Roscommon are unchanged ahead of Sunday\u2019s TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate final, Fermanagh opt for two switches.<\/p>\n
For Fermanagh, Sinead Barrett and Bronagh Smyth come into the starting line-up, in place of Caitriona Breen and Caoimhe Gallagher.<\/p>\n
Two teams are preparing to battle it out for the 2026 TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate title, in what promises to be a fascinating decider between two counties hungry for success.<\/p>\n
This is a novel final pairing in this grade, as Fermanagh, runners-in 2014 and 2009, take on 2005 champions Roscommon.<\/p>\n
Fermanagh are back at Croke Park again on TG4 All-Ireland Finals day for the second time in three years. They’ll be aiming for more silverware after landing the Junior title two years ago.<\/p>\n
For Roscommon’s ladies, this is a first visit to Croke Park since the 2001 TG4 All-Ireland Junior final victory over Kildare. The 2005 Intermediate decider against Down was played at St Loman’s in Mullingar.<\/p>\n
In their respective semi-finals, many would have viewed Sunday\u2019s finalists as underdogs. However, they came through in style. Roscommon overcoming Westmeath, while Fermanagh emerged past the challenge of Down.<\/p>\n
Both teams appear to be peaking at exactly the right time, when you consider that Fermanagh didn’t even contest the TG4 Ulster Final. Whereas, Roscommon were well beaten by Leitrim in the Connacht decider.<\/p>\n
Neither of Sunday\u2019s finalists topped their respective qualifier groups in the All-Ireland series, but they’ve built up a considerable head of steam since then.<\/p>\n
Roscommon avenged their provincial final defeat to Leitrim at the All-Ireland quarter-final stage. Whereas, Fermanagh performed impressively against Clare in their last-eight tie. Both results signalling genuine improvement under pressure.<\/p>\n
That form carried both teams to their aforementioned semi-finals. Fermanagh prevailing by two points against Down, and Roscommon having four points to spare on Westmeath.<\/p>\n
Forwards will be the difference<\/p>\n
Scoring power will go a long way towards deciding Sunday\u2019s final and in Eimear Smyth, Fermanagh have the leading sharpshooter in the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Championship.<\/p>\n
Smyth, the 2024 ZuCar Golden Boot winner for the leading scorer across the Junior, Senior and Intermediate grades, is in the hunt for the prize again as she\u2019s currently on 4-30 (42 points) ahead of throw-in, seven points adrift of leader Maria O’Neill from Antrim.<\/p>\n
Smyth is a big-game player too, as evidenced in the Junior Final of 2024, when the Derrygonnelly Harps ace landed the Player of the Match award on the back of a 1-9 haul.<\/p>\n
Fermanagh have other players capable of stepping up to the mark, including Joanne Doonan, another hugely experienced campaigner who has scored 1-7 to date.<\/p>\n
Sin\u00e9ad Barrett (0-6) and Sarah Britton (1-2) have also contributed to the scoring cause, but Smyth remains undoubtedly the player Roscommon will need to pay most attention to.<\/p>\n
The Rossies themselves have players who’ll need close watching. Aisling Feely has registered 1-23 to date in the All-Ireland campaign, while Caoimhe Lennon has chipped in with 4-5.<\/p>\n
Close game expected<\/p>\n
Rosie Lennon (1-5), Laura Mannion (1-3), Ella Thompson (0-4) and Lucy Shanahan (1-1) have also been making their presence felt in an attacking sense throughout the championship.<\/p>\n
Smyth would surely love to get her hands on a second ZuCar Golden Boot award, but her primary focus will be on capturing the silverware on offer and finishing the game as a TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Champion.<\/p>\n
So, will it be Fermanagh captain Shannan McQuade or her Roscommon counterpart, goalkeeper Helena Cummins, who lifts the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup at full-time?<\/p>\n
Fermanagh: A Haren; A Keenan, C Breen, S McQuade (c); B Bannon, C Bogue, A O’Brien; A McCarney, J Doonan; S Barrett, N McManus, S Britton; C McGarrigle, E Smyth, B Smyth.<\/p>\n
Roscommon: H Cummins (c); M McKeon, A Connaughton, A McGrath; N Feeney, S Wynne, E Thompson; R Cox, A Curran; K Nolan, E Irwin, L Mannion; R Lennon, A Feely, C Lennon.<\/p>\n
Fermanagh v Roscommon<\/p>\n
Sunday August 2<\/p>\n
Croke Park, Throw-in: 1.45pm<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roscommon are unchanged ahead of Sunday\u2019s TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate final, Fermanagh opt for two switches. For Fermanagh, Sinead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[99576,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-577146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-fermanagh","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=577146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}