By Darren Kelly

WITH two trophies secured including back-to-back Connacht titles, Galway’s senior ladies footballers begin their quest for the ultimate prize on Saturday (Tuam Stadium, 2pm) when they take on Tipperary in the opening round of the All-Ireland championship.

The group also contains Donegal, where the Tribeswomen will travel to next week, with two qualifying for the All-Ireland quarter-finals.  The group winners get to play that fixture at home.

Galway are familiar with both counties having come across them during their successful National League Division 2 campaign this spring.  Indeed, their unbeaten 2025 began with at trip to Fethard Town Park last January.

Goals from Róisín Leonard and Kate Slevin delivered a 2-9 to 0-7 victory and was the first in an 11 match winning streak. If they can knock over the Premier County again on Saturday, they’ll have one foot in the final eight of the country’s elite competition.

“That day down in Fethard was a tough one for us,” said Galway manager Daniel Moynihan. “It was a bit of unknown for both sets of teams. It took that second half for us to get a little of breathing room for ourselves.

“We’ve played quite a few games since as they have with the rest of the league and the Munster championship as well which was very, very competitive.  t’s going to be an interesting game.”

Galway’s record against Tipperary is impressive with two championship wins already this decade. They were 4-10 to 3-4 winners in Templetuohy in 2023 with Tracey Leonard, Slevin, Louise Ward and Lynsey Noone netting on that occasion.

They also took down the Munster side on their way to the 2020 semi-finals even if that was a tighter 1-15 to 1-14 affair. Their league victory this year was their fourth over the blue and gold since 2012 with no losses suffered.

It sets up for an ideal start in their bid to better last year’s All-Ireland Final appearance and while Galway should take the spoils, discounting Tipperary would be dangerous.

Despite suffering four defeats, they did finish third in Division 2 and were one of only three counties (Roscommon and Cork) to finish within 10 points of Galway in competitive action this year.

New manager Ed Burke, who took over from Peter Creedon last winter, enjoyed a positive three year spell with Carlow, winning a Division 4 league and reaching three All-Ireland junior semi-finals. He was also coach when Tipperary last won the intermediate crown in 2019.

They’ve been a county in transition recently but have managed to bring some retirees back into the fold. AFLW stars Orla O’Dwyer and Aisling McCarthy remain down under but Nora Martin and Anna Rose Kennedy have focused their attention on matters back home.

And their star player Aishling Moloney, who missed the league game five months ago through injury, is back landing big scores and finished the Munster championship with 1-14.

Pictured: Galway’s Shauna Hynes in action against Danielle Caldwell of Mayo during the recent Connacht Senior Ladies Football Final. The Tribeswomen face Tipperary in the opening round of the championship at Tuam Stadium on Saturday.