Month: September 2021

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Killian Spillane celebrates scoring a point against Dublin.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

IN THE 1986 All-Ireland final, Pat Spillane scored a crucial goal into Hill 16 to propel Kerry to an eight-point victory against Tyrone.

In last Sunday’s decider, it was his nephew Killian who raised a green flag into the same goals, almost steering the Kingdom to a famous win over five-in-a-row chasing Dublin. 

The Templenoe youngster, son of Kerry legend Tom, dropped out of the team from the semi-final but had a major say following his 45th-minute introduction for his brother Adrian and finished with 1-1. 

Killian Spillane scored a crucial goal in the All-Ireland Final for @Kerry_Official at the Hill 16 end on Sunday and we remember his uncle Pat Spillane scoring a final goal in 1986 at the very same end! Take a look back with GAANOW Rewind! pic.twitter.com/9JxGIZTitH

— The GAA (@officialgaa) September 5, 2019

Spillane was part of the Kerry minor team in 2014, helping them to the All-Ireland crown that year that sparked off their run of five minor crowns in succession. 

Of all the youngsters from those successful minor panels expected to make the breakthrough under Peter Keane this season, Spillane was way down the pecking order at the outset of the year. 

He shot to national prominence five years ago when his uncle Pat declared him the best minor in the country – as if there wasn’t enough pressure on him already with such a famous surname. 

It seemed to bother Killian little and he backed up that bold claim by scoring 0-39 during their run to All-Ireland glory. 

Spillane featured under Jack O’Connor at U21 level and was part of Eamonn Fitzmaurice’s extended panel over the past few years. He germinated within the set-up and learning his trade in the unforgiving confines of Fitzgerald Stadium.

But it took Spillane a number of years to get his chance at senior level.

“I’d say Pat put the kibosh on him in RTÉ when he was talking about him as a minor and he disappeared for a few years then,” recalls Aidan O’Mahony. “It’s a big step up. He was a fantastic minor and he came in 2015.

“Training is very tough and I know myself when I came first it’s a different level. 

“What kills you is that when you come into championship you’re training so hard and in the internal and challenge games you’re not performing then because the body is just drained. 

Aidan O’Mahony teamed up with Ireland Active to launch National Fitness Day 2019.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

“And it probably took him a while to get up to that level of the game or that kind of strength and conditioning.” 

He didn’t even log a minute of action during this year’s Munster campaign. He made his championship debut as a late addition to the starting team against Donegal in the Super 8s and announced his arrival by firing over three points against the Ulster champions in Croke Park. 

Spillane added a further 0-3 against Meath two weeks later but endured a quiet game in the semi-final against Tyrone, which saw him dropped for the final.

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His decisive showing off the bench against Dublin brings him to 1-7 from play in his four appearances this summer.

“He always had that potential, adds O’Mahony. “I seen him playing in the club championship at home and he’s like a player playing with a new lease of confidence, it’s like the shackles have been thrown off.

“Maybe that pressure is off him now, that there was so much expected of him. Sometimes it can weigh down players. If you’re not performing and you’re coming into a Kerry senior set-up then you’ve backs that are chomping at the bit every night and they’re pulling and dragging out of you and they’re flaking you inside in games, it’s not easy.

“Because you obviously don’t want to give up your jersey either. I think he’s just coming now and there’s that air of confidence.

“It showed the last day, that goal chance. I was watching it and I said to myself, ‘If he takes two more steps, Cluxton will get down and block him.’ I think that’s the best part of his game. He’s a very intelligent young lad. He knew when to kick it the last day.

Kerry’s Killian Spillane.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

“He kicked it two seconds earlier and he put it into the bottom corner, it was a fantastic goal. I think that impact role suits him as well, it opens up the game and there’s no pressure when you’re coming on then.”

Another man who has impressed O’Mahony is his Rathmore clubmate Shane Ryan. Described by Paul Murphy as a “reluctant goalie”, Ryan plays in the full-forward line with the club team and also takes their frees.  

Dublin pressed up high on his kick-outs in the drawn game but Kerry retained 17 of Ryan’s 23 restarts, including a number of high-risk short kicks.

“Shane plays outfield for us, I don’t know if he’ll outfield this year now,” says O’Mahony.

“He’s been playing outfeld for years and he’s a fantastic footballer. We played in a couple of East Kerry finals there and he got man-of-the-match at 18, 19.

“Great confidence and he’s a very commanding goalie as well. He’d a great save from Con O’Callaghan. Plus I was behind his back for the second-half and his kick-outs were excellent because Dublin pushed up.

Dublin’s Cormac Costello competes for a high ball with Tadhg Morley and goalkeeper Shane Ryan of Kerry.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

“I was looking and there wasn’t much space but he got them away. I think the one went over the line which for a fella playing in his first All-Ireland final you’d be kind of saying hats off to him because there’s a lot of pressure on as well. He’s come on leaps and bounds. That’s his first year gone back into goal.”

O’Mahony also made a bold prediction regarding Ryan’s future.

“I know he’s my own clubman, but I’d have no problem saying it I think he’ll be in the Cluxton mould for the 10 or 15 years,” he said.

“I think he’s going to have an amazing, amazing career. I think he’s the one guy that I could see that will follow in Cluxton’s footsteps if not being better. He’s just a commanding figure as well and the more he plays the more confidence he’ll get and it showed the last day.

Kerry goalkeeper Shane Ryan gets a short kick-out away.

Source: Morgan Treacy/INPHO

“It was a thing I was watching – how good would his kickouts be? I think he was excellent. He does the free-taking for Rathmore and he can kick anything from 60 or 70 metres – he’s accurate. 

“(With) waterboys running into spaces, I’d say it’s a lot harder to hit your target. The way the modern game is now you’re trying to win primary possession at all costs every time.

“Especially bit parts in games when there’s a drawn game or a point in it. For a young lad to play the last day with that kind of exuberance in a game and confidence.

“I remember there were several times that the crowd were roaring at him to kick it out and he still took his time and got his targets. So I just think he’s a massive player for Kerry now they’ve someone like him in goals.”

