Dublin Ladies Footballers team named for championship clash with Kildare

Fri, 19th April 2024

TG4 Leinster Senior Championship – Round 1

The ‘clash of the champions’ features Dublin, who won the TG4 All-Ireland Senior title in 2023, and Kildare, who were TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate winners last year.

Kildare’s meteoric rise continued this year and they were recently crowned Lidl NFL Division 2 winners and can look forward to Division 1 football in 2025.

Now, manager Diane O’Hora and her charges face the acid test against the Sky Blues as they prepare for their return to Senior championship fare.

There are 11 survivors from the team that lined out in the 2023 All-Ireland Final against Kerry in a strong Dublin line-up.

Jessica Tobin, Olwen Carey, Grace Kós and Niamh Hetherton come into the side for Dublin’s seasonal championship bow in place of Eilish O’Dowd (overseas), Lauren Magee and Aoife Kane (both injured) and Jodi Egan.

Ten of the players named in Sunday’s matchday squad did not feature at all for Dublin during their entire 2023 championship campaign, with Tobin and Caitlin Coffey both missing the season through injury.

Pic Courtesy Dublin Ladies Instagram.

Returning to the 2024 squad are Carey, Kós, Rachel Fleming and the vastly-experienced Sinéad Goldrick and Nicole Owens.

New to the Dublin panel this year are Hannah McGinnis, Kate Murray and Claire Kirwan.

Dublin concluded their Lidl NFL Division 1 campaign with a big victory over Armagh, who were already through to the Final, and manager Mick Bohan obviously had one eye on championship as he’s named an unchanged team.

Kildare, meanwhile, are also unchanged from their last outing, which saw them bag Division 2 silverware at Croke Park.

Kildare enjoyed a terrific 2023 Championship season which saw the Lilywhites land the TG4 Leinster and All-Ireland Intermediate titles – and they’ll be hoping for further progress in the coming weeks.

Dublin:A Shiels; M Byrne, L Caffrey, J Tobin; N Crowley, O Carey, N Donlon; J Dunne, G Kós; C O’Connor, N Hetherton, O Nolan; H Tyrrell, C Rowe (capt.), K Sullivan.

Kildare:M Hulgraine; F Troute, A Clifford, M Doherty; L Murtagh, R Sargent, L Gilbert; G Clifford (capt.), H McLoughlin; T Duggan, E Dowling, C Sullivan; N Dooley, R Byrne, A Rattigan.