Meath book place in All-Ireland quarter-finals with three-point win over Kildare
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The Irish Sun
7 minutes ago
- The Irish Sun
Shauna Ennis insists Meath LGFA teammate ‘should be playing major role' in All-Ireland final after season-ending injury
SHAUNA ENNIS described her year with Meath so far as a tale of two cruciate injuries. On the one hand, the two-time TG4 All-Ireland-winning captain was delighted to return after her own setback. She underwent ACL But she was distraught that old ally and 2021 All-Star Máire O'Shaughnessy was not with her. The ultra-experienced pair made a private pact at the start of the year to play on for another season but O'Shaughnessy, 31, suffered her ACL injury in a league game against Ahead of the counties meeting again this Sunday in the All-Ireland decider, fit-again Ennis, 30, said: 'I decided to come back in this year with Máire at the start of the year. Then a month into it she ended up doing her ACL. Read More on LGFA 'The two of us have been very good friends for a very long time and we kind of both came back to our first sessions together, I think, around February 1. 'We just said, 'OK, we're going to have another crack'. And then a month later she's gone with the ACL. For her, I was hugely disappointed. She would be playing a massive part if it hadn't happened.' For their 2021 final win, when Meath stunned five-in-a-row-chasing Dublin, O'Shaughnessy was a key player — but four years on, she is not the only high-profile Royal who will not be involved in Sunday's rematch. Retirements and departures have hit Meath hard and Ennis said: 'There's Niamh O'Sullivan, Emma Troy, Orlagh Lally, Orla Byrne, Orlaith Duff, Kelsey Nesbitt, Máire, there's so many. I could nearly name a whole 15 that we've lost over the last while, Bridgetta Lynch. . . . Most read in GAA Football 'To be fair, to be back again in a final having lost all of those players is an impressive feat. I suppose we do still have that core group of players that have been there the whole time. It's a different team to 2021 but we still have those core players too.' Ennis is enjoying her return, coming on in each of her side's last four SFC games. Kerry GAA star leads All-Ireland homecoming celebrations from HIS pub in front of huge street parade Despite being best known as a defender she scored in three of them and hit Armagh for a goal in her first match back. The Na Fianna icon smiled: 'It was just a really nice feeling to know that I can still play at this level.' 1 Shauna Ennis, left, and Aoibhín Cleary of Meath after their side's victory in the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Championship quarter-final Credit: Stephen Marken/Sportsfile
Irish Times
34 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Dublin putting 2021 hurt behind them to set the record straight against Meath
Carla Rowe is in Croke Park to talk about Dublin and Meath and All-Ireland finals and revenge for 2021 and all of that. But mostly she finds herself talking about back-heels. That back-heel. Dublin led 1-13 to 0-14 in extra-time of their All-Ireland semi-final against Galway two weeks ago when Hannah Tyrrell won a dropping ball inside the 20-metre line and immediately offloaded to the incoming Orlagh Nolan. But just as Nolan tried to get her shot off, she was surrounded by maroon jerseys and the ball squirted out, ricocheted off a Galway defender and bounced across the face of the goal. Rowe was unmarked but ahead of the play, so standing on the edge of the small parallelogram she improvised, turned her back to goal and flicked the heel of her right boot at the ball. Goal. READ MORE It has led to several online memes and viral videos, and even a clever Carla Rowe-naldo moniker. 11nóim Am-Breise 0-14 2-13 CÚL! CÚL! CÚL!!!! 🤯 Críoch dochreidte ó Carla Rowe isteach san eangach! The tension is unreal! 💯 Beo/Live ar — Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) 'I knew this was going to come up,' she says when asked about the goal. 'I can say it was definitely not a training ground move. 'Look, I suppose a little bit of instinct kicked in there, the ball rolled behind me and I was going ahead of it so I knew if I picked it up the goalkeeper would be there. 'When I look back at it I'm like, 'Yeah, it was the right thing to do', but there was that moment when I was running back out thinking, 'Oh my God, why did I just do that? If it went wrong, I was in trouble.'' Dublin's Carla Rowe in action against Meath's Shauna Ennis during the 2021 All-Ireland final. Photograph: Laszlo Geczo/Inpho One of the first players over to congratulate (or berate) her for showing such audacity was Nolan, a former Republic of Ireland international at underage. 'She came over and was pushing me, laughing and kind of saying, 'What were you at?'' The following day Rowe was recovering from Dublin's extra-time win when one of her team-mates sent on a screenshot from X. 'I was trending number one in Ireland ahead of Rashford and Coldplay,' laughs the Dublin captain. 'These things happen in sport occasionally and I always think you just have to take them in and enjoy them. They don't happen too often.' Dublin versus Meath All-Ireland senior football finals don't happen too often either. In fact, Sunday's decider between the Leinster neighbours will only be the second time the counties have contested a Brendan Martin Cup showdown. Meath caused one of the biggest shocks in women's football in 2021 by beating the then five-in-a-row chasing Dubs. '2021 is obviously a hard one to take considering there was so much going on,' recalls Rowe. 