It will be a Dublin derby in the 2025 FAI Women’s Amateur Shield Final as St. Francis come up against Cabinteely in Whitehall on Saturday.

Cabinteely lifted the trophy last year after beating Dungarvan United in the Final and will be aiming for a similar outcome here, while St. Francis will have their own plans for success.

There have been eight different winners of this competition in as many years, so either St. Francis will become the ninth club to be added to that list or Cabinteely will successfully defend the trophy.

Led by captain Holly Rutherford and inspired by former Ireland Women’s National Team midfielder Caroline Thorpe, St. Francis are hoping that their young squad can deliver a first ever trophy for their senior women’s team.

Head Coach Stuart Smith insists that his team are improving all of the time and he takes the positives from that as they look to embrace the underdog tag going into this match.

“We’re hoping to put a positive performance in and go and win it on Saturday. It would be huge for the club because women’s football has been taking off in the area. It would give the whole club a bit of a lift,” said Smith.

“Since coming into the league we’ve had some good results and some bad results, which is all part of the learning process. With Cabinteely, they beat us in the league, we beat them in the Cup so we’re evenly matched in that regard. But I would consider that they would be favourites for this Final and we will be looking to cause an upset.”

Cabinteely Head Coach Laura Ellard insists her club acknowledge the signifiance of being involved in this competition and they are motivated by the opportunity of winning it for a second time.

After only conceding once in five games on their way to this Final, Cabinteely know that they have the quality to go all the way with the likes of goalkeeper Niamh Haskins, defenders Chelsee Snell and Sinead Gaynor plus forward Caitriona McGilp driving them on.

“It’s a big deal and the club are delighted to be involved in the Final again. Not many teams get into an All-Ireland Final,” said Ellard.

“The message leading up to the Final was always ‘we’re trying to retain this Shield but teams are going to come to us saying that these won this last year so they have that standard’, so they will want to beat us. But we’ve been telling the players to go out and enjoy it, embrace the day and play because when we play football we can be absolutely outstanding.

“We’ve played so many teams from around the country, which is different because you’re playing the same teams every week in your league but all of a sudden you’re travelling together on a bus to different places and you know what’s at stake and you know how big it is. We just want to go out and enjoy the Final now.”

The Final will kick off at 14:00 and supporters are encouraged to come out to witness what promises to be an entertaining duel between two proud Dublin clubs.

2025 FAI Women’s Amateur Shield Final
St. Francis v Cabinteely
Saturday, August 9th
Home Farm FC, Whitehall
KO 14:00
Referee: Grainne Hannigan