By Niall Gartland

JOANNE Barrett has praised the collective effort of the Tyrone Ladies as they look ahead to their All-Ireland Intermediate final against Leitrim on Sunday, August 4 at Croke Park.

The experienced Tyrone defender is looking to pocket her second All-Ireland medal at this level having been part of the Tyrone team that reigned supreme against Meath back in 2018, but there have been a few mixed enough seasons in the meantime.

2024 has been a different story thanks to the determined efforts of all involved, and Barrett says the influx of talented younger players has really sharpened minds and lifted the intensity levels at training.

For example, Sorcha Gormley was in top form in front of the posts as Tyrone Minor Ladies claimed an All-Ireland ‘B’ Championship semi-final victory over Dublin last Thursday, and she played a starring role from the bench just four days later as Tyrone edged a gritty Down team in the All-Ireland Intermediate semi-final.

Drumragh’s Joanne Barrett commented: “It’s been a real collective effort. There’s 17 and 18 year olds coming through and then at the other end of the scale, there’s the likes of myself who have been around a long time at this stage.

“There’s a brilliant mix and the young girls are really driving us on at training. Training has been really enjoyable, it’s as competitive as a match as everyone’s fighting to get on to the starting 15, or even to come on as one of the reinforcements.”

This won’t be the first time Tyrone Ladies head for Croke Park this season as they lost out to Kildare in the Division Two final earlier in the year. They didn’t have it all their way in their semi-final clash against Down, but battened down the hatches in the closing stages to record a deserved 2-11 to 1-11 victory.

Barrett said: “It was a really difficult game, we knew Down were arguably the form team coming into the game. They won last year’s All-Ireland Junior title and won this year’s Ulster Intermediate.

“We knew that even if we went ahead they’d battle right to the very end and that was the case, it was in the balance right until the last second.

“I think we’re the first Tyrone Ladies team to get to Croke Park twice in a single season so we’re over the moon. We set these goals at the start of the year so to go and back up our ambitions is a great achievement.”

Joanne was also delighted to achieve victory for their assistant manager Fergal Quinn, whose father Dan Quinn, a stalwart of Moortown St Malachy’s, passed away last week.

“It was really important for us to put our best foot forward for Fergal. It’s obviously not easy to lose a parent, and for him to be on the line, it shows how much it means to him. I know his Dad was a big GAA man and we hope it means something to the entire Quinn family that we were able to get the victory.”