PREVIEWS: TG4 Leinster Championships Underway
PREVIEWS: TG4 Leinster Championships Underway
April 25, 2025
Ladies Football – Weekend previews
Compiled by Jackie Cahill
THERE’S TG4 Provincial Senior Championship action in Connacht, Leinster and Munster over the coming weekend.
On Saturday, All-Ireland champions Kerry begin the defence of their Munster crown against old rivals Cork, before Tipperary host Waterford on Sunday in the southern province.
Also on Sunday, Mayo host Leitrim in Connacht, as holders Dublin aim to book another Leinster Final slot when they travel to Newbridge for a clash with Kildare.
There’s also Munster B action in Munster, with Junior and Intermediate action to come in Leinster and Ulster.
Sunday’s Leinster senior clash between Kildare and Dublin will be streamed live at: https://bit.ly/4cSqDky
Sunday April 27, 2025
TG4 Leinster Senior Championship
Kildare v Dublin; Cedral St Conleth’s Park, Newbridge, 2pm – Live stream at https://bit.ly/4cSqDky
Dublin have won the last 11 Leinster Senior titles on offer and victory against Kildare on Sunday would send the Sky Blues back to another provincial decider.
They won by seven points against Meath last weekend and victory over Kildare will add to Dublin’s remarkable Leinster record.
Since winning their first Leinster Senior title in 2002, Dublin have lifted the silverware in each season bar 2006, 2007 and 2011, when Laois were champions.
There are two changes to team that defeated Meath, with Lauren Magee coming in for Martha Byrne, while Aoife Curran replaces Hannah McGinnis.
This will be Kildare’s first competitive outing since defeating Tyrone in March to retain Division 1 status.
And manager Pat Sullivan has named an unchanged starting 15 for a glamour home outing at Cedral St Conleth’s Park.
While Dublin will start as favourites, they were on the wrong end of a 0-8 to 1-8 scoreline against the Lilywhites when the sides met in the Lidl NFL in February.
Kildare: M Hulgraine; R Sargent, L Lenehan (capt.), E Wheeler; M Doherty, L Dunlea, M Aspel; C Sullivan, L Curran; C Moran, L Shaw, N Dooley; A Rattigan, A Murnane, R Byrne.
Dublin: A Shiels; J Tobin, L Caffrey (capt.), N Donlon; A Curran, L Magee, A Kane; É O’Dowd, G Kós; C O’Connor, C Darby, S Goldrick; H Tyrrell, N Hetherton, S McIntyre.
TG4 Leinster Intermediate Championship
Wicklow v Offaly; Echelon Park, Aughrim, 2pm
Wicklow and Offaly will battle it out for a place in the TG4 Leinster semi-finals.
The winners of this one will take on Laois on May 4, with Westmeath and Wexford on the opposite side of the draw.
Offaly endured a difficult League campaign, losing all seven games in Division 3 and suffering relegation.
Wicklow, meanwhile, won three and lost four of their Division 4 outings.
Wicklow: E Griffin; S Goetelen, E O’Keane, A Gorman; S McGettigan, S Byrne, S.J. Winders (capt.); S Evans, N Cullen; M Corr, H Dowling, L Dunne; I Ledesma, E.R. O’Toole, E O’Brien.
Offaly: L Dunne; A Grehan, N Glackin, N Buckley; K Flynn, J Maher, D Hannon; M Mann (capt.), M Byrne; I Lyons, S Doyle, E Kelly; A Phelan, E Hand, A Stafford.
TG4 Leinster Junior Championship
Longford v Louth; Glennon Brothers Pearse Park, 2pm
With four counties involved, the 2025 TG4 Leinster Junior championship will be played on a round-robin basis, with the top two finishers contesting the Final.
Louth, 2024 TG4 All-Ireland Junior Finalists, are the provincial title holders and begin their campaign with a visit to Glennon Brothers Pearse Park and a clash with hosts Longford.
Louth will feel confident ahead of this one. They finished just outside the promotion places in Division 3 of the Lidl National League, while Longford ended up third from bottom in the Division 4 standings.
Longford: A Cooney; G Kenny, L Keegan, A Brady; C McCormack, E O’Brien (capt.), E Duggan; S Gallagher, S Hagan; E O’Reilly, K Crawford, K McKeon; L McGuire, K Burke, C Lohan.
Louth: R Lambe Fagan; C Boyle, E Hand, H Lambe Sally; C O’Reilly, S McLaughlin, A Russell; G McCrave, Á Breen (capt.); Z Sweeney, E Byrne, R Leonard; K Flood, C Woods, C Nolan.
Kilkenny v Carlow, Muckalee GAA, 2pm
Carlow’s Lidl NFL campaign in Division 3 unfortunately ended with relegation back to the fourth tier.
With just one win from seven outings, championship now offers the opportunity for an upturn in fortunes.
Remarkably, Cavan have contested four successive TG4 All-Ireland Junior Championship semi-finals but have yet to vault that hurdle.
The Barrowsiders will want to feature at the business end of the campaign again but regaining the Leinster title they won in 2023 will also be a priority item.
Carlow lost out to Louth in last year’s provincial decider but they’ll start as strong favourites to get their 2025 championship campaign off to a winning start against Kilkenny.
Kilkenny: K Fitzpatrick; S Mooney, A Galwey, R Crowley; S Dunne, R Roche, A Ring; E Lawlor (capt.), S Smith; N Ward, S Corcoran, L Gilmore; A Ryan, L McDowell, K Purcell.
Carlow: S Cotter; S McCullagh, C Mahon, K Tunstead; T Lyons, A Carroll, M Cranny; R Bailey (capt.), E Ware; B Nolan, O Woods, E Molloy; S Hayden, C Ní Shé, A Kiernan.
Photo Credit: Sportsfile
