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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Vikki Wall on 'nonsense' of LGFA tackle laws and excitement of pending AFLW start

Vikki Wall is looking forward to the clarity of the AFLW rulebook after hitting out at the "nonsense" of Ladies Football tackle laws.

Wall was yellow carded and sent off the pitch for the final stages of both the All-Ireland semi-final and last Sunday's final, the result of a physical approach that has made her the star of not just this back to back winning Meath team, but of the sport.

It later emerged that referee Maggie Farrelly dismissed Wall for cumulative fouling, and the 23-year-old shrugged it off later as she celebrated the Royals' 3-10 to 1-7 victory over Galway at Croke Park.

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"Look, it was only the last five, so I can't complain too much," she said.

The final was marred by constant stoppages and Wall, who got the send-off she was hoping for before joining up with the North Melbourne Kangaroos, is excited about the change that is coming.

"It's a bit more simple in terms of what you can and can't do," she said of the Aussie Rules switch.

"There's a lot of ambiguity around what a tackle is in Ladies Football at the moment - and this idea of non-contact, which is just, I think, nonsense at this stage.

"I'm looking forward to it. When you're expecting a bit more physicality, you can probably react to it a bit better and you're not trying to win a free, as such, over there."

Meath are losing Wall and midfielder Orlaith Lally to the AFLW and the former admits that, with the All-Ireland final coming up, she was glad of the distraction of having something new to plan for.

The fact that she is leaving Ireland on Friday concentrated the mind, too, and she even packed for Australia ahead of Sunday's victory.

"It's probably been the best thing to have beforehand, in a sense," Wall said.

"I've been working with North Melbourne the last while and doing a few bits and pieces. Both have been a nice distraction for each other.

"It's nice to flick on a few of the Aussie Rules games to take your mind off GAA, and vice versa, if I'm getting a bit too caught up in that, I'd put on some of the old Meath games to switch off.

"It's been nice, I'm flying out next Friday so I've a bit of celebrating to do, a bit of time to spend with the team so I'll make the most of it for sure.

"The five days will be busy! I have to say goodbye to a few people and fit people in, do a few last bits.

"I had my bags packed before the game just so I could take that away. I don't know what the next few days will bring but hopefully a bit of craic and then say goodbye to people."

Wall, who promises this is not the end of her in a Meath jersey, knows she has to get up to speed fast when she lands Down Under.

North Melbourne have a pre-season game tomorrow and another in 11 days time, and she hopes to be involved in that one against Adelaide Crows.

Before that, Wall has a bit of rehab to do along with the partying.

She suffered a first minute injury on Sunday that would have put the heart in the mouths of watching North Melbourne officials - but she was able to carry on.

"It was just a dead leg, I'll be alright," she smiled. "I'll be icing it for the week, and I'll be fit to go then. I'll be grand."

She will be joined at the Kangaroos by Cork's Erika O'Shea and Wall has already been helped and advised by a number of the AFLW's growing Irish contingent.

"I would have been in college with a few girls that are over there now, anyone that's over there has reached out," said the Dunboyne forward.

"They're all so approachable, saying to meet up, tips and tricks of what to bring and what not to pack, something as simple as that.

"They've all been great so far. I'm really looking forward to it now."

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Wall is unsure if she can compare Meath's All-Ireland triumphs.

There was the surprise breakthrough success against Dublin last year after Meath had won the Intermediate final at the third consecutive attempt and then going in as favourites against Kerry in a meeting of the Division 1 and 2 winners this year.

"I don't know if it was a case of trying to prove people wrong this year," she reflected.

"I don't think we felt that we had something to prove to other people this year, rather to prove it to ourselves.

"We knew what we had there. Even when times were bad in Meath, we knew we did have a good crop of people there, it was just getting the right people and buying into a system which Paul (Garrigan) and Eamonn (Murray) and the management team had devised.

Vikki Wall at the final whistle in the All-Ireland final as Meath went back to back (©INPHO/Ryan Byrne)

"It was different last year - the first time in, what, 49 years that Meath were in an All-Ireland senior final. That's ridiculous hype.

"Even this year, there is that support there. You're constantly meeting people and the first thing they want to talk about is football.

"I probably avoided Dunboyne for the last week or two, to stay out of those conversations. The build-up has been great, the small difference being not that it's becoming a norm, but it's nice that people expect us to get there in a sense."

"We've been lucky enough to be involved in a few of these finals the last few years, every single one of them is equally as special, to be honest.

"I don't think I'll ever get sick of winning an All-Ireland."

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The experience of having done it all before was crucial to Meath dealing with Kerry's fast start in the final, Wall believes, and she points to her side being up against it on the big stage before and coming through.

Wall recalls the 2020 Intermediate final win over Westmeath, and how Meath had to recover from conceding quick-fire goals to prevail.

"It definitely does play into it," she said. "You just have to reset and go back to it.

"We knew Kerry would be going for a quick start and we definitely didn't react quick enough in the first five minutes.

"But we kept our composure and didn't panic, didn't start doing mental things or changing our game plan."

The pre-match prediction was that Meath's defensive outlook was meeting Kerry's all-out attack but the Royals scored three goals to one from the Kingdom - Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh's second minute strike.

Kerry's Anna Galvin is challenged by Emma Duggan and Vikki Wall of Meath (©INPHO/Tom Maher)

"I suppose before this everyone was talking about Kerry scoring goals and our probably lack of throughout the championship this year," said Wall. "It's something we're really conscious of.

"In the first half, we looked at Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh, Danielle O'Leary, Síofra O'Shea, key forwards that have been scoring this year.

"We almost stood off the other players who are well capable of taking their own scores. In the second half, we were conscious of getting on the boot of every single Kerry player that was going to be taking a shot.

"Everyone stood up at different times, I don't think one person was the kingpin for the entire game, it was different people at different times when we needed them, that made a little bit of a difference."

Wall added: "There's certain games that we were put to the test, and you don't feel like you've had your best performance, but at the end of the day, it's a win and you're going to continue through the championship.

"You have to have a short-term memory, and we didn't care whether we won the game by 10 points or one point, it's still a win.

"People were talking about performance - as much as you're focused on performance, a one-point win was all we wanted all year."

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