SUNDAY’S TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Finalists, Tyrone and Leitrim, are both aiming to lift the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup for the second time.
Tyrone are gearing up for their third Intermediate decider, having contested the 2017 Final against Tipperary, before bouncing back from that heartbreak to win a year later against Meath.
On all known form, Sunday’s Final promises to be a tight affair. The teams know plenty about each other, too, as they met in the group stages of this year’s competition.
In Ballinamore in early June, Leitrim recorded a famous 4-12 to 5-8 victory, in what was a quite outstanding game.
The prospects looked bleak for Leitrim in the early stages when they went 0-0 to 2-2 behind but they rallied superbly to win.
On the day, Ailbhe Clancy scored 2-5, team captain Michelle Guckian chipped in with 1-5, and Muireann Devaney added 1-1.
On the Tyrone side, the prodigiously talented Sorcha Gormley, captain of the county’s U-18 side that contested the ZuCar All-Ireland B Final last weekend, registered 2-3.
Maria Canavan was another key player for the Red Hands on the day, notching 1-4.
All of the aforementioned players will have key roles to play on Sunday and their respective performances will go a long way towards deciding the end result.
Clancy (3-13), Guckian (1-18), Devaney (4-6) and Laura O’Dowd (1-9) are Leitrim’s leading scorers to date in the All-Ireland series, while Gormley (3-4) is the leading markswoman for Tyrone, followed closely by Aoife Horisk (3-3), and Chloe McCaffrey and Maria Canavan (both 1-8).
Both counties have done really well to reach Croke Park, Leitrim coming through having won the Connacht title earlier in the season, while Tyrone shrugged off the disappointment of losing the Ulster semi-final to launch a strong All-Ireland Championship challenge.
Tyrone have already appeared at Croke Park this year – and will that Lidl National League Division 2 Final against Kildare stand to them?
It was a disappointing defeat for Tyrone on the day but promotion to Division 1 of the Lidl National League for 2025 had already been secured, while despite a strong showing in the group stages, Leitrim’s bid for promotion from Division 4 came unstuck in the semi-finals.
Along with the coveted silverware at stake, the other huge carrot for the winners is Senior Championship football next year.
If Tyrone get the job done, they’ll join Armagh and Donegal in the 2025 Ulster Senior Championship, while Leitrim would be pitting their wits against Galway and Mayo.
Both teams have navigated difficult paths to Croke Pak and now it’s all on the line over 60 minutes.
Leitrim repeated their Connacht Final win over Roscommon in the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate quarter-final, before getting the better of a fancied Wexford outfit in the semi-final. That result was noteworthy as Wexford had won when the counties met in the 2023 quarter-final.
Tyrone were also handed tough tasks, overcoming last year’s runners-up, Clare, in what was a stand-out quarter-final result, before getting past the challenge of Ulster champions Down in the last four. Progress for Tyrone in the Championship has been considerable this year, when you consider that they were well beaten by champions Kildare at the quarter-final stage in 2023.
Now, the big question is, who will prevail? And will it be Leitrim’s Michelle Guckian or Tyrone’s Aoibhinn McHugh climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand to lift the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup when play has concluded?
The stage is set and if this Final is anything like the game they produced in early June, we’re in for a treat.
Leitrim are unchanged following their semi-final win, as Tyrone make two changes to the team that accounted for Down.
Maebh Mallon and Zoe Loughran come into the starting line-up, in place of Ella McNamee and Emma Conroy.
Tyrone: A Coyle; J Lyons, J Barrett, E Quinn; C Daly, M Corrigan, C Campbell; A McHugh (capt.), M Mallon; Á Grimes, A Horisk, E.J. Gervin; C McCaffrey, Z Loughran, M Canavan.
Leitrim: M Monaghan; E Quigley, C Tyrrell, C Owens; S Reynolds, K Bruen, E Bruen; N Tighe, M Guckian (capt.); O Flynn, L O’Dowd, M Devaney; A Clancy, S Quinn, Á Redican.
Courtesy of LGFA, ladiesgaelic.ie
By Rory Cox Fri 2nd Aug