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AFTER MAKING THEIR first-ever visit to Croke Park one to remember by lifting their first All-Ireland title in the 2017 Premier Junior final, Westmeath are primed for a return to HQ on the biggest day of the camogie calendar.

Westmeath captain Mairead McCormack.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

Just two years later, Mairéad McCormack’s side find themselves one step away from senior status as they go head-to-head with Galway in the intermediate decider on Sunday [throw-in 2pm, live on RTÉ].

But first, a look back on that historic day. 10 September 2017.

McCormack laughs when she’s asked for her memories of that day.

“I’ll never forget it,” the Castletown Geogeghan star smiles. “Especially when I had two sisters playing. Mam and Dad dropped us in that morning and got onto the bus… the embarrassment!”

28-year-old Mairéad, now captain, lined out at wing forward that day, Edel (32) stood firm at full-back and Joanne (30) led the charge in midfield. A full on Sister Act, they’ll all tog out again on Sunday but hopefully there won’t be as much drama, or as many nerves, before a ball is pucked this time around.

Even prior to their proud parents landing on the bus, there were a few touch-and-go moments. 

“She’ll kill me for saying it,” McCormack laughs, “but that morning, we all met up in the home house before we left and poor old Joanne forgot her jacket. Myself and Edel were sitting in the jeep ready to go off and Joanne started crying because she didn’t have the correct gear. That was just pure nerves.”

For Mairéad, they disappeared shortly after she graced the hallowed turf of Croke Park for the first time, however.

There is, of course, another laugh as she remembers what happened trying to imitate a Westmeath great just after running out on the battlefield. 

“Gary Connaughton was renowned for jumping over the bench out in Croke Park,” McCormack explains. “I told the girls I’d give it a go anyway and caught the foot going over…

Gary Connaughton jumping over the bench in 2006.

Source: Dan Sheridan/INPHO

“I didn’t fall, I managed to brush it off so that was my nerves gone out the window! I’ll walk over it this time. I’m two years older, I definitely won’t make it!

“It was an extremely exciting day.”

A camogie-mad family now, the parents and their other sister travel the length and breadth of the country to support their pride and joy, even in challenge matches. But it wasn’t always camogie. 

Not for Mairéad, anyway. 

“Football was always my number one sport,” the Streamstown native says. “I played county football from U12 up to senior but then I had a few injuries. I tore my cruciate twice, the same one.”

She was 16 the first time and 18 the second, and of course, two surgeries followed. The first time around, she admits she didn’t do near enough rehab: “I didn’t do anything with it the first time. I suppose I just thought, ‘I’ll hop up on the bike once or twice and I’ll be grand.’”

She wasn’t exactly grand when she suffered the dreaded injury again just two years later, but she learned from her past mistakes and did her rehab by the book.

“I’m all good now, but I still strap it up very tightly,” she assures. “I hurt my knee; not the cruciate but in general, in the championship this year so mentally, I like to have it set.”

Since switching to the small ball code, McCormack hasn’t looked back. Just like this brilliant Westmeath outfit over the past few years. Their progress has been something else, and she says Johnny Greville holds most of the responsibility for that.

This year, Raharney man Greville juggled the top job with his selector duties for the Westmeath senior hurlers and management commitments with the county’s U20 side.

“It’s unbelievable,” McCormack smiles. “The last few years, even before Johnny came on board, there was a little bit of belief. Players are getting a little bit older, I’d say we were waiting for some of the underage to come through and now they have.

Greville with sister, Pamela, and Denise McGrath in 2017.

Source: Gary Carr/INPHO

“Johnny Greville has really brought this county to another level though. I’m not even sure if Pamela [his sister and star forward] would still be around if it wasn’t for Johnny. She has such a mature head on the pitch and she’s playing so well, there’s no stopping her.

“Johnny has brought on a huge panel of selectors; his brother Jimmy, Frank Mullan and Darren McCormack from Castlepollard who was a hero for Westmeath himself. We have extremely good management. Sometimes you mightn’t listen to a manager but when you know that they know what they’re on about and have played themselves, you do.”

From Premier Junior to 60 minutes away from the senior ranks in two years, it’s been a remarkable rise. And a very quick one, at that. 

The ingredients? Pure hard work, testing themselves against the best and self-belief are the main few.

“The year we won the junior, we were intermediate in Leinster so playing those stronger teams really stood to us,” McCormack, who works in Esker Rí Nursing Home in Offaly as a receptionist, explains.

“Then, we knew in our heads we weren’t far off winning intermediate. To be honest I was disappointed last year not to make the knockout stages, and that was our first year up. We have that real belief in the team that we could make this.”

She doesn’t have to look far for a perfect example.

“My sister Joanne came back after having a child this year. That just shows that she knew we were getting to Croke Park. She wouldn’t have done it only that she knew. We just have to finish it out now and hopefully lift the cup.”

That’s the focus now after an extremely hard-fought, and important, semi-final win over 2018 finalists Down. That was a massive test, the toughest team Westmeath have faced this year apart from the Kilkenny seniors they locked horns with in a challenge match, she reckons. 

With that game also streamed live, McCormack says it will stand to them considering the fact that younger players may get nervous about being on TV.

Mairead celebrating the semi-final win with her sister Joanne.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

Another huge step for the younger contingent, headed by the likes of 18-year-old Megan Dowdall — “a key player who steps up as much as any senior player” — ahead of the big day is them coming up for a look around Croke Park on Saturday.

With it all becoming real after a Meet and Greet at Cusack Park last Friday, it’s all eyes on the Tribeswomen on Sunday now. At the time of our conversation, there was the slight downer of club matches on the Tuesday and Wednesday after the decider, but that didn’t bother McCormack too much.

“It’s a pity but we’ll get on with it and face it when it comes,” she said, shaking off any concern with her entire attention on the Westerners.

Contesting both the intermediate and senior finals, Galway were stern opposition for Westmeath through the year. 

“We played them in the league,” McCormack says. “We were winning until the last puck of the ball and they got a goal to draw the game, and then we lost by a point in the Championship.”

