Antrim LGFA Senior Football Final
St Ergnat’s v St Brigid’s
Throw-in 5pm
As the seconds ticked away in Antrim’s All Ireland Junior LFGA final at Croke Park in August, Theresa Mellon broke through from midfield and found Maria O’Neill with a perfect pass on the Carlow 45 metre line. With the sides level and time almost up O’Neill knew exactly what was needed and the Moneyglass star showed her brilliance to side-step a Carlow defender and race through to fire over the winning score and send the Saffron fans into ecstasy. One of the sporting memories of the year for all Antrim fans in a highlights reel that will be shown for years to come.
Today these two Saffron heroes will be in opposition when champions Moneyglass take on St Brigid’s at Hannahstown in the Antrim LGFA Senior Final
The game will see a dominant force from the south west clash with their ambitious south Belfast challenger, as St Ergnat’s of Moneyglass hunts for a sixth consecutive county title. Standing in their way is a tight-lipped St Brigid’s squad eager to secure their breakthrough victory and disrupt a roll of honour historically dominated by St Ergnat’s and St Paul’s (who previously secured nine in a row).
Moneyglass enters today’s decider as the heavy favourites, fueled by the momentum of a historic run last year when they became the first Antrim club to reach the All-Ireland Senior club final. Though they fell short at Croke Park, the grueling late-night training sessions continue as the team remains deeply hungry for a return to headquarters.
The squad’s tactical edge is credited to their manager, Donegal legend Maxi Curran, whose elite coaching experience has been instrumental in elevating the team to the national stage. The offensive line is spearheaded by 22-year-old Maria O’Neill, who is making her sixth final appearance. Fresh off a spectacular year where she claimed the ZuCar Golden Boot across all three championships, O’Neill is bolstered by Bronagh Devlin and the return of Orlaith Prenter to both club and county football. Moneyglass showcased their firepower in the semi-finals,
keep their powder dry and remain quiet ahead of the final, St Brigid’s is a formidable outfit anchored by fellow All-Ireland junior winners Maeve Blaney, Theresa Mellon, and Laura Agnew. Their attacking prowess is equally dangerous; they also hammered in six goals during their semifinal to eliminate their cross-city rivals, St Gall’s.
The two sides previously met in August, just days after Antrim’s Saffrons secured the All-Ireland junior crown. In that early-championship encounter, O’Neill and Devlin inspired Moneyglass to an eight-point victory over Naomh Bríd. However, O’Neill is quick to dismiss that earlier result as irrelevant. Having played alongside many of the St Brigid’s stars on the vastly improved county squad, she considers them great friends off the pitch but acknowledges exactly how capable and dangerous they are on it.
For Moneyglass, this weekend’s final coincides with a major milestone: the club is celebrating 30 years of ladies’ football this month. Tracing its roots back to 1996 when Pauline McCoy and a group of friends planted the seed, the club won its first Antrim championship just one year later in 1997 under the guidance of Eddie McKeever and Aidan Marron. Three decades later, the club remains as driven as ever to claim a spectacular super sixth.
