DOHENYS and Naomh Abán both face difficult Munster ties following their Cork LGFA junior A and intermediate county successes.

After ending their heartbreak of losing multiple junior A county deciders, newly-crowned champs Dohenys are setting their sights on a provincial junior campaign that begins with a testing trip to take on Limerick champions Fr Casey’s on Sunday (2pm).

For team captain Michelle Duggan, the celebrations of becoming county champions and reaching the intermediate grade have been replaced by a determined focus to make their mark in Munster.

‘We are still on a high, still buzzing,’ Duggan admitted to The Southern Star.

‘The whole town is still buzzing – it’s a great feeling. We had to get back to training last Wednesday, so the celebrations have finally stopped!’

Ahead of this weekend’s trip to face Limerick intermediate champions, Dohenys have been concentrating on their own game and not focussing too heavily on their opponents.

‘We know a few things about Fr Casey’s, but not a whole pile,’ Duggan said.

‘I think it’s better that way, and hopefully we can just go there and show them what we can do on the day itself. 

‘It is a bonus that we got here. None of the players want to stop winning. We are just going to go out and play ‘Everyone will be asked to play their hearts out and we will see what the result is.’

The Cork junior A county champions will need Cork senior and talismanic stalwart Melissa Duggan at her best against Fr Casey’s. But this Dohenys panel has plenty of talent to call upon, not least some of the club’s younger members who have come up through the minor and U21 ranks.

Abbie McCarthy, Ava O’Donovan, Alison Hayes and Margaret Collins were just some of the Dohenys players to shine in the county final win over Bantry and will be needed once again this weekend.

‘I definitely think the younger girls that have joined us have made a huge difference this year,’ Michelle Duggan said.

‘You need players constantly going up and down the pitch and carrying the ball – it’s those players that got us over the line this year.

‘Also, we are playing like we know what we need to do, especially with one eye on next year when we are up intermediate. Everything has been intensified and everything has gone up to a higher standard.’

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Fresh from returning to the senior ranks, newly-crowned intermediate champions Naomh Abán begin their provincial campaign away to Waterford champions St Anne’s this Sunday (2pm).

The 2022 All-Ireland junior runners-up and Munster champions are no strangers to winning outside the county bounds, and hope momentum gained from overcoming Midleton in the county decider will be enough to see off St Anne’s.

‘When we’ve been waiting so long for this opportunity, we will definitely be ready for road,’ Naomh Abán captain Colleen Phelan said.

‘Cork is a very hard county to get out of so you’d be hoping we’d have a good chance (in Munster). We will go out and give it our all and see how we go.’

The Ballyvourney club will look to its Cork contingent, Amy and Lydia McDonagh as well as Rosie Ní Chorcora, for inspiration in what is going to be a tough encounter.

‘We have experienced players on our team and they’re the type of girls you want,’ Phelan added. 

‘We played a few practice games against (Cork) senior teams before the championship. Going up senior, that’s where you want to be. That’s where every club wants to be. First though, it will be brilliant to have a crack off the Munster championship and see where it takes us.’

Elsewhere in Munster LGFA action this coming weekend, Glanmire's reward for defeating O’Donovan Rossa to become senior B county champions is a trip to Tipperary and a provincial quarter-final showdown with Cahir.

Éire Óg, having won the first senior A county trophy, face a Munster senior A quarter-final clash away to Waterford champions Comeragh Rangers on Saturday (2pm).