The hunt for the next Wicklow Ladies Football Manager is underway after news broke that James Kelly was stepping down due to work and family commitments. The Laois native took the reigns of a newly promoted Wicklow and a very creditable campaign saw our Wicklow Ladies just miss out on the last promotion semi final spot in their first year in Division 3.
LIDL Ladies NFL Division 3
| Pos | Team | PLD | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | PTS | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Meath LGFA | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 150 | 88 | 62 | 18 | |
| 2 |  Sligo LGFA | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 132 | 112 | 20 | 15 | |
| 3 |  Roscommon LGFA | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 125 | 108 | 17 | 15 | |
| 4 |  Longford LGFA | 7 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 132 | 124 | 8 | 10 | |
| 5 |  Wicklow LGFA | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 116 | 118 | -2 | 9 | |
| 6 |  Kildare LGFA | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 122 | 111 | 11 | 9 | |
| 7 |  Down LGFA | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 110 | 120 | -10 | 6 | |
| 8 |  Offaly LGFA | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 88 | 194 | -106 | 1 |
Great wins over Kildare and Down and a big win over Offaly at home were major highlights and despite losses to Roscommon, Sligo and Meath the level of competitiveness in this games was hugely encouraging for a side fresh up from Division 4 with the Longford game the only performance that Wicklow could really feel was not up to scratch with injuries taking their toll towards the end of the league campaign.
Wicklow’s League Campaign
4-10 - 2-06Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 2019
2019
Kiltoom Roscommon LGFA vs Wicklow LGFA |
1-16 - 3-04Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 2019
2019
Aughrim Wicklow vs Down |
3-08 - 0-12Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 2019
2019
Dunlavin Wicklow vs Kildare |
1-16 - 0-12Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 2019
2019
Cloonacool Community Park Sligo vs Wicklow |
5-16 - 1-05Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 2019
2019
Roundwood Wicklow vs Offaly |
1-18 - 3-06Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 2019
2019
Pairc Tailteann Meath v Wicklow |
1-20 - 1-07Lidl Ladies National Football League Division 3 2019
2019
Glennon Brothers Pearse Park Longford vs Wicklow |
Top 10 League Scorers 2019
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals Scored | Points Scored | Total Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stacey Grimes | Meath LGFA | 6 | 39 | 57 |
| 2 | Rebecca Finan | Roscommon LGFA | 5 | 37 | 52 |
| 3 | Aisling Green | Longford LGFA | 8 | 21 | 45 |
| 4 | Michelle Farrell | Longford LGFA | 4 | 28 | 40 |
| 5 | Elaine O Reilly | Sligo LGFA | 3 | 31 | 40 |
| 6 | Laura Hogan | Wicklow LGFA | 4 | 20 | 32 |
| 7 | Kelsey Nesbitt | Meath LGFA | 8 | 8 | 32 |
| 8 | Mairead Daly | Offaly LGFA | 3 | 22 | 31 |
| 9 | Lauren Boles | Sligo LGFA | 6 | 12 | 30 |
| 10 | Laura Fleming | Roscommon LGFA | 4 | 15 | 27 |
The Leinster Championship saw Kelly’s charges out against the ladies of Offaly who had welcomed a lot of strong dual players back into their side for their quarter final clash in Aughrim. Offaly threatened to take victory but Wicklow rallied to secure a hard earned two point opening win to set up a semi final clash with Division 3 league champions Meath. Unfortunately for Wicklow an early Meath scoring blitz in the opening 10 minutes would prove to be our undoing as the royals proved a bridge too far.
