TERMON ladies are once again in the Division 1 final and the side will be looking to add further silverware today against Aodh Ruadh.
The side have been in flying form once again this year, scoring 35-125 in their ten league games to top the table, while they then swatted aside Dungloe in the semi-final by 5-10 to 0-4.
And they have the chance to finish the campaign in style as they look to add to their county Gaeltacht title.
“We won nine and drew one game with Moville but in saying that, there were a few tight games in that,” joint-manager Adrian McGettigan said.
“It was a defensive enough game against Dungloe from both teams but as it opened up we got a few late goals to put the icing on the cake.
“We won the Gaeltacht county and then we were beat in the All-Ireland final by a top Claregalway side but we learned from that.”
It’s a second year in charge for McGettigan, who manages the side along with Kevin McGettigan as they took over from Andy Connor.
Nicole McLaughlin, Brian Trearty and Paddy McDaid are also part of the backroom team at the Burn Road side.
They were without a number of regulars in the league and had Orla Corry, Shannon McLaughlin, Evelyn McGinley, Jodie McFadden and Jenny McGettigan up with the county team, but that didn’t affect their dominance.
“We’re lucky that we have a good few experienced players but at the same time about two-thirds of our team are Under 23 or younger, right down to Cayla McFadden and Kate McCafferty, they’re still Under 16 but they’re fabulous footballers and they’ve pushed on the older ones.
“It’s a great place for them young players to be and we have a good few minors playing and the Termon minors are doing well this year because the experience they have got with the seniors.
“Nicole (McLaughlin) is missing and then Maria Carr unfortunately done her knee and she’s out for the year.
“She was our captain two years ago and she was a mainstay in the team through the championship last season so she’s a big loss.
“But apart from that we should have a full team to pick from.”
After winning the last two Division 1 finals against Glenfin (2022) and Naomh Conaill (2023), it’s another new face in the final this year against the Ballyshannon side.
When they met in the league it was a big win for Termon as they hit six goals, but McGettigan isn’t expecting a similar score.
“Against Aodh Ruadh it was tight enough and the score line probably didn’t reflect the toughness of the game.
“The first 25 minutes it was a ding-dong battle and we were lucky enough to get a few goals coming up to half-time which eased it.
“But they’re a good up and coming side and they won the Intermediate a few years ago and you can see the improvement every year.
“They beat us in Termon last year in the league so we know what’s in front of us, they also beat our Under 23s in the championship last year and you can see the underage structure that they’re working on is coming through and they’re not a team for the future, they’re a team for the now and we’re aware of the dangers they have.
“You can’t be complacent because if you do then you’ll get beat. These teams are all good teams and they’ll be trying their hardest to beat us.
“We have a target on our backs and we have to make sure we aren’t out fought and we have the quality to take it home but we know if we drop it by 5% then we’ll end up getting beat.
“We are a team that have had
success over the years but the hunger is still there, one of the targets at
the start of the year was the league and then hopefully the championship.”
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