Tipperary’s Ladies Football League fixtures revealed

Tipperary have been handed a tough slate of fixtures in division 2 of the Lidl Ladies Football National League which were announced last week.

The league will begin on Sunday, 26th January 2025 with Tipperary having a home game against Galway, the Connacht side having been relegated from division 1 last year.

Tipperary will hit the road the following Sunday to play Monaghan before returning home for round 2 on February 9th with a Munster derby against Cork who were also demoted from division 1 last year.

Round 4 on February 23rd will see Tipperary have another provincial derby with Clare who were promoted to from division 3 as champions, before returning home to face Westmeath on March 2nd. There will be a three week gap to the penultimate round when Tipp make the long trip to Donegal before concluding with another away game in Roscommon, who have come up from division 3.

The top two teams in the division will be promoted to division 1 and progress to a league decider on Croke Park on Saturday, April 12th, as curtain-raiser to the division 1 final.

Tipperary will be managed by Ed Burke for the first time in 2025 after Peter Creedon stepped down after three years in charge. Burke is a Moyle Rovers clubman and returns to his native county after managing Carlow since 2021, winning a division 4 league title and reaching three All-Ireland junior semi-finals.

Burke has also plenty of experience within Tipperary having previously coached the Premier County to the 2019 All-Ireland Intermediate crown.

AFLW

Meanwhile, Tipperary’s Orla O’Dwyer is chasing a third AFLW title this Saturday when her Brisbane Lions team take on North Melbourne Kangaroos in the Grand Final.

The Kangaroos, which include Tipperary’s Niamh Martin, have so far gone through the entire season undefeated so far and will host the final after finishing top of the table and beating Adelaide in the qualifying final.

The Lions are gunning for back-to-back titles in their sixth AFLW Grand Final with O’Dwyer part of the team that defeated North Melbourne in last years final, while she was also successful in 2021.

The impact of Irish players on the growing AFLW was further enhanced with three players selected to the All-Australia team, the equivalent of the All-Stars.

The town of Cahir can celebrate two of them with Aisling McCarthy and Aishling Moloney named on the half-forward line after their outstanding seasons. Along the Dublin native Aileen Gilroy, the Irish trio were among a dozen players to receive All-Australian selection for the first time.

Tipperary dual star McCarthy, a former TG4 Intermediate Players Player of the Year, has booted 25 goals in 55 AFLW games for three clubs, the Western Bulldogs, West Coast Eagles, before moving to the Fremantle Dockers for this season.

Aishling Moloney this year became the first Irish player to finish as the joint leading goal kicker in AFLW with Geelong. Despite the disappointment of missing out on the play-offs, Moloney (26) has established herself as one of the most dangerous forwards in the competition having booted 21 goals this year, more than doubling her 2023 tally of ten.