So could it be a case of third time lucky in 2019? Who knows.

“It’ll be extremely tight again.” she concludes. “Personally I think we’re probably in the best position. Underdogs, and they have the ‘double’ pressure too.”

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KIERAN DONAGHY HAS been appointed as joint-manager of IT Tralee’s senior football team, while former Kerry team-mate Aidan O’Mahony is part of his backroom team.

Donaghy, who will share management duties with Liam Brosnan, will take charge of a team for the first time following his stint as part of Micheál Donoghue’s Galway hurling coaching set-up this season.

Two-time All-Star O’Mahony will act as a selector while Clive O’Callaghan, Eoin O’Shea and Joby Costello have also come on board.

IT Tralee are a rising power in Sigerson Cup football and have Young Footballer of the Year David Clifford in their ranks, alongside fellow Kerrymen Gavin Crowley, Dara Moynihan, Greg Horan, Jack Savage and Michael Potts.

“I am very excited by the challenge ahead, it’s my first venture into management and I learned a lot working with the Galway hurlers last year,” Donaghy said.

“IT Tralee is a great asset to the county and the facilities are fantastic. 

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“I can’t wait to work with an amazing bunch of players and I hope we can represent the Institute as best we can.”

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WITH TWO GALWAY teams in Croke Park on All-Ireland camogie finals day on Sunday, one immediately thinks of their 2013 heroics.

Galway intermediate captain Laura Ward.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

That day the intermediate and senior sides left HQ with the Jack McGrath and O’Duffy Cups, the buses pointed towards the west as double-winning manager Tony Ward left the capital a very happy man, bringing an end to the All-Ireland camogie title drought in the county.

The Sarsfields man was a direct link to their one other past crowning moment; in 1996, he was also at the helm.

On Sunday, Ward’s daughter, Laura, will captain the intermediate side into battle as they face Westmeath [throw-in 2pm, live on RTÉ]. Looking back to 2013, a 16-year-old Ward was a water girl that day. 

22 now, the memories come flooding back. 

“Just the whole thing,” she smiles, when she’s asked for the most prominent ones. “It was just unbelievable and all so new to us.

“The intermediates got bet in 2012 so it was nice to see the difference and compare. I remember going home with them on the bus and getting off in Ballinasloe, it was just unbelievable. The whole place was packed, you wouldn’t be able to describe it. Just class.”

As those involved in the game know, Tony eats, sleeps, drinks and breathes camogie and hurling.

“Mam does stop him sometimes, ‘Give her a break!’” Laura, the youngest of six — four boys and two girls — laughs immediately when that’s put to her.

Tony (centre) bringing the double home in 2013.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

It’s even worse now considering the fact that he isn’t involved with any team at any level at the minute. Most recently he was over the Galway U20s but he stepped away when shoulder damage saw him go under the knife.

“He’s at home all the time now. After every training session, it’s, ‘How was that?’ Ah, he’s actually fine. I’d be very calm anyway and he knows I listen to him so he does talk to me.

“My brothers are like ‘Go away’, they’re very jumpy before matches and don’t want to hear anything, but I’m pretty calm.”

What about the best advice he’s given her? She doesn’t have to think twice about that. 

“He’s constantly nagging me about holding my square when I’m full-back,” Ward, who’s starting her final year of Children’s Studies in NUIG, grins. “Constantly. Every day I go out he says, ‘Don’t forget now you’re full-back and you have to hold your square!’”

With many of the victorious intermediate team of 2013 now lining out in the senior final on Sunday, Ward is one of 11 who crosses over. 

She’s on both panels so that means she’ll play in the intermediate final and then take her place on the senior bench. A weird one considering the potential emotions she’ll be dealing with at the time.

Win, and she’s on top of the world and will obviously want to stay and celebrate with the team she captains. Lose, and it’s a case of picking herself up and switching the focus to the next job at hand.

Tackling Tipperar’s Joanne Ryan.

Source: Lorraine O’Sullivan/INPHO

It will be the same, of course, for the mastermind behind Galway camogie at the minute, Cathal Murray, who manages both teams. It was a dream day for Cork’s Paudie Murray in the same situation last year, with Wexford’s JJ Doyle also in that rare group, and Murray will definitely be hoping to follow in their footsteps.

“Cathal’s brilliant,” Ward says. “He’s so professional.

“He’s been torn between the two squads. It’s crazy. In one of our championship games, he left the minute the referee blew the whistle and he was gone to Wexford for the seniors.

“We’re always abusing him, telling him, ‘You can’t handle the pressure,’” she jokes. “He’s handled it very well, he’s well able for it.”

Back in the gym since last November, the Tribeswomen’s physicality is on another level this year and she credits strength and conditioning coach Robbie Lane for his monstrous work there.

“The whole backroom team are excellent this year,” she adds.

With Westmeath the opposition on Sunday, Sarsfield defender Ward knows just as well as anyone how remarkable their rise has been. From Premier Junior champions in 2017 to an intermediate final two years later, they’re now one step away from senior status. 

“Yeah, we played Westmeath in the league, drew with them and then beat them by a point in championship. It was the same last year. They have been very consistent over the last few years.”

With senior captain Sarah Dervan.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

But Galway have also been pretty consistent themselves, and with two teams ready to run out on Croke Park on Sunday, the excitement is well and truly building around the county. 

“There’s such a good buzz around the place. Everyone at home seems to be talking about it so it really gets you hyped up for it. We seen it in 2013 obviously and that was brilliant so it makes you want to go for it even more when you’ve experienced it.”

The ladies footballers are preparing for their own All-Ireland senior final on Sunday week to add to it all too, so the hopes of a treble are most definitely alive.

“It’s unreal,” Ward concludes. “You can feel it in the county, everyone’s talking about it. It’s lovely. It’s great to have the girls getting all the talk and the support.”

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SKY SPORTS HAVE announced that they will be broadcasting this year’s All-Ireland camogie and ladies football finals for the very first time.

In a repeat of this year’s National League final, Kilkenny and Galway will go head-to-head this Sunday at 4.15pm in the camogie decider at Croke Park.

