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Dramatic Athletic victory tees up all-Killarney KDL final

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For the third time in five years, Killarney clubs Celtic and Athletic will feature in the KDL Premier A League Final. The big match will take place in Mounthawk Park, Tralee on Sunday at 2pm.

Athletic secured their spot in the crunch decider on Wednesday night when they defeated fellow top-two contenders Castleisland by two goals to one. The Blues needed all three points to overtake an Island side who only required a draw.

Things were looking bleak for Stuart Templeman’s team when Castleisland took a first-half lead at Mounthawk Park through Tommy Feehan, but Athletic showed great resilience to battle their way back into contention. The 2017 champions equalised before half-time when Tadhg Doolan converted a Kian McCann cross.

The second half was a tense affair with Athletic on the front foot in search of that elusive goal that would send them through to the final. They finally broke the deadlock with 10 minutes to go when youngster Roko Rujevcan found the back of the net, and that strike was enough to seal the deal.

Celtic, who finished the season with a perfect record of 14 wins from 14 matches, will naturally go into the final as strong favourites. Athletic will take great heart from Wednesday’s win, however, and with the likes of Shane Doolan, Eoin Moynihan, Donal Kelliher and Brendan Moloney in their ranks, they have the steel and skill to push their crosstown rivals all the way.

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Kerry’s All-Ireland heroes launch new football camp for girls

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Legendary Kerry ladies’ player Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh will be inspiring the next generation of superstars at the new Laochra football camp, which takes place in Killarney in August.

Aimed at girls aged 12 to 16, the camp is being run by three leaders who were central to Kerry’s magnificent All-Ireland triumph in 2024: Darragh Long (joint manager), Declan Quill (joint manager) and Anna Maria O’Donoghue (selector).

Camp ambassador Louise will be on hand to offer guidance in a coaching capacity, as will some members of the current Kerry team.

“We want you to train with your heroes so you can be the next hero,” explains Darragh Long.

“We feel very strongly about ladies’ football. It has been brilliant to myself and Declan over the last five or six years, and it has been brilliant to Anna Maria and Louise over their full careers, so we just see it as an opportunity to give something back to a sport that gave an awful lot to us.

“We’re aiming at an age group of 12 to 16, girls who will hopefully be starting on their intercounty journey. We will be able to give them a skillset they will be able to use as their steps to success. To try and be the next Louise or the next Síofra O’Shea.

“We have three workshops planned. One with Eric McDonnell, who was our strength and conditioning coach when we won the All-Ireland. One with Michelle O’Connor, an All-Ireland winning performance coach. And one with Claire O’Sullivan, our nutritionist when we won the All-Ireland.

“It’s all about giving the girls the skills and the bits and pieces they’ll need if they want to make it to the top. We really think we can give them a good grounding. We’ll also be providing a huge amount of coaching throughout the week.”

Many teenage girls give up on sport around the ages of 15 or 16. Long and his fellow camp founders are hopeful that attending Laochra might encourage girls to stick with it that bit longer.

“We would see it as a huge success if 10, 15, or 20 of the girls who come to the camp continue to play football after the camp because they got a bit of a buzz or a bit of energy from us during the week.”

The Laochra camp will run from August 12-15 at Dr Crokes GAA grounds in Killarney. You can register here.

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St Paul’s sign 6ft American guard Burnham

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Having really found their feet in the Women’s Super League in the second half of the season, culminating in a drive to the final, Utility Trust St Paul’s have signalled their intent to push on for the 2025/26 season by announcing the signing of American guard Maisie Burnham.

Burnham (24) comes to Killarney following an honour-laden time in the Liberty High School where she also excelled at volleyball. She went to the Eastern Washington University where she led the team in scoring in the 2020/21 season with over 14 points per game – the highest PPG ever for an EWU freshman.

She moved onto the University of Portland where she really found her feet with the team and as her time progressed with the Pilots her stats went north, peaking in the 2024/2025 season when she averaged 16.3 points per game.

Maisie, a guard and standing at 6ft, is a native of Spangle City in Washington and the club will welcome her to the Kingdom in plenty of time ahead of the new season.

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