Tipperary Ladies Football Club Championships launched

With the conclusion of the Adult League Finals having taken place over the weekend it's full steam ahead with the start of the Tipperary Ladies Football Championships getting underway over the course of this weekend.

With 38 different teams taking part over six competitions and the majority of clubs in attendance at the launch all clubs are looking forward to what promises to be a feast of football in the Premier County in the coming months.

Senior

The Senior Championship sees nine teams divided into two groups.

In Group 1, Brian Borus, Clonmel Commercials, Fethard, Galtee Rovers and Thurles Sarsfields will battle it out for the two semi-final spots.

Borus will still be hurting from last year's heart-breaking final defeat to Aherlow. Laura Morrissey has been struggling with injury lately but if she gets back to full fitness, will marshal the edge of the square. Jen Grant, Maureen Murphy, Cliona O'Dwyer are some of the standout names and if they can bring in some of their successful U21 team Borus can go deep into the competition.

Clonmel Commercials were shooting the lights out in the league before coming unstuck in the semi-final against Moyle Rovers. Despite this they'll look to Niamh Mackey, Anna Carey, Courtney Lonergan, Sally Quinlivan and Sara Ryan to progress out of the group.

Fethard have the potential to have a huge say in the championship. They're playing a fast-running game that when it comes off is great to watch. They'll hope Carrie Davey can play a part in the campaign after struggling with injury and if the likes of Lucy Spillane, Leah Coen, Niamh Hayes, and Kate Davey can click watch out for what can be a huge year for the club.

2021 Intermediate champions Galtee Rovers will be riding the crest of a wave and hope the spirit shown in that success can drive them forward. Ruth Ronan has left from last year's panel while Megan Heffernan is on the way to the States to commence a soccer scholarship and Kate Flannery's rugby career is starting to take off with Ireland. Despite these losses the likes of Edith Carroll, Niamh Roche, Emer McCarthy, Aoibhe Gayson Molloy, Ali Lonergan and county minor captain Aoife Flynn will no doubt look to build on the success of 2021.

Thurles Sarsfields will be hoping the loss of a few key players who have transferred back to their home club of Loughmore/Castleiney won't have too much of a bearing for them. Katelyn Ruddy, Clodagh Irwin, Marie Creedon and Andrea Loughnane will take up the mantle and look to improve on last year's showing.

Group 2 is the ultimate ‘group of death’ with reigning champions Aherlow joined by last year's beaten semi-finalists Cahir and Moyle Rovers, with Templemore completing the group.

Aherlow, currently have Anna Rose Kennedy out of the country, and will be hoping to still be in contention when she returns, while her sister Caitlin is close to full fitness having missed the inter-county championship through injury. Laura Ivory and Brid Condon will lead from the back while Maire Condon, Sara Morrissey, and the ever-impressive Emma Morrissey will be looking to help the girls from The Glen put back-to-back together.

Cahir, fresh from their league final success, will be confident of doing the double. Aoife Corcoran and Emma Buckley are in super form through the spine of the defence, with Clara Fahey the engine in midfield. Anna Downey showed her class recently kicking four points from play in the league final and with Niamh Costigan, Roisin Howard, Orla McEniry, and Rosanna Kiely in attack they're going to be a handful for any defence. Add in the strong bench and rumours that Aishling Moloney might see in action before the year is out Cahir sit rightfully as favourites for the crown at the moment.

While Moyle Rovers will be disappointed with their league final defeat, they showed enough over the course of the campaign to think they can get out of the group. Niamh Lonergan is still leading the attack and with the Cronin sisters, Emma & Michelle, in defence and Hazel Brennan returning they can be confident before the campaign kicks off. Kirsty Crotty-Ryan is in super form right now and with the highly potential U16 Tipp panellist to return, the girls from Lisronagh will be confident of making inroads as the year progresses. They'll hope the experienced Gillian O'Brien will return from injury before the first round.

Templemore, with huge work gone in at grassroots level, one feels it's only a matter of time before they make the breakthrough at senior level. It remains to be seen what if any part Maria Curley will play in the championship after her recent injury picked up against Dublin.

Having said that Ava Ormond, Iris Kaiser, and Erin Bourke will shore up the defence while the experience of Elaine Fitzpatrick around the middle of the field will give freedom to the likes of Neassa Towey, Shauna Quirke and the two Delaney’s, Áine & Kate, to express themselves. Add in Jill Johnston, Dani Ryan and a few more and there's plenty of quality in this team Templemore have been slowly building a strong panel over the last few seasons and while some people might see them as outsiders in this group that might just give them the chance to play with abandon and a nothing to lose attitude. Don't be surprised to see Templemore upset the apple cart here and make it out of the group.