The game will be shown on Sky Sports Arena on Wednesday at 7pm, with Mike Finnerty joined on commentary by three-time All-Ireland winner with Cork Therese O’Callaghan.

Galway will be hoping to upset defending All-Ireland champions Dublin the following weekend, as Mick Bohan’s side chase a three-in-a-row for the very first time on Sunday 15 September at 4.00pm.

Sky will show full coverage this year’s football final on Monday 16 September at 7pm, with Mike Finnerty joined by Cork’s Angela Walsh on commentary.

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COLLINGWOOD DEFEATED GEELONG by 61-51 in today’s AFL first qualifying final at the MCG, which leaves the Pies just one win away from returning to a second successive Grand Final in two weeks.

Geelong, who have Laois’s Zach Tuohy and Kerry’s Mark O’Connor in their ranks, must now come through a semi-final tie against West Coast next week to reach the preliminary final stage on 20 September.

Geelong’s finish on top of the AFL ladder in the Premiership regular season means they have a safety net despite today’s defeat.

In front of 93,436 fans O’Connor started the game at half-back for the Cats, winning 13 disposals and taking five marks, while Tuohy kicked a fine goal after he arrived onto the field as a replacement.

The Cats claw back courtesy of this Tuohy beauty!#AFLFinals pic.twitter.com/ivoV7j2TZj

— AFL (@AFL) September 6, 2019

The Pies led by 36-19 at half-time after dominating most of the first-half. Scott Pendlebury their star man on his 300th game and his third-quarter goal helped take the contest away from Geelong. 

Patrick Dangerfield was Geelong’s best and helped close the gap in the final quarter as they held Collingwood scoreless, but the fightback proved too late.

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Kilkenny co-captain Meighan Farrell.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

IT WAS SOMETHING Meighan Farrell always wanted to do. 

And when the opportunity came around, it was one she grabbed with both hands. 

Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam. A six-week trip with five friends, a break from the continuous, intense, year-long cycle of camogie back home in Kilkenny. It really is a way of life for the Farrells of Thomastown, after all.

“It was the best thing I ever did,” she smiles. 

“I would have always loved to go on a J1 but I never could with the camogie. You can’t really go in the middle of summer. This was just as good. It was the longest I’ve ever been away from camogie, to be honest.”

She’s 24 now, but for as long as she can remember her entire life has been about club and county, county and club. Chasing the All-Ireland dream with Kilkenny and with Thomastown means it’s pretty much non-stop. One year just rolls into the next.

Of course, the chase is most definitely back on with Farrell and her Cats team-mates hoping it’s a case of third time lucky in pursuit of the O’Duffy Cup on Sunday. 

But amidst all the hype of Croke Park, of their shot at redemption, of their opponents Galway, it’s nice to just look at life away from the four white lines.

The travelling; what was the highlight?

She pauses.

But then a smile comes to her face as she looks back to April and May of this year.

“I’d say Cambodia was probably my favourite place,” she tells The42. “Thailand was more touristy, Vietnam was unreal but Cambodia was just so behind the times.

Facing Cork in last year’s final.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“Cambodia had like dirt roads and stuff. We couldn’t believe it. Just so different to what we have over here. Thailand is after coming on a lot more. It was a really good experience.”

What about the people? Many say they’re the friendliest you’ll meet. And Farrell can vouch for that.

“Oh my God, they’re so good. The Vietnamese were so sarcastic, always taking the piss out of you. They were real helpful, it was good. They’re really about the community so that was nice.”

Sounds pretty familiar. 

The trip was planned so Farrell wouldn’t miss a whole pile of camogie; the very end of March until the second week of May. But with the date of the Division 1 league final moved so it could be played as a Croke Park double-header, Farrell’s perfect plan fell apart.

Everything was booked and organised, so she had to stick with the original schedule and obviously miss the league decider showdown against Galway.

“Disaster,” she frowns. “I literally just missed it.”

So that was a pretty different experience — not only missing out, but being away from the entire set-up — one would imagine? Very much so.

“I was just sitting over in a hotel in Cambodia watching it,” she recalls. “It was streaming on the phone, I had the girls watching it with me and we were all just there shouting at the phone.”

While there, she kept the fitness up. Farrell knew she couldn’t let the good work of a tough, tough winter go to waste. Ann Downey and her management team gave her bits and pieces to do, but they weren’t down her throat by any means.

“They wanted me to enjoy it as well,” she nods. “I was doing a few sessions on the beach, a different setting but it was still tough.”

The last few years have been incredibly taxing. From the elation of ending a 22-year wait for All-Ireland glory in 2016 to the gut-wrenching lows of the last two Septembers and those late, heart-breaking one-point defeats to Cork at the death, the Cats have been through the mill.

Dejection after last year’s final.

Source: Laszlo Geczo/INPHO

It’s mentally and physically draining, and with so much time, effort and sacrifices involved at club and county level, the time away from it all was a blessing for Farrell.

Self-admittedly, it got to a stage where she was just going through the motions.

“You never want to be going training like that,” she continues. “You want to be going to training wanting to run yourself into the ground. When I came back I kinda had a bit more appreciation for everything. 

“I just couldn’t stop thinking about camogie when I was coming home. Before I was coming back, I was like, ‘Jesus, I need to get back now’. Then when I came back, I just appreciated it a bit more.”

Not only did it help her camogie, it gave her a helping hand in her academic and professional life. A Childcare Studies graduate, Farrell is working away in a hotel, not sure what path to follow, but travelling showed her that teaching may be the way to go.

Coming back into the Kilkenny fold then, they were looking to right the wrongs after that league final defeat to the Tribeswomen, and subsequent end to their bid for four-in-a-row.

Championship was just around the corner, so it was all go.

“It was so hard to get back in, like. At training, everyone was just passing you out. I was like, ‘Why did I go?’” she laughs. “No, in fairness, the trainers helped me so much. They didn’t need to be doing separate stuff but they did.

“Only for them.”

The management team get a hell of a lot of credit, and rightly so. 

