Gaelic Games

Australia awaits but Vikki Wall keen on making some more history with Meath first

Reigning ladies’ footballer of the year will join North Melbourne after All-Ireland decider against Kerry

Meath's Vikki Wall and Aoibheann Leahy celebrates at the final whistle after the victory over Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Meath's Vikki Wall and Aoibheann Leahy celebrates at the final whistle after the victory over Donegal in the All-Ireland semi-final at Croke Park. Photograph: Bryan Keane/Inpho
Paul Keane
Fri Jul 29 2022 - 06:00

These are the landmark moments Vikki Wall will look back upon when her sporting career is over, an All-Ireland final and an anticipated AFLW debut within 27 days of each other.

Sunday’s final clash with Kerry is first up for the reigning ladies’ footballer of the year followed by an August 27th outing with her new oval ball club North Melbourne in Australia.

Season seven of the AFLW has been given a new slot in the calendar, running from August for 10 rounds until late October and then breaking out into the final series which will be contested over four weeks.

All of which means things should be wrapped up in Australia by Christmas and Wall could conceivably be back in the green and gold of Meath in time for the start of the National League and the defence of their title.

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“I don’t have an answer for that at the moment, I don’t know what my plan is at the moment to be honest,” said the all-action Dunboyne All Star.

What’s certain in Wall’s mind is that Sunday won’t be her last dance with Meath.

“Yeah, absolutely,” she nodded. “I’m definitely not done playing for Meath yet. I don’t have a definite plan but yeah, I’m definitely not done playing for Meath.”

Wall, of course, owes Meath football nothing at this stage. She was wearing the green and gold jersey long before it was fashionable to do so. Back in 2019, for example, Meath were a Division Three team. They lost an All-Ireland intermediate final that same season.

It is partly by the force of Wall’s will and determination, and powerful running between the two 45s, that the team is where it is now.

The All-Ireland semi-final win over Donegal summed up what she brings to the team, Wall seizing the responsibility at the beginning of the second-half and firing over a point from the left to kick-start a run of six scores in a row for her team, changing the entire game.

The one positive for the team, if they are to be without her in the future, is that when she was controversially sin-binned late on, sitting out almost the entire last 10 minutes, they responded well and outscored Donegal by 0-3 to 0-1 in that period.

Responding to that sort of adversity has been the theme of Meath’s season.

“We definitely rise to the challenge,” said Wall. “I don’t know if we play our best football under pressure like that. We’ve had some very good performances where we haven’t gone behind or been chasing the game. But yeah, it’s a good sign that when the pressure is put on, we can react.”

The pressure will be on to an extent again this weekend with Meath installed as strong favourites to retain the Brendan Martin Cup.

“Ah I don’t think there’s a pressure or expectation on this team to be honest,” countered Wall. “I just think we hold ourselves to high standards and want to perform to our highest abilities. Kerry have been in various finals in the last few years, they’ve got the experience of playing in Croke Park as well, the same as ourselves.

“We might have been involved in a few more All-Ireland final days but they have a lot of experienced girls who were involved the last time Kerry were in an All-Ireland final as well.”

When the sides last met, in the 2021 Division Two league decider, Meath won by 2-16 to 1-9 at Croke Park.

“We know the calibre they have up front,” said Wall, referencing the eight goals the Munster finalists have scored in their last two games. “But then to be honest they have a huge strength in the backs too, you saw the likes of Kayleigh Cronin the last day making great blocks. So whilst they’re scoring up one end, they’re also defending well at the other end. Look, there are challenges from Kerry all over the pitch to be honest and we have a huge respect for them as a football team.”

Still, no team in ladies’ football right now sums up the one-in, all-in mentality quite like Meath.

“Right across the pitch, even in the dying moments against Donegal, the backs were able to work it out and to hold on to possession and not crumble under that pressure,” said Wall. “At different times throughout the games, different people stand up and I think that’s probably one of the strengths of the team.”