Intermediate

The intermediate championship sees last year's All-Ireland junior finalists Mullinahone move up the ranks to join Ardfinnan, Cappawhite and Boherlahan-Dualla.

Mullinahone will be hoping new manager John Leahy can continue the excellent work done by Paul Kelly last year and while Lorraine & Aoibhe O'Shea are the stand out names every player makes a huge contribution to the success of this team.

Ardfinnan will once again look to the experience of Samantha Lambert while Clara English has been hugely impressive all year since making her senior debut with Tipp. They'll have to plan without star player Laura Dillon who recently had the misfortune of tearing her cruciate ligament and will miss the campaign.

Cappawhite had a poor league campaign as players slowly returned to action but will be looking to the likes of Elaine & Jean Kelly to spearhead their campaign.

Boherlahan-Dualla after a hugely impressive campaign in Division 1 of the league when they lost to eventual winners Cahir by the smallest of margins in the semi-final will come into this campaign thinking this could be the year they achieve senior status.

Caoilinn Casey, Grace Moloney and Casey Hennessy have returned from inter-county duty while Emer Dwan is slowly becoming one of the most exciting young prospects in the county.

Junior A

Junior ‘A’ see's St. Odhran's/Silvermines, St. Patrick's, Sliabhnamban, Moycarkey-Borris, Moyne-Templetuohy and Arravale Rovers compete.

Silvermines, last year's Junior ‘B’ champions, will be looking to make progress up to this grade.

St Patrick's will be backboned by the majority of their U21 team who were beaten in the Division 2 League Final will be looking to the likes of county senior panellist Eabha Hogan to make a semi-final at the very minimum.

Sliabhnamban spearheaded by the two Martin sisters, Niamh and Nora, arguably two of Tipperary's best players this year will be hoping the experience of the two girls can drive them to success.

Moycarkey/Borris, last year's beaten county finalists, were hugely impressive in their league success and will be hoping the experienced Caitriona Walsh and Maeve Corcoran to take them one step further than last year.

Arravale Rovers, with Sarah Ryan who this year became the first player from the club to play senior football for Tipperary, will be hoping the likes of herself, her cousin Ciara Ryan, Nia Donovan will spearhead them to the business end of the year.

Moyne-Templetuohy, despite the heavy loss in the league final, will have Ellen Moore back for the start of the championship. Roisin Daly will miss the first round due to being out of the country Cathy Hogan, Niamh Ryan, Eva Sumner, and Niamh Dunne to get them out of the group.

Junior B

This is a wide-open competition with Holycross-Ballycahill, Boherlahan-Dualla, Lattin-Cullen/Emly, Loughmore-Castleiney and Rockvale Rovers.

The team everyone is keeping an eye on to see how they progress is the newly formed Loughmore-Castleiney. They're in the unusual position for a newly formed club to have a wealth of experience with a lot of their players having played with near neighbours Templemore, Moyne-Templetuohy and Thurles Sarsfields before returning to the newly formed club in their home parish.

Holycross have being knocking on the door for the last few years in need to make the breakthrough shortly with all their underage success but will be smarting after the recent league final defeat to Lattin-Cullen/Emly who are bound to be high in confidence given how impressive they were on the way to achieving league honours.

Boherlahan will be confident of making a serious go at this championship while Rockvale Rovers, based in Newport and with huge work going in up there from former Tipperary manager Tom McGlinchey and numerous others have taken the bold step to move up to this grade and play at a higher level.

Junior C

Junior ‘C’ is made up of four teams with Templemore, Cahir, Moyle Rovers, and Brian Borus.

Junior D

The Junior D' competition sees nine teams taking part in two groups with Group 1 comprising of Clerihan, Moyne-Templetuohy, Golden-Kilfeacle, Fethard and Mullinahone. Group 2 sees Aherlow, Ardfinnan, Killenaule and Slieve Felim Rapparees.

So, with the championships ready to kick off don't forget you can see all the action exclusively live with CK Streaming. The championship preview show will be available to view later this week. CK Streaming have raised the profile of ladies’ football in Tipperary over the last eighteen months and to keep up to date with all that's happening in The Premier County subscribe to their YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com Let the games begin.