Longford Slashers ladies captain Aoife O’Brien quietly confident
Kilmacud Crokes the opposition in the quest for historic victory
AIB Ladies Football Leinster Club Senior Championship Final
Longford Slashers Ladies footballers are back in a provincial final for the first time since they were crowned Leinster and All-Ireland Club Intermediate champions back in 2022, and Sunday will be their first ever senior provincial final appearance.
The captain for that historic year was Aisling Cosgrove, and now four years later, Aoife O’Brien, who was also part of the historic 2022 team, will lead Slashers into battle against four-in-a-row Leinster champions Kilmacud Crokes.
Ahead of Sunday’s final in O’Moore Park in Portlaoise (2pm), Aoife told the Leader that it is an honour for her to captain the team this year.
“I’ve been with these girls a number of years now and we have had some good days together on the football field. It will be nice to go out and represent our county and our club at such a high level, it will be a proud day for all of the players and the management, and everyone involved with the club.
“Looking back at 2022, and at times we still can’t believe the success that happened that year winning the provincial title and winning the All-Ireland that day in Croke Park, but we are just focused on Sunday’s Leinster decider against Kilmacud. That has been our approach this year, just to focus on the next match only and this game is no different.”
Over a dozen of the current squad were part of the 2022 success and Aoife is hoping that the experience within the ranks will be a big factor against the powerful reigning Dublin and Leinster champions.
“Yes, a lot of the players from that campaign are still involved this year and a core amount of our current squad would have started those Leinster and All-Ireland final successes back in 2022.
“Over ten of the team that started the All-Ireland final success over Mullinahone (Tipperary) played in both our Leinster wins this year against Ballinamere-Durrow of Offaly and Wicklow’s Tinahely, and we hope to bring that experience to the table on Sunday especially when it comes to game management.
“Hopefully, we will be able to get off to a good start, stick with them, and then at the end make something happen that will get us across the line.
“Despite our experience, I still see us as a very young team and we have added some fresh talent this year that have improved the panel and made us more competitive. We have several minor players who have come into the squad and they have added extra energy.”
Tinahely who Slashers beat by sixteen points in the Leinster semi-final, reached the final last year, losing to Kilmacud by 17 points, but it could have been Slashers in the 2025 final as they only lost to Kilmacud in last year’s championship by five points and Slashers also missed a penalty in that match. Aoife is hoping that they can give the Dublin outfit another hard battle on Sunday.
“Yes, we really played well against them last year and that gives us confidence ahead of Sunday’s game, knowing that we are capable of putting it up to them.
“They have been playing at the highest level a lot longer than we have but I back our team and our panel to put it up to them again and as if we just stick with them in the opening fifteen or twenty minutes, we can give it a good run, but we will have to be at our best as they will be very tough opponents.”
Reflecting on the injuries within the team, Aoife said that it’s just part and parcel of sport, and a panel is there to cope with that situation.
“We have definitely been keeping our physios busy and we have a few players who have been missing all year that have been a huge loss to the panel but we have replaced them with players who have performed really well, and hopefully, with some rest and recuperation everyone else will be fully fit for Sunday.
“It would be great to win on Sunday and it would mean a lot not just for the players and management, but also for the club and our county if we are crowned champions on Sunday.
“They are a quality team who have won all their Leinster matches by large margins and they have inter-county players from other high-profile counties as well as Dublin, but I back our players against them.
“We have to win our personal battles, but we have been pulling together as a team the last couple of games and we need to do that again on Sunday, and if we can close them down quickly, we can hopefully come out on top.”