LGFA- LIDL NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE DIVISION 2
BY MATTHEW WILSON
DONEGAL defender Niamh Carr is hoping that they can back up their win over Westmeath with another victory this Sunday when they face Monaghan in the Lidl National Football League Division 2.
The Donegal Ladies got their league campaign off to the perfect start last Sunday, defeating the Leinster side on home soil at O’Donnell Park.
The two sides were level at the interval however, James Daly’s outfit produced a brilliant Act Two performance to seal the win and get two points on the board which Carr was pleased with.
“I think the overwhelming feeling is that we’re happy to get off to a good start in the league. I suppose that was one of our aims at the start of the year.
“I think last year was a bit of a transition period and we thought we just got over the line in a couple of games and we probably weren’t reaching our peak. We were very focused on getting off to a good start and especially with it being on home soil, we thought it was very important.
“Westmeath are a very good team and they’ve put it up to us in the last few years so we’re very happy with the result.”
James Daly was operating with a young squad in his first year in the role last term. While the side is still youthful, they now have a year of experience at senior level under their belt which will hold them in good stead.
As well as this, a lot of last year’s panel have committed once again for the 2026 season. Carr stated that it’s the first year in a while where they haven’t seen wholesale changes to the squad and that’s reflected in their display on the pitch.
“We still are a relatively young team, we obviously have a few of us older ones with more experience there but overall we are still a young team. It’s probably the first year in a while where we haven’t had a large amount of players leave the panel.
“It’s the first year that we’ve kept the group together and I think that showed on the pitch the last day, everyone is happy to be there and wants to be there so that’s what you want.”
The Milford native lives in Dublin and plays her club football for Kilmacud Crokes. 2025 was a long year for Carr, with the Dublin club reaching the All-Ireland Senior Club Championship semi-final before losing out to St Ergnat’s GAC Moneyglass.
With that campaign ending in late November, Carr expressed that the Donegal management team were very accommodating in allowing her time to rest and recover before returning to the county fold.
Carr came back into the Donegal setup at the turn of the year and she stated that she is delighted to be back involved with the group for the 2026 season.
“It was a long season, it was a long season the year before but I can’t thank the management team in Donegal enough for allowing me to play my club football in Dublin and focus solely on that.
“I was able to take a couple of weeks break before I got back into the county team because it was a long year and your body be’s tired. Obviously I’m living in Dublin so I’m commuting so the management team were fantastic in allowing me three or four weeks off to recoup.
“I’ve only been back in the fold there since the start of January but I’m really enjoying it. With me living in Dublin, there’s a lot of commuting involved but again, the flexibility of the Strength and Conditioning team and the management has been brilliant. I’m happy to be back, I wanted to be back so it’s great to be back in the fold.
The Donegal ladies side are back in action this Sunday when they face fellow Ulster side Monaghan, with a 2pm throw-in time scheduled.
The Farney county suffered a heavy defeat to Tyrone in their opening Division 2 encounter last time out and they’ll be looking to bounce back.
However, James Daly’s outfit will be full of confidence following their win over Westmeath and will be aiming to add a further two points to the league table.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Carr insists that this weekend’s meeting with Monaghan will be a tough assignment for them but stated that the group are very focused on the job at hand.
“You look at the table or you look at the scores after our game on Sunday, in Division 2 everyone can beat anybody and we’re well aware of that.
“We were very happy to get off to a good start but it means nothing if we don’t repeat that on Sunday. We’re very focused, it’s away and Monaghan have been a very tough opponent over the last couple of years.
“We’ve had some very tough encounters in the league so I assume that Sunday will be no different. They’re off the back of a heavy defeat but that makes no difference to them on Sunday so I think it’ll be a tough task.”
