BIG WEEK FOR WICKLOW!

Ladies and Minors go in search of success

IT’S a massive week for three Wicklow teams as the Celtic Challenge hurlers get their campaign underway tonight (Wednesday) in Abbotstown against Westmeath at 7.15pm.

Then on Monday, Wicklow GAA supporters will be divided as to whether to journey to St Brendan’s Park in Birr, Co. Offaly, to cheer on the Wicklow ladies in the NFL final or to go to Aughrim to cheer on Kevin O’Brien’s Minor footballers in their quest for a Leinster Minor championship victory over Offaly.

The Wicklow ladies will cross swords with Louth in the Lidl NFL Division 4 final at 2pm. This year they will seek to banish the memory of last year’s final when Longford proved a bridge too far in the same final.

There certainly seems to be a steel to the squad to date and the determination to drive the team to victory and promotion to Division 3 has been evident to everyone who has travelled to support the team on their travels throughout the league.

Indeed Wicklow currently are the only ladies team in all divisions to have a 100 per cent record as they enter the finals - no mean feat in such a competitive league.

Wicklow however take on a Louth team who have been shown to be very resilient in 2018 and certainly the two best teams in the division have qualified to contest the final.

Louth, in Rebecca Carr and the young Sinead Woods, have a strong midfield and the battle between these two ladies and Wicklow’s midfield combination of St Patrick’s Niamh McGettigan and her young Tinahely colleague Aoife Gorman will go a long way to settling the match.

While Louth are a team still in a rebuilding process, Wicklow are possibly further along the developmental progression curve. In analysing the game it has to be noted that although Louth’s Susan Byrne and Kate Flood have been scoring throughout the round robin series of the league, Wicklow in this department seem to hold the aces.

It is evident to date that when one of the Wicklow for- wards are kept quiet another of her teammates have had the ability to step up to the plate.

Noticeably, Laura Hogan has returned to the scoring charts at just the right time and Hogan, a veteran of many Wicklow Ladies games at this stage, is aided and abetted by the likes of Marie Kealy, Amy Murphy and the ever dependable Jackie Kinch.

Indeed it was also noticeable that following the unfortunate injury sustained by AGB’s Georgina Canavan her replacement Eire Og’s Meadhbh Deeney slotted seamlessly into the forward division.

It is, indeed, this strength in depth of the squad that has been the most striking difference in 2018. The Wicklow defence too have been miserly and coughed up a mere five goals while their attack have raised a total of 20 green flags.

Previews of all three big games for the Wicklow sides can be found inside and hopefully all three will be successful when the final whistles blow.