2025 Lidl National Ladies Football League Division 1 Final – Kerry 4-14 Armagh 0-11

Kerry defeated Armagh by 4-14 to 0-11 in the Lidl National Ladies Football League Division 1 Final on Saturday April 12th at Croke Park.

REPORT

Danielle O’Leary hit 1-05 as @kerryladiesfoot defeated @ArmaghLGFA to be crowned @lidl_ireland NFL Division One champions!

@DaireJWalsh reports from Croke Park!@UlsterLadies @MunsterLGFA #SeriousSupport https://t.co/4nr0DXbBTZ

— Ladies Football (@LadiesFootball) April 12, 2025

Kerry 4-14 Armagh 0-11

By Daire Walsh

Danielle O’Leary struck a magnificent haul of 1-5 at Croke Park on Saturday evening as a goal-hungry Kerry secured a record 13th Lidl National Football League Division 1 crown with a comprehensive victory over Armagh at Croke Park on Saturday evening.

Having lost out to Armagh in last year’s NFL top-tier decider at the same venue – a few short months before triumphing in the TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship – the Kingdom emphatically reclaimed a trophy they had most recently won back in 2023.

Picked out by Siofra O’Shea after she gathered an Armagh kick-out, last year’s All-Ireland winning skipper Niamh Carmody floated a looping effort over the head of Armagh netminder Anna Carr for a deadlock-breaking goal on seven minutes.

This major was complimented by a pointed free from O’Shea and after her initial strike on goal had rebounded off the post, livewire corner-forward O’Leary fired home a second Kerry goal in the 13th minute.

The impressive Carmody proceeded to split the uprights for a rampant Kingdom, before Armagh finally got up and running with three unanswered points from Lauren McConville and Eve Lavery (two).

Inside forwards Niamh Henderson and Niamh Reel (free) were also on hand to raise white flags in response to Jadyn Lucey and O’Leary at the opposite end, before a third goal courtesy of Lucey on 28 minutes propelled Kerry towards a 3-4 to 0-5 interval buffer.

O’Leary added to her tally on the resumption with another fine point, but the Kingdom faithful breathed a sigh of relief when Aoife McCoy and Niamh Henderson both went close to shaking the opposition net.

Yet Kerry continued to possess a potent attacking threat and after centre half-back Kayleigh Cronin broke free for an excellent point, a speculative strike from distance by Lucey dropped into the net for her second goal (and Kerry’s fourth) on 37 minutes.

This effectively eliminated any prospect of a dramatic fightback from Armagh, but Kerry still kept the scoreboard ticking over with four points without reply courtesy of Carmody, O’Shea, Niamh Ní Chonchúir and O’Leary.

To Armagh’s credit, they did persevere with their challenge during the closing quarter of the game with substitutes Caoimhe McNally and Kelly Mallon finding the target to supplement four additional points from Reel. Yet with O’Leary (two), O’Shea and Rachel Dwyer all firing over scores of their own, Kerry eased towards a deserved victory.

12 April 2025; Referee Shane Curley with Kerry captain Anna Galvin, left, and Armagh captain Clodagh McCambridge before the Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 1 final match between Armagh and Kerry at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Shauna Clinton/Sportsfile

Scorers – Kerry: D O’Leary 1-5, J Lucey 2-1, N Carmody 1-2, S O’Shea 0-3 (2f), K Cronin, N Ní Chonchúir, R Dwyer 0-1 each.

Armagh: N Reel 0-5 (4f), E Lavery 0-2, L McConville, N Henderson, C McNally, K Mallon 0-1 each.

KERRY: ME Bolger; R Rahilly, D Kearney, E Lynch; A O’Connell, K Cronin, A Dillane; M O’Connell, A Galvin; C Evans, N Ní Chonchúir, N Carmody; D O’Leary, S O’Shea, J Lucey.
Subs: R Dwyer for Lucey, L Boyle for Carmody (both 45), C McCarthy for Dillane (51), F O’Donoghue for Rahilly (53), N Quinn for Ní Chonchúir (57).

ARMAGH: A Carr; M Ferguson, C McCambridge, L Kenny; L McConville, C Towe, R Mulligan; N Coleman, C O’Hanlon; E Druse, B Mackin, E Lavery; N Reel, A McCoy, N Henderson.
Subs: G Ferguson for Kenny (11), K Mallon for Druse, C McNally for Lavery (both 40), E McGeown for Coleman (53), M McCann for Towe (57).

