Duggan confident Meath's Aussie-bound stars will return

Emma Duggan said Australia-bound pair Vikki Wall and Orlagh Lally will return to the Meath fold in the future as the Royal County celebrated a second defended their TG4 All-Ireland senior football crown in a row on Sunday.

Meath got past Kerry by 3-10 to 1-07 at Croke Park to deservedly retain their title.

They are now set to lose at least two big players to the AFLW with Wall off to North Melbourne and Lally heading to Fremantle Dockers.

However Duggan fully expects them to return to Gaelic football, telling RTÉ Sport: "The two girls going over to play AFLW... I know there's been a lot of questions around whether they'll be back or not.

"I can tell you for sure they'll be back playing for Meath at some point, whether it's next year, the year after I don't know.

"We're going to enjoy this now. There's going to be players coming and going all the time but there's a core group sticking around. We'll be back fighting next year that's for sure."

Eamonn Murray described his side as "a special bunch" afterwards and there's no doubt Meath possess a golden crop of footballers at the moment.

Reflecting on another All-ireland success, Duggan added: "It's really hard to put into words at the minute. It's absolutely incredible. I'm extremely grateful to be part of it all. Once we picked up momentum we got to grips with them a little bit.

"Kerry are an outstanding side. They've picked up really good form this year. Once we clipped over a few scores we kind of kicked on... we saved our best performance till last.

"Winning your first one is an incredible feeling, but we were put to the pin of our collar. It was a completely different challenge. Every team was out to get us nearly. Everyone on the panel stepped up. This is a really, really