Dublin Ladies senior football captain Sinead Aherne is hoping a first league title win will prove the perfect preparation heading into the All-Ireland Championships.
The Sky Blues face Mayo in the Lidl National Division League 1 final on Sunday looking to secure a piece of silverware that has eluded their grasp to date.
And having won the All-Ireland last year, Aherne is keen to seal a domestic triumph before focusing on retaining the championship.
“It’s a big prize and achieving a league title is a good measure of consistency and results,” Aherne told OTB’s Will O’Callaghan.
“Performances haven’t always followed but equally it’s great to be able to point to the fact that you can win those games even if things weren’t going particularly well performance wise.
“To have that in your locker and to have achieved a league title going into the Championship sets you up well. I think at this stage, having got to a final, we’ll be looking to make sure our performance puts us in the frame and if things are tight, hopefully we can squeeze it in the end.”
Dublin last reached a league final in 2014 when they lost out to Cork – the most successful side in the last decade with nine titles to their name.
But Aherne is trying to keep her mind steady ahead of a potentially historic weekend for the county.
“It would be a first national title for us to take home which would obviously be great for Dublin and this group of players,” Aherne said.
“Anytime you get that opportunity you want to perform well and put on a good display for the supporters that come out and for friends and family.
“We’re just trying to focus on our performance this week and if we get our hands on a cup as part of that, it would be terrific.”
Aherne also touched on the progression of the ladies game and her hopes going forward towards its development.
“I think the steps and the development ladies football can make year on year is huge,” Aherne added.
“Maybe in the men’s game it has gone so incremental in terms of the changes that go on year on year. Whereas in ladies football has come on an awful lot but equally has some huge strides that it can still take.”
Written by James Hopper
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
