Ladies: Flood leads Louth past Longford to All-Ireland junior decider
July 13, 2025
Eimear Byrne of Louth celebrates after scoring her side's first goal during the TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Football Junior Championship semi-final against Longford at St Tiernach's Park in Clones, Monaghan. Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile
Louth 1-14
Longford 0-6
by Deniese O’Flaherty
Kate Flood led the way with 0-10, six of them frees, as last year’s beaten finalists Louth booked their place in the TG4 All-Ireland junior final with a win over Longford in Clones.
Flood was superb throughout but it was very much an excellent team performance from Louth. Longford battled hard but found the going tough against a Louth side who were stronger in most areas of the field
Louth enjoyed early possession but found it hard to get scores. It was Longford that opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a point from Sian Gallagher. Flood kicked two frees but Shauna Hagan drew Longford level in the 14th minute.
The Wee County then took control of proceedings. Flood kicked two more frees while Eimear Byrne found the back of the net in the 18th minute. Aoife Russell followed that up with their first point from play.
Longford struggled to get into the game and were reduced to 14 in the 26th minute when Mairead Victory was sin-binned. Flood kicked over a lovely point from play in the 30th minute and in additional time the full-forward got her sixth point from a free.
The first point of the second half was fired over by Flood. Russell got her second point of the game in the 40th minute as Louth extended the lead to 10 points.
Longford thought they’d got a goal back in the 41st minute when Kamille Burke’s free was finished to the net by Katie Crawford but the goal was disallowed for a foul.
They got their first point of the second half in the 47th minute; Clodagh Lohan with the score, their first score since the 14th minute. Louth replied with three points from Flood, two of them from play, and a neat point from Ceire Nolan.
Longford keeper Aoife Cooney pulled off a good save to deny Byrne her and her side’s second goal. It was all Louth as they continued to dominate. Russell fired over her third point in the 59th minute.
In the closing stages Longford got consolation points through Lohan and a brace from Burke.
Scorers - Louth: K Flood 0-10 (6fs), E Byrne 1-0, A Russell 0-3, C Nolan 0-1.
Longford: C Lohan, K Burke (f), 0-2 each, S Gallagher, S Hagan 0-1 each.
LOUTH: R Lambe Fagan; R Beirth, E Hand, E Murray; S Matthews, S McLaughlin, L Byrne; Á Breen, A Halligan; L White, E Byrne, A Russell; H Lambe-Sally, K Flood, C Nolan. Subs: Z Sweeney for Matthews (48), C Woods for White and G McGrave for Lambe-Sally (55), M Duffy for Breen and M Rooney for E Byrne (60).
LONGFORD: A Cooney; G Kenny, F Talabi, A Brady; C McCormack, E O’Brien, E Duggan; S Gallagher, A O’Brien; S Hagan, K Crawford, E O’Reilly; K Burke, C Lohan, M Victory. Subs: C Mulligan for O’Reilly (27), E Sheehy for A O’Brien (43), E Bleakley for Talabi (57).
Referee: Angela Gallagher (Meath)
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