Monagea and Oola suffer heartbreak in Munster Ladies’ Football Finals

Monagea were competing for the Intermediate title while Oola had the opportunity to become Junior champions.

It wasn’t to be for Monagea and Oola in their Munster Football Championship quests as both teams were edged out in the finals of their respective competitions over the weekend.

A final score of 0-7 to 0-5 was Oola’s fate against Cork side Naomh Aban in Mallow in the Junior decider while Monagea suffered a 2-4 to 0-7 defeat at the hands of Mullinahone in the Intermediate final.

Oola were the first of the Limerick sides in action with the Junior Final throwing in on Saturday evening and a rampant start for the Limerick outfit followed, as they kicked three points with no reply inside the opening eight minutes.

It wasn’t long before Naomh Aban drew level however, with the Cork side kicking three of their own half way through the second half.

And both teams added a point apiece before the interval as they headed into half-time deadlocked at four points each.

The Cork outfit went into the lead for the first time just after the restart with a second giving them some daylight.

Oola replied to reduce the margin to the minimum with twenty to play, but could not find an equaliser with Naomh Abhan adding an insurance score to claim the title.

It was a difficult end to a promising season for the Limerick side who can begin to look forward to life in the top tier of Limerick football next year.

Less than 24 hours later and another Limerick side were in Munster final action as Monagea looked to go one better than 2021 when they were bested in the provincial decider.

This time around, the Limerick kingpins were paired with Mullinahon of Tipperary in Mallow.

Monagea started strongly with Deborah Murphy opening the scoring which was doubled on five minutes. Indeed the West Limerick outfit had four of the first five scores to take a commanding lead after fifteen.

Yet, they wouldn’t score again until the final minute of the half with the Tipperary side taking control in the meantime.

Their second point had them within two with the first goal of the game seeing them move in front. A second green flag quickly followed and suddenly they were 2-2 to 0-4 to the good.

Monagea had the final score of the half to leave it 2-2 to 0-5 in the Tipp sides favour.

Within three of the restart, Mullinahone had extended their lead out to five points with the opening scores of the second half.

But Monagea had two of their own to leave just a goal in it with ten minutes to play. Neither team could muster another score with both losing players to red cards as Mullinahone held on for the win.

That ensured back-to-back provincial final defeats for Monagea as they closed a tough weekend of football for the Limerick Ladies.

Nonetheless, for both to reach provincial finals is another sign of Limerick’s growth in the code as attention will turn to the intercounty season at the turn of the year.