Seconds out for an epic round three

Twenty-five years after Tipperary beat Offaly to win the first official All-Ireland women's football final, Monaghan and Waterford meet in Croke Park tomorrow afternoon to contest the Brendan Martin Cup for the third time in four years.

If they can repeat last year's victory over Waterford, Monaghan will become only the second county to win three senior titles in a row, although they would still be some way short of matching Kerry's nine successive All-Ireland wins in the 1980s.

The rivalry between the two counties has dominated the women's game since they met in the 1994 final and between them they have shared the bulk of the senior and underage titles in recent times, with Monaghan winning this year's All-Ireland minor final and Waterford securing the under-16 title.

None of their many epic encounters, however, matched last year's thrilling final, which Monaghan won by 2-15 to 1-16, giving them their first ever victory over Waterford at Croke Park. "As long as ladies' football is played you will never get another game like it," said Paul Swift, a member of the Monaghan management team. Much to the annoyance of the winning camp, however, their success was overshadowed by the controversy that surrounded referee Finbarr O'Driscoll's decision to play almost 12 minutes of injury time. "We felt it took away from our victory, deflected from the fact that we beat Waterford with an excellent display of football - it was very unfair. We beat them for the first time ever in Croke Park, to win our second title in a row, but all the whole bloody country was talking about was 12 minutes of injury time," said Swift.

It's a point also acknowledged by Waterford manager Michael Ryan. "It wasn't Monaghan's fault what happened last year, they did nothing wrong and maybe the good game was forgotten in the heat of all the controversy."

Partly as a response to that controversy the Ladies Gaelic Football Association decided to introduce an `external game clock' for tomorrow's final, which will be operated, with a hand-held remote control, by one of the lines-persons. "We tried it out in a challenge match with the officials for the final last week in Dublin, and they found it great that they didn't have to worry about how much time they should play," said Helen O'Rourke, General Secretary of the LGFA.

Another first for this year's final will be live television coverage, after many years of the Association lobbying RTE to show the game. While Paul Swift worries that live coverage may reduce tomorrow's attendance, he acknowledges the benefits it could bring the women's game in the long run. "It also means a lot of people who wouldn't normally go to the game will get the opportunity to see it, because there's frig all else on the telly on a Sunday. While I think it will be impossible to match last year's game I'm confident that the two teams are capable of producing another match to do ladies' football proud."

When the team's last met, in the semi-finals of the National League in May, Waterford avenged their All-Ireland defeat by thrashing Monaghan by 18 points, before going on to win the final against Clare. "What League semi-final," asks Monaghan captain, midfielder Jenny Greenan, when reminded of a day she'd rather forget. "Ah, we were disgraced. It goes down as one of our worst days." Is anyone taking the League result seriously? "God, they wouldn't want to," she says.

Waterford captain Siobhan O'Ryan says nobody in her camp is taking that result too seriously either, insisting that the only thing that her county was thinking about in 1998 was getting back to another All-Ireland final. "We could have sat back and dwelt on last year's defeat but we didn't - we just got up and got on with it. Everything we have done this year, all the training and the League campaign, was geared towards this year's All-Ireland and now we're there we're just going to go out and give our best and hopefully that will be enough."

Tomorrow will be O'Ryan's third final, after appearances in 1995 and '97. You know your way around Croke Park so? "I do," she says, "but it's a place you can never get enough of. It doesn't come often enough. There's nothing like it."

It's a view shared by Greenan. "Running out on to Croke Park is like no other feeling, and being out there with your county jersey on your back is amazing. You'd never say `ah, another All Ireland', it's special every single year. It's what you dream of."

Senior

Monaghan: B McAnespie, Anita O'Reilly, C Brady, Audrey O'Reilly, M Kelly, E McElvaney, N Kindlon, J Greenan (capt), L Farrelly, M Kierans, E Byrne, J Treanor, A Larkin, B Swift, D Dempsey.

Waterford: S Hickey, P Walsh, S O'Ryan (capt), N Walsh, A Crotty, D O'Rourke, J Torpey, M O'Ryan, O Condon, C Casey, R Hallahan, F Crotty, C Ryan, A Wall, G O'Ryan.

Junior

Louth: L Savage, A Brennan, F Sweeney, A M King, K Connor, E McKeown, J Agnew, O Kirk, E Rogan, R Hanlon, L Muckian, S Drumgoole, K Fealy, C Reynolds (capt), N Murphy.

Roscommon: C Manning, U Brooks (capt), M Beades, E Manning, N Fallon, C O'Malley, C Cooney, O Gavin, D Dolan, C McCann, A M Carley, C Harrison, L Connor, M Grehan, R Carley.

All-Ireland Football Finals (at Croke Park) - Junior: Roscommon v Louth, 1.45. Senior: Monaghan v Waterford, 3.30.