Referee: Shane Curley (Galway).

Match Preview

Lidl National Football League – Division 1 FINAL
Armagh v Kerry; Croke Park, 5pm – Live on TG4.

FOR the third time in four seasons, Armagh and Kerry meet in a Lidl National League Final at Croke Park.
The score is currently tied at one apiece, following victory for Kerry in the 2022 Division 2 decider and for Armagh in last year’s Division 1 showpiece.
The fact that Armagh and Kerry were contesting a Division 1 Final just two years after meeting in a second tier decider represented clear evidence of the rapid progress of both sides.

Indeed, Kerry appeared in successive TG4 All-Ireland Senior Finals in 2022, 2023 and 2024, finally getting their hands on the coveted national silverware last year.
And their 2024 Championship semi-final opponents were Armagh at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore, with the Kingdom prevailing by 1-8 to 0-7 in a tense, low-scoring affair.
Bearing in mind that Armagh were Lidl NFL Division 1 holders and Kerry TG4 All-Ireland Senior champions ahead of the new season, the sides were pitted together in the opening round of the opening round of the 2025 National League campaign.

Both sides were naturally rusty at the start of the year but Armagh turned on the style at Austin Stack Parke in Tralee in the second half, outscoring Kerry by 3-6 to 0-6 to claim a 3-11 to 1-13 victory.
An intriguing rivalry has developed between Sunday’s opponents in recent times and these are two sides that will be live contenders for the TG4 All-Ireland Senior Championship title.
They could well meet again during the summer and, if they do, that will be another game to savour.

Armagh will hope that brilliant forward Aimee Mackin, who has yet to feature this year, will return from injury during the Championship season but the Orchard County have coped well in her absence.
There has been a healthy spread of scorers throughout the campaign to date, with Niamh Reel leading the way with 0-27.
Blaithín Mackin (2-6), Niamh Henderson (3-3) and Eve Lavery (0-12) have also been prominent up front, as Armagh won five games on the spin to claim a spot in the Final, before defeats to Waterford and Meath followed in Rounds 6 and 7 respectively.

The manner of the Waterford loss, by ten points, will have concerned the Armagh camp but there may have been an element of taking the foot off the gas towards the end of the group phase.
In seven games, Armagh have racked up 12-84, or a scoring average of just over 17 points per game.

In contrast, Kerry’s average scoring return per game is slightly lower, at just under 15 points per game.
There’s a stand-out attacker in the Kingdom ranks this season, with Síofra O’Shea accounting for 5-26 of Kerry’s 13-65 tally.
Danielle O’Leary (4-7) has also contributed strongly but Kerry will need more forwards to step up as they move towards the summer, and without Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh, who retired from inter-county duty after landing a coveted TG4 All-Ireland Senior medal last year.

On Sunday, Kerry will target a 13th Division 1 title, which would take them one clear of Munster rivals Cork at the top of the roll of honour, as Armagh aim to retain the top flight silverware they won for the first time last year.
In team news, Armagh make three changes to the side that lost out to Meath in Round 7 of the group stages.
That setback marked a second successive defeat for Armagh – and they’ll be eager to avoid a hat-trick.
Anna Carr returns in goal in place of Brianna Mathers, while there are starts for Cait Towe and Niamh Reel, who replace Grace Ferguson and Kelly Mallon.

Kerry lost to Dublin in their last outing but they had a much-changed team on show.

There are seven changes in personnel for the final, as Róisín Rahilly, Deirdre Kearney, Aoife Dillane, captain Anna Galvin, last year’s skipper Niamh Carmody, free-scoring O’Shea and Jaydn Lucey return to the starting line-up.
Fay O’Donoghue, Kayla O’Connor, Ciara McCarthy, Niamh Quinn, Leah Boyle, Jess Gill and Julia Curtin all started against Dublin but are named on the bench for the visit to GAA HQ.

Team News

Armagh: A Carr; M Ferguson, C McCambridge (capt.), L Kenny; L McConville, C Towe, R Mulligan; N Coleman, C O’Hanlon; E Druse, B Mackin, E Lavery; N Reel, A McCoy, N Henderson.

Kerry: M.E. Bolger; R Rahilly, D Kearney, E Lynch; A O’Connell, K Cronin, A Dillane; M O’Connell, A Galvin (capt.); C Evans, N Ní Chonchúir, N Carmody; D O’Leary, S O’Shea, J Lucey.