Sinead Goldrick created a little piece of sporting history this morning when she became the first All-Ireland ladies football winner to add an AFLW Premiership title as her Melbourne Demons team defeated Brisbane Lions in the Grand Final in Springfield.
Goldrick, a key member of Dublin's dominant team that won four All-Ireland titles between 2017 and 2020 before being thwarted by Meath for the five-in-a-row in 2021, was joined on the winners podium by Blaithin Mackin, the Armagh player who is in Australia playing AFLW for the first time this season.
Goldrick and Mackin's achievement mirrors that of Zac Tuohy and Mark O'Connor, who were AFL Premiership winners with Geelong Cats in September.
Melbourne's success doubles the number of Irish AFLW winners now, following on from Tipperary's Orla O'Dwyer with Brisbane in 2021 and Clare dual star Ailish Considine, who is the first two-time winner, in 2019 and earlier this year. The AFLW has since moved its season so it is played and completed in the second half of the year.
O'Dwyer was bidding for a second AFLW Premiership title with Brisbane but despite the defeat, still played a prominent part, making 11 disposals, two marks and six tackles in the course of the game.
For Goldrick and Melbourne it is redemption after their loss in the earlier 2022 Grand Final loss to Adelaide when her Dublin colleague Lauren Magee was alongside her.
Macken made her mark with a goal in the second quarter before a crowd of 7412.
