Ladies Masters set for lift-off with inaugural Interprovincial competition

While the men have been enjoying Masters football for some time now, the ladies are now set to dip their toe in the water with an Interprovincial competition next weekend and there will be a strong Donegal involvement in the Ulster panel.

One of the drivers from a Donegal perspective is former county star Maria Devenney, who will be pulling on the boots once more to play her part.

Speaking to DonegalLive this week, Devenney outlined how the plan came about: “I was approached to be part of the management team for the International Rules series. We had our Over 40 Masters Ladies team and you could see then how fit they were. There were a lot of other players from around other counties asking ‘can I get involved in this? Can I be part of this?

“We had our squads picked at that stage but we said we would take another look at it. And now we have about 28-30 involved in the squads of all the provinces and John Pat Sheridan, head of the Masters, is very good at motivating people.

“We have been meeting since February, March and now we have all got our squads and sponsors in. 

“We will see how this one will go. We might do another interprovincial but first of all we want to get this first one done to see how it goes.

The five Donegal Ladies in the Ulster squad: Debbie Lee (Fox) Vaughan, Maria Devenney, Maureen O'Donnell, Lorraine O'Sullivan and Sheena McGonigle Kearney

The first big date for the Ladies Masters is Saturday next with St Brigid’s in Roscommon hosting the day long tournament.

Each province will play each other starting at 12 noon with games of 20 minutes each way. The top teams will then compete for the Cup final.

“I had to do a piece for the programme last week and I remembered my father playing well into his 40s and 50s for Kildrum in football and Gaelic. I was very proud of him and it was great to see it but I never remember a woman playing over 40.

“And now you will have 120 women taking the field on Saturday next in the first inaugural competition. And my four children are so excited, they are all coming down to watch me play.

“I finally got my knee built up so hopefully I can last,” said Devenney, who tore her ACL in her last game for Donegal.

“I am so excited about it and we’re just hoping now it’s a great day. There’s a lot of the players and families staying down for the weekend.”

The Ulster management team in charge are Jacqui McKendry, Martina McCafferty, Orla Fox and Alan Kelly.

The standout names on the Ulster panel are Caroline O’Hanlon of Armagh and Niamh Kindlon of Monaghan. Apart from Maria Devenney Donegal will be represented by  Maureen O Donnell (Termon) Debbie Lee Gaffney (Fox) (Eunan’s), Lorraine O'Sullivan (Eunan’s) and Sheena McGonigle  (Urris).

“The training has been strong and good and everybody hopes this will be a springboard for Masters football at county level,” said Devenney, who was loud in her praise of Masters supremo John Pat Sheridan for putting his shoulder behind the objective.

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“So far the feedback has been great from all over Ireland. We’re looking forward to it and thanks also to Fergal Duffy of an electrical and mechanical company in Armagh for coming on board as sponsor. He has been fantastic. Fingers crossed now we have a great day,” said Devenney, who mentioned that nothing much changes in respect of training and the old club rivalry.

“I was laughing. Maureen O’Donnell does not like being man-marked and doesn’t like her jersey touched and the training brought back some fun memories of old times,” said Devenney, who is looking forward again to the buzz of getting back into competitive action.

No doubt with the Devenney enthusiasm, Ladies Masters is only going in one direction.