Maynooth University ladies manager praises Longford players ahead of league final

Maynooth University ladies senior football team manager Louise Keane has praised the impact of the Longford contingent as her side prepares for the Curran Cup final against ATU Donegal this Thursday night.  

Maynooth have been in fine form of late, with the six Longford players all key members of their squad.

“We’ve six players from Longford and it’s a huge help to the squad,” Keane said.

“Ciara Mulligan, Fumni Talabi, Grace Kenny, Grace Shannon, Kamille Burke and Kayla McKeon are all on board. Ciara Mulligan’s our captain and I think this is her fourth or fifth year in the college and she’s been absolutely excellent. She’s a real leader, very genuine, a down-to-earth type of girl.

“Grace Kenny is playing corner-back for us and has been absolutely brilliant. A really excellent player, she’s probably one of Longford’s star players as well.

“Grace Shannon is another one that would be a top player for Longford and has been brilliant for us over the last couple of years. And Camille Burke would have been with us a couple of years ago and is back now doing a Masters, so it’s brilliant to have her back and have that experience again.”

Maynooth have enjoyed a fine run to date.

“So far we’ve started pretty well,” she said.

“We’ve had three round games. Our first was away to DCU, who we played in the first round of the championship last year and lost in extra time. To go there and get a win was really positive. It’s a tough place to go for your first round.”

The strong start continued on the road.

“Our second round then we travelled down to UCC and again got a win, which was brilliant. Going down to UCC, the travel was difficult and it was an absolutely miserable night as well, so all those things make it a tough ask, but to come out of there with a win was really positive.”

They followed up by beating UL at home.

“We would have played UL a lot over the last number of years, so it was great to get three wins in the league. And then we had our semi-final last Thursday against TUD. Obviously playing an O’Connor Cup team would have been a big step up for us and a big test, so to beat them was brilliant. That one went to extra time as well.”

Keane said the character of the group stands out.

“In terms of how happy we are with the girls’ application and effort, we really can’t fault them. They’ve been excellent. I think that TUD game really showed us that the girls just never stopped, never gave up. Honestly I just couldn’t fault their efforts.”

She explained that the league was a major focus this year because of the academic calendar. 

“Exams for the girls are in January, so the time we really have with them is this side of Christmas. It was important for us to really have a go at the league. We’ve focused on that a lot and tried to get as much out of it as we can. The girls have been excellent. We only train a couple of times a week, so we really have them for about two hours a week on the pitch, but they’ve been brilliant in those two hours and we’ve tried to learn as much as we can.”

Now they look ahead to ATI Donegal in the final this Thursday night.  

“It’s brilliant to be in a league final. We don’t really know too much about Donegal, so we’re going in a little bit blind, but that just gives us a chance to focus on ourselves and hopefully put the things we’ve been learning into action.”