Mary O’Connell and Na Gaeil bidding to break new ground in Kerry decider

Daire Walsh

A few short weeks on from their male counterparts competing in a first-ever top-tier decider in Kerry, Mary O’Connell and the ladies footballers of Na Gaeil are also set to break new ground in Killarney this weekend.

Intermediate county champions in the Kingdom back in 2018, the Tralee-based outfit defeated Finuge/St Senans at Denis Dowling Park, Coolard on September 28th to reach their maiden Kerry LGFA senior championship showpiece.

A fortnight earlier at Austin Stack Park, the Na Gaeil men’s side competed in the Kerry club senior football championship final for the very first time and produced a commendable display before losing out to Dr Crokes on a score of 0-20 to 1-12.

There is a strong connection between both senior teams within Na Gaeil and O’Connell is hoping club supporters will come out in their droves when her side face Southern Gaels in their historic Kerry SFC decider at Fitzgerald Stadium tomorrow afternoon (kick-off 2pm).

“It’s big for the club. We made intermediate finals and junior finals obviously over the years, but this is the first time we’ve been in a senior final in the history of our club. It’s a big day out and the senior men made their first senior final there a couple of weeks ago with the club championships. It’s good for the club,” O’Connell explained.

“You’d hope that there is good support. There has been good support this year and there was a lot of underage girls that came out to support us in our semi-final. We’d hope that there’d be a big enough crowd coming for the final as well. Hopefully we can put on a good performance for them.”

Whereas Na Gaeil are newcomers as far as senior county finals in Kerry is concerned, their opponents Southern Gaels will be featuring in a top-tier championship decider for the seventh year in succession.

Beaten finalists in the past two years to Castleisland Desmonds (2024) and Finuge/St Senans (2023), they were previously back-to-back Kerry SFC winners in 2021 and 2022.

Yet while this is the first time she will be facing them in a senior county final, O’Connell is extremely familiar with Southern Gaels and their players.

At the start of this year’s championship on August 17, Na Gaeil overcame their forthcoming rivals on a score of 2-8 to 0-5 – though O’Connell is understandably anticipating Southern Gaels will be a much-improved outfit in their latest clash.

Additionally, she counts five of the Southern Gaels side as her inter-county colleagues with Kerry and three of that quintet will be in contention for personal honours later on this year.

“Anna Galvin, Siofra O’Shea and Mary Ellen Bolger. They’re all up for All Star nominations, so obviously very good players. Then the likes of Rachel Dwyer and Jess Gill, who are also really strong players. It will be a tough challenge.

“They also have other players inside there that aren’t in with Kerry, but are just as strong and could potentially be there in the future. There are good players, but I’d say our team as well is well balanced and there’s players around the pitch that will hopefully be able to handle the competition that we have.”

There has also been a strong Na Gaeil contingent on the Kerry panel in recent years with O’Connell – who currently works in the pharmaceutical industry with Gilead Sciences in Carrigtwohill, Co Cork – being joined by Deirdre Kearney, Jadyn Lucey, Eilis O’Connor and Brid O’Connor on the Kingdom panel for their TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship final victory in 2024.

There was also a familiar face to O’Connell in the Kerry hotseat for 2025 with Na Gaeil’s Mark Bourke taking over from the joint management team of Declan Quill and Darragh Long.

While the inter-county season ended in an All-Ireland semi-final loss to Meath at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore, O’Connell is happy to reflect positively on a year that saw them winning both the Lidl National Football League Division 1 title and a TG4 Munster senior football championship crown.

“He [Bourke] has done a very good job with us. Winning the league and Munster, and getting to an All-Ireland semi in his first year isn’t bad at all.

“Obviously it’s disappointing. At the start of every year really, your aim is to win an All-Ireland final and it doesn’t always happen that way. The league was a good start because we had a big turnover in players and then a new management in.

“Then having back-to-back Munsters hasn’t happened in Kerry in a long while for the women. That is obviously something that we can be proud of as well. It was a good season overall, just a bit of a poor ending.”

A Kerry senior debutant in 2021, O’Connell gradually made her presence felt on the inter-county scene and appeared as a substitute when the Kingdom lost All-Ireland SFC finals to Meath and Dublin in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

She had started a Lidl NFL Division 1 showpiece win over Galway in 2023, before firmly establishing herself as a regular starter for the following year.

Lining up in midfield alongside Anna Galvin – who she is set to lock horns with in Fitzgerald Stadium tomorrow – O'Connell kicked a point as Kerry ended a 31-year wait for a TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship title with a 3-14 to 0-11 triumph over Galway at Croke Park on August 4, 2024.

When you combine the sizable gap between their 11th and 12th Brendan Martin Cup successes with the heartbreak of losing two finals on the bounce, O’Connell acknowledged there was a mixture of ecstasy and relief when Kerry got over the line in last year’s All-Ireland showpiece.

“I suppose there was a bit of pressure on us going into that game because you didn’t want to go in and have the same outcome as the past two years. We had experience of Croke Park, we had experience of the big day, which is important in the grand scheme of things because it is a different occasion,” O’Connell added.

“You take it as another game, but there is a lot more hype around it. We were delighted, we were relieved, when the final whistle came.

"To do it with that group of players was just fantastic.”