With live sport a mere memory in Ireland and in most of the rest of the world, it's somewhat of a novel site to see that Australian sport is dominating our weekend mornings, going on as strong as ever, even in empty stadiums.
With NRL games being shown live on Sky Sports, the men's AFL season underway, and the women's AFL season coming to a dramatic close, there's lots to keep an eye on Down Under. Even with the odd lack of atmosphere of games in massive stadiums that are completely empty, seeing the competitive juices flowing and the LIVE in the corner of the screen is enough to pique our interest, and that's even before we get the enormous amount of Irish players involved.
With the AFLW having reached their Finals stage (Playoffs) this week, a number of the Irish contingent were still involved - in particular a few former Mayo teammates.
This week, in the semi-finals (which are really quarter finals!), Louth's Kate Flood represented Fremantle, scoring two goals as they destroyed The Suns by 70 points.
Fremantle quite simply a cut above the rest of the completion. Teams just don’t have the depth to match them around the ground. The likes of Kate Flood, Katie Jayne Grieve, Roxanne Roux, Angelique Stannett and Jasmine Stewart the difference. #AFLW #AFLWFinals #GenW #AFLWFreoSuns
— Raphael Udarbe (@RaphaelUdarbe) March 21, 2020
Mayo's Aileen Gilroy and North Melbourne advanced to next week's Preliminary Final after a hard fought win over Collingwood with Mayo teammate Sarah Rowe on the losing team, along with Cavan's Aishling Sheridan. North Melbourne, favourites to win the title, were given a huge scare and won by just two points.
Unfortunately for Mayo fans, their other participant this morning won't be going any further either. One of the stars of the tournament on her return from a horrific quadruple leg break at 38-years-old, Cora Staunton was again one of the top performers for the GWS Giants, scoring one of their three goals in their game with the Melbourne Demons. Ultimately, it wasn't enough though as a last minute winning goal secured a comeback victory for the D's, leaving Staunton's season over.
The mercurial Irishwoman has her moment 🇮🇪
Cora Staunton goals and the @GWSGIANTS are one step closer to advancing! pic.twitter.com/HA4lqVyZa7— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 21, 2020
LILY MITHEN GAME-WINNING GOAL 😱 pic.twitter.com/pU3o4ssCqy
— 7AFL (@7AFL) March 21, 2020
The game was due to be a clash of Staunton and her old Dublin rivals Sinead Goldrick and Niamh McEvoy, but the duo returned to Ireland due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
Tomorrow, Brisbane's Orla O'Dwyer and Carlton's Joanne go head to head in the last semi-final.
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