All-Ireland glory for Fermanagh but Tyrone edged out

Fermanagh are All-Ireland Ladies junior football champions for the third time and first since 2020 after beating Louth 1-11 to 0-12 at Croke Park on Sunday.

This game will forever be known as the Eimear Smyth final as the young Derrygonnelly attacker landed 1-9 of her county’s 1-11 in a performance for the ages.

However, there was disappointment for Tyrone in the intermediate decider as they lost out 3-11 to 3-10 against Leitrim.

Aoife Horisk hit two goals to put Tyrone in front but Leitrim hit back to lead and they held on after a late fightback from their Ulster opponents.

Ulster champions Fermenagh led 1-5 to 0-5 at the break against Louth and it was a first half dominated by Erne full-forward Smyth, who landed 1-4 inside the opening half an hour.

The decisive score came on 10 minutes as Smyth gathered a high ball from Blaithin Bogue before expertly rounding Rebecca Lambe Fegan in the Louth goal and firing into the empty net.

Early in the second half Fermanagh were denied what looked to be a sure goal as Fegan saved Niamh McManus’ effort from point-blank range with the rebound colliding with the post and somehow staying out of the net.

Louth battled hard in the second half with scores from Niamh Rice and Kate Flood but could not get level as everything Smyth touched turned to gold.

Leitrim claimed a shock of sorts by edging Tyrone to take the All-Ireland intermediate title.

Ailbhe Clancy kicked 2-3 across the hour to give the Wild Rose County an unlikely victory.

The Connacht side will ply their trade in Division Four of the National League for 2025 while Tyrone will battle it out in Division One.

Helter-skelter would be the only way to describe the first half with Muireann Devaney hitting the net for Leitrim for their first score on 14 minutes.

Tyrone replied with 2-2 without reply thanks to Horisk’s double, this all before a quickfire 1-2 including a goal from Clancy to give Leitrim a slender two-point advantage at the break.

In the second half the action did not stop – Leitrim skipper Michelle Guckian slotted over four points before Joanne Barrett pulled Muireann Devaney down in the small parallelogram.

Clancy stepped up to fire the penalty to the back of the net as Barrett headed to the sin bin. Tyrone captain Aoibheann McHugh rattled the net with less than 10 minutes to play but it proved to be in vain as Leitrim held out for a famous win.