Farrell points to them when she’s asked about coming back after the past two gutting September defeats. Bouncing back after the lows hasn’t been easy, but they’ve certainly soothed the pain and helped the team move on this year.

“Maybe last year we were thinking about our losses more so,” she explains. “This year, we’re just concentrating on the match ahead of us.

“They’ve kind of taught us this year to forget about any other year. It’s done. They would drive you on anyway. When you lose a match, you always have that with you, but they’re after showing us that it really doesn’t matter about last year. 

Celebrating the All-Ireland final win in 2016.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

“It’s instilled in all the players now and nobody’s concentrating on anything else only the next match. The lads that have come in this year, they’ve really driven that into us, that mentality that it’s about what’s in front of you, not the past.” 

The tough winter of training they put down is really paying dividends, and it’s clear to see that the players are really enjoying their camogie at this stage of the races. 

And enjoyment; that’s what it’s all about after all, despite the fact that so many lose sight of it. 

She says: “It’s hard to enjoy something that is so serious. It’s gone so serious, you kind of forget about enjoying it. But now management are teaching us to actually remember that it’s just a match at the end of the day.

“You really do need to enjoy it because that’s when you play your best hurling. When you’re concentrating on a certain aspect of something, you just get a bit flustered and you don’t really get to perform.

“But everybody just goes out and gives it their all now. We’re all working really well together and kind of gelling so it’s really working this year. We’re hoping that we get over the line.”

The Farrells, of course, are synonymous with Kilkenny camogie. It’s always been the three sisters, Meighan, Shelly and Anna, flying the flag. Then, their younger sister Eimear lines out with the club, as does their older brother, JonJo, who has also played for Brian Cody’s hurlers.

As she says herself, “At home it’s just about camogie and hurling all the time. That never really stops. There’s something always happening.”

This year brought a change, though, with Shelly living in Australia. She’s loving it, Meighan assures, disappointed she couldn’t factor in a visit on her own big adventure.

The sisters always counted themselves lucky to have the three of them going training together, and it perhaps hit Anna the hardest while the other two were away. 

Even at that, they mightn’t realise just how weird it really is until the tomorrow morning, which is always guaranteed to be a manic one in the Farrell household.

“It’ll be strange,” Meighan agrees. “But you know, after all year, you’re kind of used to it now so it’s grand. It would be nice to have her [Shelly] there again but she’s having a great time where she is. I’d say she won’t really mind.”

With Galway captain Sarah Dervan.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

She may though, when she sees Croke Park in all its glory on the TV Down Under, as her band of sisters take to the hallowed turf 60 minutes away from All-Ireland glory once again. 

A different final pairing to the past few years, but a rivalry that definitely came to the fore in 2019 after Galway’s league final win and Kilkenny’s revenge victory 11 weeks later in their championship opener, it’s a reunion Meighan is relishing. 

“We’ve always had a battle with Galway,” she grins. “It’s always been there. It’s tit for tat, you never know who’s going to come out on top but it’s always a good free-flowing match. We always get to hurl against each other, so we’re excited.”

With a slightly somber mood in the county after the hurlers’ decider loss to Tipperary, Farrell is hoping her side can lift things. 

She one of the 85,000 at HQ a few weeks back and praises her county for doing so well this year, but realises the spotlight is now on her side.

Over to ye, so. 

“Hopefully, to bring something back to Kilkenny anyway would be great.”

That, it would.

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WHEN HIS EIGHT-month old baby, PhD studies, lecturing job and playing career with the All-Ireland club champions are factored into the equation, it’s a wonder Michael Fennelly has any spare time on his hands – let alone enough to take on the Offaly senior hurling job.

Michael Fennelly at his unveiling as the new Offaly senior hurling manager at the GAA Faithful Fields Offaly Centre of Excellence.

Source: David Fitzgerald/SPORTSFILE

The eight-time All-Ireland winner was introduced to the media at the Faithful Fields training centre yesterday and he spoke at length about what led to him taking charge of a county that have suffered a worrying dip in fortunes over the past few seasons.

He only retired from Kilkenny duties at the end of the 2017 season after an injury-ravaged end to his career. At 34 he is still young to be the manager of a senior side, even if Offaly will begin life under Fennelly in the Christy Ring Cup – hurling’s third tier – next season.

The Ballyhale native admitted that when he was first sounded out by the Offaly county board, his interest levels were not high.

“I suppose at first I wasn’t really in that position I thought because I was doing a PhD and I had other bits and pieces going on and I was still playing club,” he said.

But then that night I couldn’t sleep thinking about it. I was thinking about the backroom team and what I’d do. I said I’d meet the lads either way and see what their vision was and what their direction was.”

Fennelly’s backroom team has yet to be confirmed, but it will include an Offaly native “who has their finger on the pulse in terms of the knowledge of hurlers”. He’ll also bring in an experienced lieutenant from Kilkenny who’ll give observations “in terms of what I am doing well and what I’m not doing well.”

“A mixture of Offaly, maybe a bit of Kilkenny and maybe another person from another county,” he said.

It is my first year going into management and I will make a lot of mistakes. I suppose as someone said lately, if you are making mistakes – make them early and learn from the past. So that’s the way I’m looking at things.

“But I’m very open minded, I’m going to bring hopefully a bit of experience as well into this setup because that will be needed.”

He’s had other offers and says he came close to taking on the Carlow camogie side last year.

“I want to work with a group of players who want to achieve what they can and to get the most out of them in every component of the game,” he explained.

“I’ve never really focused on looking for the best team, or looked for the highest level of competition, if you get a group of players that are willing to go players, for me, that’s satisfaction and helping people to achieve their potential.”

Michael Fennelly speaks to journalists during his unveiling.

Source: David Fitzgerald/SPORTSFILE

Fennelly spoke with the county board about “a couple of things that happened” in the county over the past few years and outlined his vision for the role. Despite having a young family at home and his part-time doctorate studies in leadership and coaching at Maynooth University, Fennelly was up for the challenge.

“The PhD is probably the big thing. And I have an eight-month-old at home. I was thinking to myself, next year will I take it a bit easy, focus on that, bit of lecturing as well.