'But you have to forget about that, years have passed and Meath are a completely different team, as are we. Even from our games this year, we've played them three times but we know they're going to be a different team on Sunday.' Dublin's Hannah Tyrrell in action against Galway's Lynsey Noone and Hannah Noone during the All-Ireland semi-final. Photograph: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile The 2021 result remains something of an outlier because Dublin have largely had the upper hand on Meath ever since. Dublin have won all three of the clashes between the sides so far this season; 2-19 to 0-9 in the league; 2-10 to 1-6 in the group stages of the Leinster SFC; 2-13 to 0-12 in the provincial final. 'It's All-Ireland final day, teams come with completely different energies and we know Meath have been building really nicely this year. We know we need to prepare really well for Sunday,' cautions Rowe. But if Rowe's back-heel has been gaining all the traction over the last fortnight, it was Tyrrell's wonderfully hit free in the dying seconds that saved the day for Dublin against Galway. Dublin were staring at elimination and trailing by a point when they were given one final chance of survival with a free just on the edge of the large arc. It was stick or twist time. Tyrrell shouldered the burden, grabbed the ball, eyed the posts, took a deep breath and with 12 seconds remaining she curled the ball towards the Galway goal. It quite literally dropped over the black spot. Extra-time. 'Hannah is in great form and I just keep thinking of the point she scored to level the Galway game, that's just her,' says Rowe. 'That is just ice-cold blood in her veins. To be able to actually kick that free in that moment, it's a huge moment. As a team-mate, I'm delighted she's on our side. 'Coming home from the Galway game was a funny feeling, we'd obviously won but we all knew we were disappointed in that game. 'Still, knowing that we managed to get through it, whether it was pretty or not, we had got through it together.'
Irish Examiner
3 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Shauna Ennis: 'To be back here again in a final having lost all of those players is an impressive feat'
Shauna Ennis and Maire O'Shaughnessy made a private pact back earlier this year, to give it another go with Meath. Two-time All-Ireland winning captain Ennis was about eight months into her recovery from ACL surgery at that stage. The thoughts of playing for Meath again had motivated her greatly throughout the darkest days of her recovery while midfielder and close friend O'Shaughnessy, 31 this year, fancied chasing a third medal too. A few weeks later, at the start of March, just as Ennis was nearing something like her old self, O'Shaughnessy suffered the very same injury in a league game against Dublin at Parnell Park. Fast forward to the present and O'Shaughnessy is in Ennis' thoughts as Meath and Dublin prepare to meet all over again in Sunday's TG4 All-Ireland final. "A month in, she ended up doing her ACL," said Ennis of former All-Star O'Shaughnessy. "So that was kind of a traumatic event, to be honest. The two of us have been very good friends for a very long time and we kind of both came back to our first sessions together, I think around the first of February. "We just said, 'Okay, we're going to have another crack at this'. And then a month later she's gone, with the ACL. For her, I was just hugely disappointed. She would be playing a massive part if it hadn't happened. I'm hugely disappointed that she's not and sad not to have her by my side as well. I suppose you have to take the good with the bad in sport, don't you?" Ennis scores a point for her side against Kerry in the semi-final. File picture: Tom O'Hanlon/Inpho Back in 2021, when Meath surprised five-in-a-row chasing Dublin by beating them in that season's All-Ireland final, O'Shaughnessy was a key player. Four years on, she isn't the only high profile player who won't be involved in Sunday's rematch. "I could name a whole team nearly," said Ennis, referencing the various retirements and departures. "There's Niamh O'Sullivan, Emma Troy, Orlagh Lally, Orla Byrne, Orlaith Duff, Kelsey Nesbitt, Maire, there's so many, I could nearly name a whole 15 that we've lost over the last while, Bridgetta Lynch. "To be fair, to be back here again in a final, having lost all of those players is an impressive feat. And I suppose we do still have that core group of players that have been there the whole time, like Vikki Wall and Emma Duggan and Aoibhin Cleary, Katie Newe, myself, there's a few of us still there that have definitely been around a good while. "So I suppose it's a different team to 2021 but we still have those core players too." Ennis went under the knife for corrective surgery on May 7, 2024 after the ACL setback. She returned to action with Meath exactly 13 months later, scoring a goal as a sub in last month's All-Ireland SFC group draw with Armagh. She has come on in each game since, contributing 1-2 in total despite being best known as a defender. "It felt huge," said Ennis of her comeback moment. "I was lucky enough, I had one or two small setbacks but nothing huge. And then running out and playing, getting on in that game in Pairc Tailteann, it was just a really nice feeling, to know that I can still play at this level."
