St Joseph’s preparation hampered by walk-overs and injuries

Preview LGFA IFC Final 

THE St Joseph’s ladies footballers will contest the Intermediate final for the second successive year having lost out to Shanahoe in the 2023 final.

Players Lorna Butler and Niamh Crosby along with joint manager Aidan Rowan and Chairman Barry Knowles were speaking ahead of the final at the Laois LGFA media night in the LOETB Portlaoise Institute last Friday evening.

Lorna Butler says that their main objective in 2024 was to reach the county final again. They also contested the Division 1 league final against Portlaoise, who are competing in the senior final on the same day.

“It's the main aim since the start of the year. It was always in the plan to win this year and the league I suppose was just a bonus like getting to the league final. The championship has been the main priority based on last year,” Butler said.

Niamh Crosby is hoping that they can take learnings from the county final loss to Shanahoe in Stradbally last year.

“I think we probably got a lot of lessons from the Shanahoe match, we were down by a lot at half time and then afterwards we got within like two points, we lost by four in the end but Shanahoe definitely taught us a couple of lessons and probably the hurt from last year will drive us on now for this year,” Crosby said.

Preparations for the St Joseph’s management haven’t been ideal due to them not having played in a month. They received walkovers in their final group game and in the semi-final whereas Graiguecullen had to come through a semi-final to get to the final.

“We topped the group, that'd be right but it was disappointing in the sense that we got a walkover in the final group game and a walkover in the semi-final which is far from ideal preparation at this time of year. It's quite hard to get good challenge matches in those scenarios as well. So not ideal preparation but we had a really solid league campaign against all the senior teams and we'll be taking an awful lot from that as well, we got to the Division One league final so very happy with that,” Rowan said.

When asked where they feel the game will be won or lost, the managers had this to say.

“I would say definitely it's going to be really tight for the first 15-20 minutes, that's the way it's always been any time we've played against Graigue. We've a high level of fitness, I don't know what the outcome will be but I'd be very confident that we're ready. We've trained 85 times this year, an awful lot of work done so I think hoping that if it's in the melting pot with 10 minutes to go we'll have enough to see us through,” Rowan said.

The Intermediate final will be played in Laois Hire O’Moore Park on Saturday this year with the 2023 final having been played in Stradbally. They know how important it is that the girls get to play in the county stadium.

“I suppose that's a big thing to promote the ladies' game, it's a massive thing for the girls to be able to run out into O’Moore Park rather than run out into a town like Stradbally or Portarlington or whatever, any of those satellite pitches. It's a big thing to be able to promote the ladies' game and let the ladies show their skills in O’Moore Park. It doesn't matter what steps we climb to lift the cup, once we lift the cup on Saturday evening that's the main thing anyway,” Knowles said.

The management team believe that St Joseph’s have shown throughout the league that should they win the championship and make the move to Senior, that they’ll be well able to compete at the top grade.

“You can see that from where we finished in the Division 1 League final. We were only pipped by a small margin by Portlaoise, who are kind of a crowned senior team for the last few years, but we’re well able to compete at the senior level within the Laois LGFA,” Barry said.

St Joseph’s have been hit with several long-term injuries and the management feel that there's a big year in them next year regardless of what grade their side is playing once those girls return. They also gave huge credit to the younger players coming up through the ranks.

“I think it's really important as well to flag the level of injuries we've had this year, we've had an injury plagued season. It started with Lauren Rowan at the start of the year with an ACL, then it moved on to Caoimhe Lacey and Emily Moore, two brilliant players, both gone in the first round against Graigue with an ACL and a broken leg. I feel that irrespective of whether we're intermediate or senior next year, I think there's a big year in us next year wherever we are, just getting the girls back and driving on. There’s a couple of really good young players in the club, Reiltin Hooney, Ava Shanahan, outstanding goalkeeper for 18 years of age, Ava Rowan, some really good girls coming up, Abbey O'Brien, so I think we're not in a bad place irrespective of where we end up next year,” Rowan said.