This Saturday, Kilkerrin-Clonberne go in search of a first All-Ireland Ladies Football Senior Club title when they take on Mourneabbey (Cork) at 5pm in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, but it won't be the first time a Galway club will have won the title. In May 1983, Galway Gaels defeated Rochfortbridge of Westmeath 4-4 to 1-2 in the All-Ireland final and Liam Forde who was part of the Galway management that day spoke to Ollie Turner...
Connacht Tribune Report: Galway Gaels 4-4 Rochfordbridge 1-2
The long wait is over and the All-Ireland club ladies football title rests in Galway after a clear cut win over Rochfordbridge on Sunday last. It was a game of two distinct halves in which the Gaels took the best Rochfordbridge threw at them in the fist thirty minutes and trailing by one point at half-tiome 1-2 to 1-1, they then ran Rochfordbridge ragged in the second half and scored 3-3, without reply to run out the eleven point winners. This was truly a team performance, but surely if one must look for a star, it has to be at midfield where Mary Dempsey stood out head and shoulders over everbody else. No less efficient was her partner Teresa Raftery and while all the forwards played their part, one has to single out full forward Kitty Hoey whose contribution of 2-1 means that in four championship games, she has scored 9-6 in all. The Naughton sisters, Anne O'Toole and Barbara Reaney all contributed handsomely. In the back line, if the full-back line felt a 'little bit out of it, it was because the centre-back line made sure they got little to do and a measure of their superiority over their rivals was the fact that they conceded only three scores in the entire game. After the game M. Fitzgerald of Kerry, President of Ladies Football presented the cup to Bernie Stankard, captain of Galway Gaels. Scorers: K. Hoey 2-1, T. Naughton 1-0, M. Dempsey 0-2, A. OToole 1-0, M. Naughton 0-1.
Galway Gaels: Teresa Walsh, Geraldine Burke, Muireann Cosgrove, Claire Keville, M. Mullins, Claire Geraghty, Bernie Stankard, Teresa Raftery, Mary Dempsey, Barbara Reaney, Mary Naughton, Anne O'Toole, Teresa Naughton, Kitty Hoey, Claire Dolan. Subs.: Patsy Lydon for C. Keville; P. Farragher for P. Lydon; Nora Audrey, Teresa Hynes, Brid Dempsey, Martina Audley, Marie Ward
