THE 2025 Cork Credit Unions Cork LGFA senior championship gets underway this weekend with West Cork clubs Castlehaven, Clonakilty, Kinsale and O’Donovan Rossa eager to make their mark.
Clonakilty and O’Donovan Rossa meet in a Cork LGFA SFC Group 1 local derby at Ahamilla on Sunday. It will be an historic moment for the Skibbereen club as they compete in their first official championship fixture at the senior grade.
Having annexed last year’s county and Munster intermediate titles and reached the All-Ireland IFC semi-finals, Rossa’s will be hoping to build on recent momentum that also included being crowned 2023 All-Ireland junior champions.
‘It is great to be up playing senior championship and playing the likes of the Aghada’s, the Clon’s and the Castlehaven’s,’ O’Donovan Rossa’s Derek Tobin recently told the Southern Star.
‘Those clubs have been up senior for a couple of years so, there is going to be a bit of a learning curve for us.
‘I would be very hopeful that O’Donovan Rossa will be competitive though. The girls have learned an awful lot over the last few years which should help them at senior.’
In terms of preparation, Rossa’s sounded an early warning by overcoming Sunday’s county championship opponents, Clonakilty, in the Drinagh Co-Op West Cork LGFA Division 1 final in Kilmacabea last Saturday evening.
Albeit against an understrength opponent, Rossa’s conceded 1-2 to a determined Clon before gaining a foothold and building a 2-11 to 1-3 interval lead. The Skibbereen side kept their opponent at arm’s length to run out 3-17 to 1-5 winners and claimed their region’s Division 1 trophy.
All-Ireland Cork minor winning forward Éabha O'Donovan contributed 0-5 on an afternoon Mallaidh O’Neill, Emer McCarthy (1-2 each), Laura O’Mahony (0-3), Aoife O’Driscoll (1-0), Fionnuala O'Driscoll (0-2), Orla McCarthy, Triona Murphy and Sinead Farrell (0-1 each) also scored.
Aoife O’Flynn Meade (1-0), Katie O’Driscoll (0-2), Kiya O’Mahony, Sinead Crowley and Siofra Pattwell (0-1 each) were on target for Clonakilty.
Expect a much closer and tougher encounter in Ahamilla where the hosts, having won the 2024 county senior B title, will look to gain swift revenge on Sunday.
West Cork LGFA's Paul O'Callaghan presents O'Donovan Rossa captain Laura O'Mahony with the Drinagh Co-Op West Cork LGFA Division 1 trophy.
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Castlehaven welcome St Val’s in Sunday’s other Cork LGFA SFC Group 1 fixture. This is as tough an opener as the Haven could have asked for considering their opponents reached the 2024 county semi-finals and won the Division 1 league.
Much of Castlehaven’s scoring burden will fall upon Niamh O’Sullivan and Mairead O’Driscoll in the upcoming championship where reigning title-holders and Group 1 opponents Aghada enjoy a bye week.
As for current form, the Union Hall-Castletownshend club finished third in their Division 1 county league group following defeats away to Naomh Abán and Kinsale as well as victories at home to Bride Rovers, Clonakilty and Fermoy. The West Cork side will be eager to maintain that home advantage at the expense of St Val’s this weekend.
In Group 2 of the senior grade, Kinsale comes face to face with the club they defeated in last year’s senior county B semi-finals, Mourneabbey.
Little doubt that the North Cork side and dominant ladies football team of the past decade will be anxious to return to winning ways.
‘I think that the level of competition in Cork LGFA has gotten stronger,’ Mourneabbey senior manager and former Cork GAA senior manager Ronan McCarthy commented.
‘Last year, Glanmire beat us, we drew with St Val’s and Kinsale beat us by a point in the senior B semi-finals. It is a really competitive senior championship in Cork right now.
‘You just must take things one game at a time, as this club has always done. Hopefully, we will have enough to qualify for this year’s knockout stages.’
Kinsale’s preparations have gone well including topping their county league group before losing 1-13 to 1-6 to Glanmire in the semi-finals.
Manager David Coughlan will look to Caoimhe Horgan, Caoimhe O’Callaghan, Jenny Murphy and Amy Casey over the coming weeks as an improving Kinsale attempt to reach the knockout stages.
FIXTURES
Sunday, August 17
(All noon throw-ins)
Cork Credit Unions SFC Group 1: Castlehaven v St Val’s in Moneyvohallane, Clonakilty v O’Donovan Rossa in Ahamilla.
Cork Credit Unions SFC Group 2: Éire Óg v Glanmire in Ovens, Kinsale v Mourneabbey in Kinsale
