Tipperary and Cavan predicted to produce thriller in Sunday's league final

Tipperary and Cavan meet in the Lidl Ladies NFL Division 2 Final at Parnell Park on Sunday, at 2pm with Wicklow’s S.McNulty in charge of the whistle.

The curtain-raiser to the Division 1 final has the potential to be a cracker in its own right.

Cavan, beaten Division 2 finalists after a replay against Westmeath last year, will aim to go one better by clinching promotion to the top flight.

Standing in their way are Tipperary, Division 3 winners last year and the reigning TG4 Munster and All-Ireland intermediate champions.

The Premier County will face Cork in a TG4 Munster senior semi-final in early June but they’re eyeing a second successive promotion before that.

When Cavan and Tipp met in the group stages of the League, Tipp ran out three-point winners but the Breffni girls were without some key players on the day.

Cavan needed victory over Tyrone in their final group outing to book a place in the semi-finals but after getting there, they saw off table-toppers Waterford to reach another final.

Tipp were pipped to top spot by the Déise and that saw them plunged into a semi-final with Armagh, who had been showing good form of their own.

With a big lead early in the second half of a classic Kinnegad encounter, Armagh looked well set for victory but Tipp rallied to clinch a memorable win.

Cavan and Tipp are both well-balanced outfits and with game-changers at the top end of the pitch.

Aisling Maguire and the Sheridans, Bronagh and Aisling, have the ability to hurt Tipp but the Premier County can boast offensive weapons of the calibre of Aishling Moloney, Gillian O’Brien and Aisling McCarthy.

Cavan – E Baugh; R Doonan, L Fitzpatrick, J Moore; S Greene (capt.), M Sheridan, N Byrd; C Dolan, D English; G McGlade, B Sheridan, A Sheridan; R O’Keeffe, A Maguire, C Finnegan.

Tipperary – L Fitzpatrick; L Dillon, M Curley, E Buckley; B Condon, S Lambert (capt.), C Condon; J Grant, G O’Brien; M Morrissey, A McCarthy, N Lonergan; O O’Dwyer, A Moloney, R Howard.