Kilkerrin/Clonberne ladies host first All-Ireland semi-final

Sunday will be an historic occasion at north Galway’s Clonberne when the home side, Kilkerrin/Clonberne, contest the Tesco Homegrown All-Ireland senior ladies semi-final against Termon (Donegal ) at 2pm.

Michael Divilly's squad earned their right to be at this stage of the competition courtesy of an impressive 0-12 to 2-5 victory in the Connacht final over Carnacon.

Their opponents on Sunday, Termon, produced a surprise 4-07 to 3-08 win over favourites Donaghmoyne (Monaghan ) in the Ulster final to book their place in the last four.

Their star forward Geraldine McLaughlin led the way in that win, scoring all four goals as Termon accounted for the 2012 All Ireland club champions,

McLoughlin will take a lot of watching this weekend as she is the Termon captain and shot a total of 4-04 in the Ulster final.

However, the Kilkerrin-Clonberne management team of Michael Divilly, Willie Ward and Eamon Mahoney will have their homework done and they are looking forward to the challenge of trying to get to what would be the club's first All-Ireland senior final.

Manager Michael Divilly, who has two daughters involved in the squad, is pleased with training over the past few weeks and his hoping for a good performance on Sunday.

"We are very fortunate to have such a committed and talented bunch of women on our panel and, in team captain Annette Clarke, we have a super role model who has both the experience and ability to lead the team superbly well any time she leads us out. We are delighted to have a home game and hopefully we will have a lot of vocal and colourful support on Sunday.

"No doubt Termon will represent a big challenge to us, but we thankfully have no injuries and we are really looking forward to the game. If we play to our best all around the field, we believe we will be good enough to get a win. However, our only focus is on producing a high-quality performance and seeing where that takes us."

Kilkerrin/Clonberne have some fine players in their ranks and they will look to defenders Aishling Walsh, Aoife McStay, Caoimhe Boyle and Galway star Nicola Ward to stop the Termon attack.

The Galway champions are strong at midfield with veteran star and team captain Annette Clarke partnering her county colleague, the extremely talented Louise Ward.

Up front they will look to Siobhán Divilly, and county player and their top scorer in the Connacht final, Olivia Divilly.

The winners on Sunday will face either Mountmellick (Laois ) or Mourneabbey (Cork ) in the All-Ireland final in two weeks’ time.

The Kilkerrin-Clonberne team that lined out in the recent Connacht final: L Murphy, A Walsh, S Gormally, A Mahoney, A McStay, N Ward, C Boyle, L Ward, A Clarke (cpt ); O Divilly, L Gannon, C. Dunleavy; A Miskell, S Divilly, L Walsh.

* Fográ: Also on this Sunday are the All-Ireland Intermediate semi-finals which sees An Fhairche (Clonbur ) take on Monaghan Harps at the aptly named Páirc Seoighe (Clonbur ) at 2pm.

The winners of that semi-final will face either Kilmacud Crokes or Castleisland Desmonds.

 

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