“So I was busy enough as it is. But I love challenges, I love the sporting and the coaching side of it, talking to different people about it. My partner is Anthony Cunningham in a kind of leadership business that we have.

“I love talking to him about the whole Roscommon thing and meeting other managers. I’d know John Meyler down in Cork as well. So it came across the table to me and lit a fire in me and I suppose I couldn’t quench it, that was the thing.

“That’s really where it’s at. I got offered one or two other jobs as well but distance was a problem. They were probably not what I wanted either, so it just came around and I started liking the idea of it more and more.”

He’s been preparing for this moment since 2012, when a 27-year-old Fennelly left his job with Ulster Bank to study a masters in sports performance at UL.

He’s been lecturing at Limerick IT’s Thurles campus in sports science since 2014 where his current modules include sports nutrition, coaching and injuries.

Michael Fennelly in action against Jamie Barron during his playing days.

Source: Donall Farmer/INPHO

Fennelly’s thirst for knowledge was evident when he took up a three-month internship with AFL side Sydney Swans in December 2013. Last season he worked under Cian O’Neill as performance coach with the Kildare footballers.

He is also a business partner with Roscommon football boss Anthony Cunningham. In 2016 the pair established Coachfinder – a company that provides an extensive database of qualified coaches for clubs and counties. They also deliver leadership workshops to companies in the corporate world.

Around 2015, Fennelly started to taking notes around coaching and management with a view to eventually taking up a sideline role.

“It’s something I’ve been looking at for the last four or five years, observing obviously Brian Cody, obviously we had Henry Shefflin in our club, but it’s something I’ve always been looking at,” he explained.

I have a book at home and I’m constantly taking down notes and reading things. When I was 30, I was reading stuff on management and coaching and I had to stop myself because I was a player that time.

“I had to focus on myself as a player and get back to making sure I was performing at my best instead of looking at the whole coaching and managerial side of things.”

But Fennelly is keen to stress that he’s his own man. While he will certainly draw on his experiences of working under Cody, Fennelly has plenty of other strings to his bow.

“Probably the best manager of all time. I’m not Brian Cody and I don’t want to be like Brian Cody, but a lot of things he did I would have obviously observed and taken in and wondered why he did this or that.

Fennelly shakes hands with Brian Cody after the 2016 Leinster final.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

“It was innate, I was always looking at that and those things whereas other players wouldn’t have looked at that at all. It’s probably a passion I’ve always had. My father was a manager as well, he was a coach and I would have had him when I was younger as well so there was always that managerial head in the family.”

The appointment of Fennelly provided a much-needed boost to Offaly hurling circles but the hard work starts now as he bids to drag the county off the floor.

Having operated under one of hurling’s greatest minds in Cody for his entire Kilkenny career, it’s no surprise Fennelly is following former Cats team-mates David Herity and Eddie Brennan into inter-county management.

Fennelly captained Kilkenny to the four-in-a-row in 2009, won Hurler of the Year in 2011 and will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest midfielders the game has seen.

Fennelly celebrates a score during his playing days.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

He’ll have to draw on all his experience to rebuild the confidence of the Offaly players.

“For whatever reason things have gone obviously a bit downhill over the last couple of years but I think there’s still a good cohort in there. There’s massive respect from Kilkenny people about Offaly and the brand of hurling that they play.”

The early appointment of Fennelly means he’ll have time to observe the knock-out stages of the Offaly SHC, while he has access to the county board’s extensive library of video footage from the games earlier this season.

“I’m going to be sitting at home a good bit watching these games as well as being up Sunday at one of the games. I’ll be up and down, you’ve the U20 championship as well in October, might keep an eye on that as well.

“The more knowledge I get the better and the more I get to see these players the better. So yeah there’s a lot of video watching or analysis to do for me over the coming weeks.”

The only way is up.

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THE OUTPOUR OF emotion afterwards showed just how much it meant. 

Galway captain Sarah Dervan.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

There were tears — of joy — cheers and warm embraces all around as Galway finally banished their All-Ireland semi-final demons and booked their Croke Park decider spot three weeks ago. 

In the process, Cathal Murray’s Tribeswomen dethroned Cork, bringing the Rebels’ drive for three in-a-row to an immediate halt at the Gaelic Grounds. 

A day that Galway captain Sarah Dervan will never forget after so many years of falling at the final hurdle.

“I looked at my mother, she was in bits,” she laughs now, hoping that today will be another one of those days to remember, with Galway contesting both the senior and intermediate deciders at Croke Park. “I was like, ‘Will you pull yourself together, woman!’

“It was so tense of a game, it could have went either way up until the last minute. I think Mam actually left [the stand] three or four minutes before it was over. She couldn’t handle any more, she wasn’t able for it.

“Look, we’ve been trying to get past the semi-final stage for the last number of years and it was just brilliant to finally get there. To say, ‘We are up there, we are good enough.’”

The star defender is keen not to dwell on it too much, stressing time and time again that the job is nowhere near done. But they’ll definitely take a whole lot from that one as they prepare to face 2016 champions, and 2017 and 2018 runners-up, Kilkenny in the decider.

Look, it’s not an achievement getting to Croke Park for All-Ireland final day… it’s only an achievement if you win. 

“We have a massive task ahead of us in Kilkenny. This is their fourth final in-a-row so it’s going to be a challenge. We know we have to improve. We can’t just settle on the Cork game, we know we have areas that we need to look at and improve on.”

Self-belief was absolutely massive ahead of that hard-fought last four battle, and no doubt, the same will apply ahead of today’s big 4pm throw-in.

Some of that belief and confidence surely came from their league final win over the Cats at HQ in March, too, as Galway ended their silverware drought and lifting their first national title since 2015.

That day, they brought another powerful dominance to a conclusion, pulling the curtain down on Kilkenny’s four in-row-bid. Afterwards, Sarsfields defender Tara Kenny spoke brilliantly about being mentally stronger this year.

Dervan and her side with the league crown.

