Some mouth-watering ties down for decision in Kildare LGFA deciders

The 2024 Kildare LGFA championship finals are down for decision this weekend with three top class game down for decision.

In the senior final defending champions Eadestown take on St Laurences while the intermediate decider will see Balyna take on Kill. In the Ayu junior decider it will be Kilcock who take on Na Fianna.

Senior final

Eadestown take on challengers St Laurence’s in the Joe Mallon Motors Kildare LGFA Senior Football Championship final as they look to complete their drive for five.

This year it is St Laurence’s who look to stand in their way as they have recalled the stalwart sister pairing of Brianne and Kate Leahy out of retirement to bolster their dreams of winning a first title since 2016.

Both sides have proven unbeaten to date in their campaigns with St Laurence’s coming closest with a draw against Kilcullen in their final group game proving enough for the south Kildare side to top Group B.

The sides have done battle on two occasions this season. With St Laurence’s coming out on top on those evenings, most notably at the end of May when St Laurence’s ran out four point victors to claim the Kildare LGFA Division One title.

“We grew into the league campaign and it was bonus territory getting to the final’ admitted captain Grainne Kenneally when she spoke to Pat Costello at the Kildare LGFA preview night last week.

On this occasion is was an under strength Eadestown side that fell to St Laurence’s and Kenneally was quick to admit this was ‘deserved’.

From this Eadestown have grown and with a panel that has alternated throughout they championship campaign they have scored 12-65 through their five fixtures to date, while conceding a mere 5-35.

Despite a strengthened Eadestown side preparing for a showdown with St Laurence’s on Friday night, one very welcome addition to the St Laurence's side in 2024 was the emergence of twice All Star Brianne Leahy Hayden from retirement. Proving ever green Leahy Hayden has once more staked a claim for her place and has proven her talent and ability hasn’t aged a day during her spell away from action.

As the sides progressed through the Joe Mallon Motors Kildare LGFA Senior Championship campaign Eadestown proving the stronger outfit progressing to the quarter-finals, here it was Eadestown again who proved most impressive defeating Leixlip with 13 points to spare as St Laurence’s overcame last season's Intermediate champions, Suncroft, by seven points.

With the sides moving onto their respective semi finals it was Kilcullen for St Laurence’s, the sides who proved their only black mark in the group stages as they played out a 2-11 a piece draw. Yet this wasn’t to be the case in the knock-out stages as St Laurence’s dispenses with Kilcullen before Eadestown disposed of Sarsfields to set up a date for the diary of 4 October4 as the sides look to meet once more to fight over silverware.

This time it is the destination of the Kildare LGFA Senior Championship trophy, will it be joining the Division One title in St Laurence’s or will Eadestown make it five in a row and again have an opportunity to take on the best in Leinster.

Intermediate

With Balyna set to do battle with Kill in the Joe Mallon Motors Kildare LGFA Intermediate Championship final on Saturday 5 October, it really is a battle of experience meets youth.

With Balyna having previously scaled the highest heights of Senior football they look to make a welcome return to the top tier of club football. The only thing that stands in their way is a dogged Kill side determined to bring their club to the top table.

Throughout the group stages of the Intermediate Championship Balyna have proven their ability in front of goals with a massive opening day result against Moorefield that saw them hit 15 goals, their second day saw them find the net four times. While Kill focused on grinding out though victories against Clane and Raheens.

It wasn’t until the knock out stages that Kill began to display their scoring prowess hitting a poor Moorefield side for ten goals while Balyna disposed of Clane with ease before moving on to dismantle Raheens. On the opposite side Kill accounted for Carbury.

With Balyna already proving too strong for rest of the competition in the Joe Intermediate Championship, will Kill be another side that will be sitting prey for their strong attack or will Kill’s understated path to the final prove to be their best piece of arsenal.

Junior

In the Ayu Kildare LGFA Junior A Championship it will be Kilcock and Na Fianna who will do battle in a bid to extend their footballing summers with a much wished for experience of the Leinster Junior Championship awaiting the victors.

Na Fianna have been the perennial finalist with their efforts proving not enough in 2023. They look to seal victory and a much awaited promotion to the Intermediate ranks.

Kilcock have journeyed a number of years at the Junior grade and look to subject Na Fianna to disappointment once more.

Both sides have look impressive to date, both topping their respective groups while hitting big scores. The standout tie would be Kilcock’s performance against Kildangan/ Nurney where they hit an impressive six goals before adding sixteen points to show their prowess going forward. Despite this Na Fianna have also proven competent in from of goal, also registering large scores against Celbridge and Rathangan.

With Kilcock finding themselves straight into a semi final, Na Fianna proved too strong for the Kildangan/ Nurney in their quarter final pairing where Na Fianna proved they were equally able to amass high scores.

This final will come down to each sides ability to withstand the pressure of the oppositions defence. Added to this the experience of county final day already ingrained in Na Fianna could edge them into the tie holding the favourites tag.