Maynooth University ladies look to land league title

Maynooth University ladies senior football team, backboned by 10 Kildare players, have a chance to pick up some silverware this evening (Thursday) as they face ATU Donegal in the final of the Curran Cup (Division 2 Higher Education League).

Manager Louise Keane has praised the impact of the Lilywhite contingent as her side look to build on a nail-biting semi-final win over TUD.

The Kildare players on board are Aoife Kilkenny, Aoife Murnane, Eimear Behan, Eimear Glancy, sisters Ella and Niamh Hayes, Holly Tyrrell, Saoirse O'Gorman, Julie Brannigan and Laura Dunlea.

“We're in Kildare, so it's probably right that we have a strong Kildare representation,” Kilcock native Keane said.

“Aoife Murnane has come in this year as a first year and has been excellent. She's full of energy on the pitch and off the pitch. She's been brilliant and has performed really well.

“I think she's played all of our games so far, so that's been really positive.

“All of our first years actually have kind of done that, had a big impact and been really positive, so that's great. And then Aoife Kilkenny and Niamh Hayes both have been with us for the last number of years. Niamh is excellent, she works really hard for us and brings a lot of a lot of leadership really. And Aoife Kilkenny has been brilliant as well.” 

Maynooth have enjoyed a fine run to date.

“So far we’ve started pretty well,” she said.

“We’ve had three round games. Our first was away to DCU, who we played in the first round of the championship last year and lost in extra time. To go there and get a win was really positive. It’s a tough place to go for your first round.” The strong start continued on the road.

“Our second round then we travelled down to UCC and again got a win, which was brilliant. Going down to UCC, the travel was difficult and it was an absolutely miserable night as well, so all those things make it a tough ask, but to come out of there with a win was really positive.” 

They followed up by beating UL at home.

“We would have played UL a lot over the last number of years, so it was great to get three wins in the league. And then we had our semi-final last Thursday against TUD. Obviously playing an O’Connor Cup team would have been a big step up for us and a big test, so to beat them was brilliant. That one went to extra time as well.” 

Keane said the character of the group stands out.

“In terms of how happy we are with the girls’ application and effort, we really can’t fault them. They’ve been excellent. I think that TUD game really showed us that the girls just never stopped, never gave up. Honestly, I just couldn’t fault their efforts.” 

She explained that the league was a major focus this year because of the academic calendar.

“Exams for the girls are in January, so the time we really have with them is this side of Christmas. It was important for us to really have a go at the league. We’ve focused on that a lot and tried to get as much out of it as we can. The girls have been excellent. We only train a couple of times a week, so we really have them for about two hours a week on the pitch, but they’ve been brilliant in those two hours and we’ve tried to learn as much as we can.

Now they look ahead to the trip to face ATU in this evening’s final.

“It’s brilliant to be in a league final. We don’t really know too much about ATU Donegal, so we’re going in a little bit blind, but that just gives us a chance to focus on ourselves and hopefully put the things we’ve been learning into action.”

The game will be played on Thursday evening at 7pm in ATU Donegal.