Leinster Championship
2-11 - 2-09Ladies Leinster Intermediate Football Championship
2019
County Grounds Aughrim TG4 Ladies Leinster Intermediate Football Championship Quarter Final - Wicklow vs Offaly |
5-14 - 0-06Ladies Leinster Intermediate Football Championship
2019
Pairc Tailteann TG4 Ladies Leinster Intermediate Football Championship Semi Final - Meath v Wicklow |
Leinster Championship Top 10 Scorers
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals Scored | Points Scored | Total Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Emma Duggan | Meath LGFA | 3 | 10 | 19 |
| 2 | Stacey Grimes | Meath LGFA | 2 | 6 | 12 |
| 3 | Laura Hogan | Wicklow LGFA | 0 | 11 | 11 |
| 4 |  Maria Byrne | Wexford LGFA | 2 | 5 | 11 |
| 5 | Neasa Dooley | Kildare LGFA | 2 | 4 | 10 |
| 6 | Lara Curran | Kildare LGFA | 0 | 9 | 9 |
| 7 | Marie Byrne | Offaly LGFA | 1 | 5 | 8 |
| 8 | Vikki Wall | Meath LGFA | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| 9 | Grace Clifford | Kildare LGFA | 1 | 2 | 5 |
| 10 | Aisling Green | Longford LGFA | 1 | 2 | 5 |
The TG4 All Ireland LGFA Intermediate Championship Series draw must have left Kelly and the Wicklow Ladies feeling as though they had shat in the LGFA gods cornflakes as Wicklow were drawn alongside the two eventual Intermediate All Ireland Finalists Tipperary and Meath as well as Wicklow’s long time bogey team Longford in what was by far the Group of Death. Despite such a miserable draw, Wicklow opened brightly away to Longford and in a ding dong battle Wicklow looked like taking victory only for a late Longford rally to see them share the spoils with an opening draw. Next up was another clash with Meath on the road again and an early Meath scoring blitz was again the undoing of Wicklow. The last and final match saw Championship Favourites Tipperary coming to town and ominously arriving after big wins over both Longford and Meath but Wicklow showed that they were not willing to go down without a fight and Tipperary managed to reel in our Wicklow ladies with only minutes remaining in the game. This left Wicklow in 3rd place ahead of Longford but based off a frankly very strange and questionable rule Wicklow were still the team heading to a relegation playoff with Leitrim based on Wicklow having scored “less scores over the bar” despite having a much better scoring differential than Longford.
TG4 All Ireland Series Group 2 Table
| Pos | Team | PLD | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | PTS | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tipperary LGFA | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 48 | 52 | 6 | |
| 2 | Meath LGFA | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 67 | 53 | 14 | 4 | |
| 3 | Wicklow LGFA | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 53 | 82 | -29 | 1 | |
| 4 | Longford LGFA | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 47 | 84 | -37 | 1 |
TG4 All Ireland Series
2-16 - 4-10TG4 All Ireland Series Group 2 2019
2019
Glennon Brothers Pearse Park Longford LGFA vs Wicklow LGFA |
4-19 - 0-10TG4 All Ireland Series Group 2 2019
2019
Ashbourne Meath LGFA vs Wicklow LGFA |
3-12 - 4-17TG4 All Ireland Series Group 2 2019
2019
Dunlavin Wicklow LGFA vs Tipperary LGFA |
This left Wicklow in 3rd place ahead of Longford but based off a frankly very strange and questionable rule Wicklow were still the team heading to a relegation playoff with Leitrim based on Wicklow having scored “less scores over the bar” despite having a much better scoring differential than Longford. Leitrim proved to be a tough opponent and their early goals paved the way to securing their status despite a spirited Wicklow comeback that just ran out of time and our Wicklow Ladies found themselves heartbreakingly back in Junior Championship Football for 2020.
Relegation Playoff
4-13 - 6-12TG4 Ladies All Ireland Intermediate Football Championship
2019
Kinnegad Relegation Playoff - Wicklow vs Leitrim |
TG4 All Ireland Intermediate Football Championship Top 10 Scorers
| Rank | Player | Team | Goals Scored | Points Scored | Total Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Aishling Moloney | Tipperary LGFA | 10 | 62 | 92 |
| 2 | Emma Duggan | Meath LGFA | 8 | 37 | 61 |
| 3 | Rebecca Finan | Roscommon LGFA | 3 | 35 | 44 |
| 4 | Aisling McCarthy | Tipperary LGFA | 3 | 29 | 38 |
| 5 | Elaine O Reilly | Sligo LGFA | 2 | 31 | 37 |
| 6 |  Niamh O Dea | Clare LGFA | 4 | 23 | 35 |
| 7 | Vikki Wall | Meath LGFA | 1 | 28 | 31 |
| 8 | Neasa Dooley | Kildare LGFA | 6 | 12 | 30 |
| 9 | Angela McGuigan | Tipperary LGFA | 8 | 3 | 27 |
| 10 | Laura Hogan | Wicklow LGFA | 1 | 23 | 26 |
Due to work and personal commitments James Kelly was unable to commit to taking charge for 2020 and he wished to thank all the many people who assisted him in his time in charge here in the county which you can read in his letter below. From our on point of view we found him to be a very approachable gentleman who gave his all for the Wicklow cause and we can only thank him for his service to Wicklow LGFA and wish him well in his future endeavors both on and off the field. James expressed to us his willingness to perhaps return to the role in future years if his work commitments were more favorable to allow him the time to give fully to the role. The hunt is now well under way to find the successor who will inherit a very capable squad who should push the Junior Championship and Division 3 League very hard in 2020 and it will and should be a very coveted role for all potential candidates.