Source: James Crombie/INPHO

“People have looked at us sometimes nearly like we’re spoofers or bluffers but we’ve worked hard this year and we’ll keep the head down now,” she said.

And Dervan is well aware of how important it was for them to shake off those unwanted tags and show their true character on the biggest stage when it mattered most. They’ve certainly done so this year between the league final win, their All-Ireland final four success and much more.

“It’s massive,” she says. “It’s testament to our management team, what they’ve done with us and the belief system they’ve put into us as players.

They trust us, believe in us and they way they can manage and coach us is unbelievable. Look, we’re hoping we can replicate all that belief again the next day.

Cathal Murray’s name is one that comes up time and time again in conversation with the Galway camógs. He’s over both teams, with the Connacht county hoping to repeat the history of 2013, when Tony Ward steered the intermediates and seniors to All-Ireland glory on the same day. 

There’s five survivors from the 2013 senior team and six, she reckons, from the intermediates, with many coming through and forming the back bone of the 2019 charge. 11 girls now double up, and tog out for both sides.

The two panels train together under Murray, and there’s huge value in that. 

It’s great,” Dervan continues. “Our management team don’t leave any stone unturned for us. They put their heart and soul into it, and we’re feeding off that.

“I’m delighted for the intermediates. They came up against a stiff challenge in Tipperary [in the semi-final] and it was great that they started the day off on a good note for us. 

“It was a bit of a shame that we couldn’t go. I was on Twitter and listening to Galway Bay FM seeing what was going on. I was like, ‘Oh my God,’ it was saying goal and I was like, ‘Agh, for who, tell me!’

“We’ve all grown very close and we all know each other so well now. It’s just brilliant that nobody’s left out.”

For 31-year-old Dervan, camogie has always been a constant, and a way of life in her family. A four-time All-Star herself, her father Jackie won a Celtic Cross with Galway in 1980 and her brothers Cathal and Conor have both donned the maroon at senior level.

Kilkenny’s Ann Dalton consoles Dervan after last year’s All-Ireland semi-final.

Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO

She’s one of the most consistent defenders in the country now, of course, but that didn’t just happen. Her breakthrough wasn’t exactly a straightforward one, she found it hard to make the cut in her early 20s.

Her college situation may not have helped in that sense. Dervan went to UL and played camogie there at first, but then things changed.

“I played first year and second year. I won an Ashbourne and we won Freshers. Then I decided…”

She stops to laugh, and then explains why she was absent for two more years.

“This is awful soppy I suppose but you know, UL take the camogie very, very seriously and they trained all Christmas and all winter.

I’m an awful home bird, I would always come home during the week and every weekend at college and I probably couldn’t handle not being able to come home, and coming back up at Christmas and that. I just said it wasn’t for me. 

“Look, UL are a fantastic camogie college and I thoroughly enjoyed my first year and second year but just like that, I decided not to play.”

With that brought opportunity, though, and more time for her beloved club, Mullagh, who mean the absolute world to Dervan.

Sure, my club are my everything,” she smiles. “Mullagh have been extremely good to me, they’ve always picked me up when I’m down. They always drive me on. They have massive belief in me.

“I’ll be always forever grateful for them no matter what. No matter what went wrong with county, they were there waiting for you, to pick you up and drive you on again… it’s brilliant.”

It’s where you start, it’s where you finish up; and Dervan will always have a special place in her heart for the club, and parish, in the south-east of the county.

With intermediate captain Laura Ward.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

It’s a huge day for Galway today with two teams gunning for glory in the capital, and the fact that Tim Rabbitt’s ladies footballers are also in an All-Ireland final next Sunday just adds to it all.

With Dervan friendly with their captain, Tracey Leonard, they’ll be hoping the county can take three cups home to winter in the West.

And the buzz around the county at the minute says it all.

“It’s brilliant,” Dervan concludes. “I’d know Tracey, she’s a lovely girl and her dedication to it is just unbelievable.

“It’s massive to have the three ladies teams in Croke Park. There is a massive buzz but it’s important that we block a lot of it out and focus on these 60 minutes. They’re the most important 60 minutes of our lives so that’s all that matters at the end of the day. 

“Look, it’s a big day. It’s great to have the two teams in it [tomorrow]. It’s brilliant to get to Croke Park but you have to win in Croke Park.”

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BY THE TIME Sinéad Millea came into the Kilkenny senior camogie panel, the county was coming to the end of one of the longest winning runs in the history of the sport.

Sinéad Millea in action for Kilkenny in the 1999 All-Ireland final.

Source: Donna McBride/INPHO

It was 1991, and the Cats were six-in-a-row All-Ireland champions. By the end of the year, they would pick up their seventh crown on the bounce. They were queens of all they surveyed.

If the coverage of camogie is just starting to pick up momentum now, it was almost invisible during the early 90s. In the absence of social media, newspapers and rare television appearances were all that could be relied upon to create awareness of the games.

And yet, Millea knew all about the Kilkenny dynasty and the star twins Ann and Angela Downey when she was in primary school. Today’s 20×20 mantra of ‘Can’t See It Can’t Be It’ was something she could testify to before it ever became a promotional slogan for women’s sport.

“Our local school organised for us to go to the camogie All-Irelands,” Millea tells The42 as she recalls those glory days for the black and amber.

You went up and you just wanted to be Angela Downey. You just wanted to do all the things she did. It was fantastic.”

Millea comes from strong hurling stock. Growing up, there were several matches in her back garden where both of her parents would play in goals while Millea and her sister Tracy played outfield.

Her father Joe won an All-Ireland medal in 1969, playing on a Kilkenny team that was captained by Eddie Keher.

And those garden games attracted some high-profile local talent including Kilkenny greats such as Denis Byrne. The girls were much younger than the other players on the field, and bruises were guaranteed.

“We gave as good as we got,” says Millea thinking back on those days.

“Dad would be in goals and you’d be belting [the ball] at him. Ah look, happy times and you kind of honed your skills in the back garden.”

Millea enjoyed plenty of success with the Kilkenny minors, and by the time she was 15, she was promoted to the senior squad along with Tracy.

