Moloney; J Buckley, S Burke, M Clancy; Á Ryan (capt.), C O’Meara; E O’Rourke, F Morrissey, A Morrissey; J Casey, G McKenna, N Crowley.

Na Dúnaibh: C Shevlin; J Roberts, C Hay, M Doherty; N Gallagher, E Trearty, M Wilkin; J Trearty, C McLaughlin; A McLaughlin, M.T. Boyce, S McBride (capt.); D Doherty, S McGroddy, L McBride.