THE Lidl Ladies National Football League continues apace, with a massive round 3 weekend in store. There are four ‘double-header’ fixtures pencilled in – and two mammoth clashes will be televised live. Dublin and Cork face off in front of the eir sport cameras at Croke Park on Saturday (5pm), before TG4 screen the meeting of Connacht rivals Mayo and Galway on Sunday (12pm). Monaghan and Kerry lock horns at Pairc Grattan in Inniskeen (12pm), before the men’s teams from the respective counties do battle. And Roscommon’s ladies have the honour of hosting Meath at Dr. Hyde Park (12pm), with the teams set to battle it out ahead of the Roscommon v Down men’s fixture at the same venue.
Saturday 10th February
Lidl Ladies NFL Division 1 - Round 3
Dublin (H) v Cork, 5.00pm, Croke Park, (G Corrigan, Down)
The weekend gets off to a cracking start with the ‘Battle of the Champions’ at Croke Park. Dublin, the reigning TG4 All-Ireland senior champions, host Lidl Division 1 holders Cork in a fixture that will be televised live by eir sport. It’s the first time that Cork have played a League fixture at Croke Park and just the second time that Dublin have lined out at the Drumcondra venue in the same competition. This is a chance for both sides to lay down a significant early-season marker and the respective managers, Dublin’s Mick Bohan and his Cork counterpart Ephie Fitzgerald, have announced strong starting line-ups. Dublin have 11 of the team that started in last September’s All-Ireland final victory over Mayo listed for this game while Cork can call upon a potentially lethal attack that includes in-form Eimear Scally and Orla Finn. Dublin and Cork have both won their opening two Lidl League fixtures of 2018 and something’s got to give here.
Sunday 11th February
Lidl Ladies NFL Division 1 - Round 3
Galway (H) v Mayo, 12.00pm, Pearse Stadium, (S Mulvihill, Kerry)
The second live televised game of the weekend will see the TG4 cameras pitch up at Pearse Stadium in Salthill. This is another of the weekend’s ‘double-headers’, with the Galway and Mayo men set to face off after the ladies. Galway are moving nicely in Division 1 and with Dublin and Cork meeting on Saturday, the Tribeswomen could possibly move into second place over the weekend. But they’ll get nothing easy in the Connacht derby from Mayo, who will be anxious to atone for last weekend’s setback against Kerry. Galway have already claimed an early-season Connacht Winter League final victory over Mayo but this one could be closer.
Chairman of Galway LGFA Paul Gannon Spoke To John Mulligan
Westmeath (H) v Donegal, 1.30pm, Kinnegad, (G McMahon, Mayo)
Westmeath are another team who could do with points, as they’ve come up empty-handed in their opening two games of the season. Promoted from Division 2 last year, the Lake County have found the going tough so far in the top flight, while Donegal have one point from two games so far. Maxi Curran’s charges lost to Dublin in their first game but claimed a creditable draw at home to Galway last weekend, when Yvonne Bonner nailed a late equalising free on her home soil in Glenfin.
Monaghan (H) v Kerry, 12.00pm, Pairc Grattan, Inniskeen, (B Rice, Down)
Monaghan are bottom of the table on scoring difference, and without a single point from two games. They welcome Kerry to Inniskeen in another weekend ‘double-header’, with the Ladies teams set to battle it out ahead of their male counterparts. Kerry lost out heavily to Cork in their opening League fixture but with Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh in sparkling form, the Kingdom produced an encouraging performance to oust Mayo last weekend. Monaghan could badly do with a belated kick-start to their campaign but much will depend on how Kerry perform following their lonng trip north.
