UL Bohs looking to make up for lost time in AIL final

There was a time when UL Bohemian had a vice-like grip on the Energia Women's All-Ireland League.

Between 2001 and 2018, Bohs won 13 of 17 All-Ireland League titles, including six-in-a-row between 2001 and 2007.

By their standards, the six years since the last of their record haul is something of a famine, but this weekend they have the chance to end the wait.

Standing in their way are Railway Union, the Dublin side who are threatening to do to the rest of the country what Bohs did during their dominant years in the 2000s.

Railway took the torch from the Limerick side when they defeated them in the 2019 league final, before retaining their crown in the first post-Covid final in 2022. After losing to Blackrock last year, Stephen Costelloe's side are on the hunt for three in four years.

Railway captain Niamh Byrne says her side are carrying that 2023 defeat as motivation into this Sunday's Aviva Stadium showdown, but for UL captain Chloe Pearse, getting back to the decider has been "a long time coming".

"We had a couple of tough seasons where, unfortunately, we were just beaten by better teams," Pearse says ahead of this Sunday's final.

"We haven't been in an AIL league final since 2019, I think. In that moment, you don’t think it’s going to take five years to get there again, but it did. We’re buzzing to get going on Sunday, delighted to be back to where we like to be anyway."

Had it not been for Covid, they might not have been waiting so long for title number 14.

Just like Cork Constitution who contest the men's final on Sunday, Bohs were runaway leaders at the top of the table when the entire season was cancelled in 2020 because of the pandemic.

"We were unbeaten then as well, top of the league, and then two games before the