Kerry now want to follow Meath as footballing catalysts

On Sunday last, the Kerry men ended a famine of sorts when winning back Sam Maguire after a gap of eight years. The wait is a lot longer for their female counterparts as it's 29 years since the Kingdom last got their hands on the Brendan Martin Cup.

Kerry were All-Ireland champions in the years from 1982 to 1990, a nine-in-row that no other county has yet matched. Not even the all-conquering Cork in the period from 2005 to 2016. A win for Dublin in 2010 interrupted that sequence.

On Sunday next at Croke Park (throw-in 4pm), a Kerry side, under the direction of joint-managers Darragh Long and Declan Quill are back in a TG4 SFC final for the first time in in ten years. Facing them are the defending champions Meath, who last year stunned the Dubs to claim a maiden title. The Royals won a Division 2 league title en route to claiming the big prize, building on the momentum of being All-Ireland intermediate champions in 2020.

Kerry, in many respects, have a similar momentum ahead of Sunday's showdown. Last April they accounted for Armagh in Division 2 final, and then topped their section in the group phase before getting past Armagh and Mayo in the All-Ireland series. And now they have one more hurdle to jump in that series.

Kerry captain Anna Galvin is looking forward to the battle with the Royals.

"I think it's going to be a cracking game on Sunday and I really hope it delivers on that," she told RTÉ Sport.

"It's always good for Ladies football when the big days, the finals, are the ones that are talked about."

The Kingdom have been free-scoring of late, with 13 goals scored in their last four games. Meath will present a formidable challenge in terms of finding net but Galvin says she and her colleagues will stick to the process