Preview- Muckalee chase historic All-Ireland football success

This time of the year is normally sees Kilkenny camogie and hurling clubs excelling on the provincial and national stages but this weekend makes a welcome change as Muckalee compete in the All-Ireland junior football championship final on Sunday.

The side from the north of the county have cleaned up at local level in the past few seasons, taking over the mantle from the likes of Railyard but they’ve pushed it on even further with this All-Ireland final appearance.

The Leinster final victory was a massive stepping stone for the side as they became the first from the county in 21 years to win a title at provincial level but even that came with a bit of an asterisk.

Railyard were the team to win a first Leinster title for a Kilkenny club in 2004 when seeing off Leixlip of Kildare in Portlaoise but being the only team in the county playing ladies football at the time they played their championship football in Laois, so it was certainly a strange turn of events.

The North Kilkenny outfit then reached another Leinster decider a couple of years later but lost to Killoe of Longford by three points in the 2008 Leinster intermediate final.

It’s been a largely fallow period outside of Kilkenny ever since. Muckalee did get a taste for it when reaching the Leinster final in 2022 and although they went down to O’Dwyers of Dublin on a 4-8 to 0-7 scoreline, the game gave them a small taste of what it was like to compete against some of the bigger Gaelic football counties within the province.

On the back of winning a few more Kilkenny senior titles since then, everything has clicked for a Muckalee squad that has been managed expertly by Pat McDowell.

The journey began with a win over St Mochta’s of Louth by four points before things began to take off when they overcame Raheny of Dublin by a point in the Leinster semi-final as Katie Nolan and Shona Ruane netted crucial goals for the winners.

A Leinster final against St Colmcille’s of Meath was the prize and like the previous two encounters, it proved to be a very tightly fought affair.

Kate Purcell was the match-winner on that occasion as her 1-1 tally proved crucial in a narrow one-point success where the Kilkenny outfit had to hold off a late rally from their opponents.

That win granted Muckalee passage to the All-Ireland series and their quarter-final clash saw them travel to Abbotstown to meet UK side St Kiernan’s.

It was pretty plain sailing in truth, with goals from Sian Bolger, Edwina Keane and Eadaoin Coady leading to a convincing 3-10 to 0-6 victory.

It was a game where there was also a Kilkenny connection in opposition as Helen Murphy, the sister of Alan, Eoin and Shane from Glenmore took her place between the sticks.

Throw forward to two weeks ago where Muckalee had the huge advantage of an All-Ireland semi-final on their home pitch against Menlough-Skehana of Galway.

Again the Kilkenny side defied the odds with goals from Ellen Lawlor, Katie Nolan and Sian Bolger as well as the backing of huge local crowd enough to see them prevail by eight points in the end.

This Sunday will be a step up again as they meet Kerry football royalty in the shape of Cromane.

The side from the Kingdom have burst onto the scene this term with a first ever county and Munster success and they had three points to spare over Cavan Gaels in the semi-final the last day out.

Muckalee have seen plenty of big days themselves and with top level camogie experience in the shape of Katie Nolan, Laura Greene and Edwina Keane, they will be very much up for the challenge.

A huge opportunity beckons!