2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship Final

The 2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship Final featured Dublin and Mayo. Dublin also played Mayo in the 2017 men's All-Ireland final.[3][4] This was only the second time that the two finals featured teams representing the same two counties; the first time was in 1982, when Kerry played Offaly in both the men's and ladies' finals.

2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Final

Event	2017 All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship
Dublin Mayo 4-11 0-11
Dublin win their second All-Ireland title. Fourth successive appearance in the final by Dublin
Date	24 September 2017
Venue	Croke Park, Dublin
Player of the Match	Noëlle Healy [1][2]
Referee	Seamus Mulvihill (Kerry)
Attendance	46,286 [3]

Dublin ended their losing streak in All-Ireland finals with a dominant display of attacking football against Mayo. There was some drama in the first-half when in the 24th minute the Mayo goalkeeper, Yvonne Byrne, dragged down Sinéad Aherne. The referee, Seamus Mulvihill, awarded a penalty and sin-bined Byrne. However Mayo's substitute goalkeeper, Aisling Tarpey, subsequently saved the penalty taken by Aherne. The Dublin forwards were in top form. Despite missing the penalty, Aherne went on to score nine points. Niamh McEvoy and Carla Rowe scored 1–1 each and Noëlle Healy was named player of the match. Strong performances in defence by Sinéad Goldrick and Niamh Collins limited the impact of Cora Staunton. However despite this Mayo remained in contention until the last ten minutes. Three late goals, two from substitute Sarah McCaffrey and one from Carla Rowe, eventually put the result beyond doubt.[5][6][7]

Route to the Final

In the semi-finals, Mayo ended Cork's six year reign as All-Ireland champions when they defeated Cork 3–11 to 0–18.[4] Dublin's route to the final was featured in a behind-the-scenes documentary, Blues Sisters, broadcast on RTÉ One on 28 November 2017.[8][9][10]

Attendance record

The attendance of 46,286 was a record for an All-Ireland Senior Ladies' Football Championship final. It was also the best attended women's sports final of 2017. The second best attended final was the 2017 FA Women's Cup Final which had an attendance of 35,271.[3][11] It was also the best attended women's sporting event in Europe during 2017.[12] A BBC Northern Ireland report declared it was "the highest attended women's sporting event in the world in 2017", describing the 2017 Solheim Cup, which was attended by 125,000, as a "tournament...held over three days".[13]

TV audience

In addition to breaking attendance records, the 2017 final also set a new TV audience record for TG4. An average of 303,800 people watched the final – the highest figure since the station started broadcasting women's finals in 2001. Viewing peaked at 5.24pm when 409,700 people were watching and the broadcast reached 563,000 viewers in total, accounting for 40% of the viewing public in the Republic of Ireland.[14][15]

Match info

24 September 2017

Dublin	4-11; 0-11	Mayo
Sinéad Aherne (0-9) Sarah McCaffrey (2-0) Carla Rowe (1-1) Niamh McEvoy (1-1)	[5][6][7][16]	Cora Staunton (0-7) Grace Kelly (0-2) Aileen Gilroy (0-1) Niamh Kelly (0-1)

Croke Park, Dublin

Attendance: 46,286

Referee: Seamus Mulvihill (Kerry)

Teams

Manager: Mick Bohan Team: 1 Ciara Trant 2 Martha Byrne 3 Sinéad Finnegan 4 Rachel Ruddy 5 Sinéad Goldrick 6 Niamh Collins 7 Leah Caffrey 8 Lauren Magee 9 Olwen Carey 10 Carla Rowe 11 Lyndsey Davey 12 Nicole Owens 13 Sinéad Aherne (c) 14 Niamh McEvoy 15 Noëlle Healy Substitutes: Deirdre Murphy for Finnegan (18) Fiona Hudson for Byrne (43) Sarah McCaffrey for Owens (50) Molly Lamb for McEvoy (53)

Manager: Frank Browne Team: 1 Yvonne Byrne 2 Orla Conlon 3 Sarah Tierney (c) 4 Martha Carter 5 Rachel Kearns 6 Marie Corbett 7 Fiona Doherty 8 Aileen Gilroy 9 Fiona McHale 10 Doireann Hughes 11 Niamh Kelly 12 Ciara Whyte 13 Sarah Rowe 14 Cora Staunton 15 Grace Kelly Substitutes: Aisling Tarpey for Yvonne Byrne (24) Amy Dowling for Niamh Kelly (41) Shauna Howley for Grace Kelly (57)

References

1. "Noelle Healy named Players' Player of the Year". www.rte.ie. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
2. "Noelle Healy named TG4 Player of the Year". www.gaa.ie. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
3. "Ladies football final shatters attendance records". www.rte.ie. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
4. "Mayo ladies end Cork's reign to set up another Dublin decider". www.irishtimes.com. 2 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
5. "Dublin's goal rush secures All-Ireland glory". www.rte.ie. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
6. "As It Happened: Dublin v Mayo, All-Ireland senior ladies football final". www.the42.ie. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
7. "Dublin bury Mayo with flurry of late goals to win second All-Ireland Ladies football title". www.independent.ie. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
8. "Watch: All-Access Documentary Charts Rise Of Dublin's Ladies Football Team". www.balls.ie. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
9. "'Blues Sisters' another landmark for burgeoning women's game". www.irishtimes.com. 26 November 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2018.
10. "People Loved Last Night's RTÉ Documentary About The Dublin Ladies Team". lovindublin.com. 28 November 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
11. "Attendance at Ladies All-Ireland final in Croke Park shatters previous record". www.the42.ie. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
12. "Yesterday's Ladies Final Set A Major European Attendance Record". www.balls.ie. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
13. "Ladies Gaelic football on top of the world". www.bbc.co.uk. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
14. "Women's football final broke TG4 viewing records". www.irishtimes.com. 25 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
15. "Highest-ever viewing figure for TG4 All-Ireland Ladies' Football Final". www.tg4.ie. 25 September 2017. Archived from the original on 19 April 2018. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
16. "Dublin v Mayo - TG4 Ladies Football All-Ireland Senior Championship Final Photos". www.sportsfile.com. 24 September 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2018.