Tracy and Sinéad Millea joined the Kilkenny senior squad in 1991.

Source: Donna McBride/INPHO

After years of looking on at Kilkenny’s All-Ireland winning heroes, she was now sharing a dressing room with them.

“They were always very kind and always gave great guidance and advice. Initially when you came in, you were in awe. You’re going up to Croke Park and seeing all these brilliant players, and suddenly you’re in the dressing room.

“So there was a bit of awe but you got used to it and you wanted to just train as hard as you could.”

By the time Millea arrived onto the panel, the Downey sisters were already established Kilkenny stalwarts. Ann was a midfielder with a big engine, while Angela was a lethal forward who punished defences. She’s arguably the greatest player to ever play camogie.

The pair were at the coalface of the county’s ongoing success, implementing high standards at training that made all those achievements possible.

No quarters were given or taken.

“They were the standard-bearers in every sense of the word,” says Millea about her memories of training with the Downeys.

“At every training session, you have the banter and the craic. But then once training starts, training started. And you did everything as if you’d be doing it at match pace.

“They’d be urging people on and if you were dragging your backside at training, they’d give you a reminder,” she laughs.

And if you were marking Angela or Ann, you came off with bruises and you knew about it. And that transferred into a match situation.”

And the Downeys didn’t just settle for collective training either. They trained regularly on their own, going to lengths that no-one else was even contemplating at the time.

They were going to the gym and doing weights and that was absolutely unheard of back then,” Millea explains.

“They were ahead of their time. They’d meet at half-six or seven o’clock in the morning and go to the gym in Hotel Kilkenny and work out.

They were working on strength and conditioning stuff before any of that came down the line. It was in the noughties and towards the end of my playing career that gym sessions started taking off. The game has evolved seriously since then.

“They were trying to get the best out of themselves and they were doing that little extra themselves as well the collective training.”

The Downeys finished up their respective inter-county careers with a combined 24 All-Ireland medals. It was an incredible feat that transcended the sport of camogie.

Angela Downey unleashes a shot for Kilkenny in the 1995 All-Ireland final.

Source: © INPHO

Angela announced her retirement from Kilkenny in 1995 with Ann subsequently departing the scene later in that decade.

But just as Millea was coming into a winning environment, the gravy train stopped for Kilkenny. One more All-Ireland title followed three years after the 1991 triumph, with Ann Downey captaining the team to glory.

But the years that followed brought them down a barren path.

Kilkenny would have to wait another 22 years to lift the O’Duffy Cup again. They suffered six All-Ireland final defeats during that period just to compound their struggles.

Millea has always appreciated the huge honour that comes with representing her county, but there were times when it was hard to serve for Kilkenny when things just weren’t clicking.

“It’s always easy to keep playing when you’re dining at the top table,” she says.

“I really admire players who come from counties that mightn’t be always competing at semi-final stage. They stick with it for years and years and they might not ever get the opportunity to ever get to an All-Ireland final.

“To have won in 1994 and not get back to an All-Ireland until 1999. And 2001 was the last time I played in an All-Ireland final.”

With those years of hardship in the rear view mirror, Kilkenny’s graph is on the way up again.

Angela and Ann Downey celebrate with the players after the 2016 All-Ireland final.

Source: Tommy Dickson/INPHO

And that first senior All-Ireland camogie title in 22 years was achieved under the tutelage of some familiar faces.

The sight of the Downeys being hoisted by the victorious Kilkenny players after halting Cork’s three-in-a-row bid in 2016 is an enduring image.

When Ann Downey first took charge as manager in 2015 she brought her sister on board, while also drafting the services of their former teammate Breda Holmes.

Millea, who played in the forwards with Angela Downey and Holmes during her Kilkenny days, knows exactly how beneficial it is to have those former greats on your side.

Just Angela being on the line and the experience that she has, especially with the forwards. Just knowing you have someone like Angela Downey shouting you on is very motivating for the girls. She just has such a presence.

“You grow a few inches taller. 

“And Angela and Breda Holmes had a great relationship in the forwards when they played together. They had a great understanding of each other. I think they work really well as a unit.”

The Downey siblings shared a telepathic relationship whenever they played together.

From midfield, Ann would instinctively know which direction her sister was running in and delivered the ball accordingly to set-up a score. The connection worked the opposite way as well, with Angela reading her sister’s movement to get on the end of a pass.

Either way, once possession was in Angela’s hands, the hard work was done.

“Angela had a fierce blast of speed and she was doing weights as well so no-one could beat her over a 15-metre dash,” says Millea.

She was out in front and there was just consternation in defence when she got the ball. The crowd would even hum. You just anticipated that if Angela got it, she was going to do something.”

That intuitive understanding between the sisters continues to shine through in their new roles with Kilkenny.

As manager of the team, everyone in the backroom team knows that Ann will have the final say on every call. Her authority is never questioned.

But Angela is always there in the background, offering advice and helping her sister control her emotions whenever her assistance is needed.

“Angela probably wouldn’t be as vociferous as Ann,” says Millea. “If something needs to be said, Ann will be the one to talk and Angela would be a little bit quieter. 

“Now when it comes to motivating a player, Angela becomes a different person. I can see why Ann would love to have Angela with her. I think Angela calms Ann down as well.

She knows what to say to Ann. As I say, they’re extremely close. If she needs to tell Ann to cop on, she will and Ann will take it from Angela because she knows she’ll be nothing but honest with her.”

Kilkenny’s royal sisters are still at the helm with the senior camogie team, and will lead them into another All-Ireland final today against reigning National League champions Galway.

Kilkenny and Galway will square off for the O’Duffy Cup later this afternoon.

Source: Ryan Byrne/INPHO

It’s a fourth consecutive All-Ireland final appearance for the Cats, with just one win from the previous three deciders.

Another loss is not an option for such a camogie stronghold. Millea has two All-Ireland medals to reflect on from her career, but she knows how easy it is for a county to slip into a losing streak.

“I think Kilkenny should do it but they will have to match the intensity Galway brought to their semi-final against Cork. They were relentless the way they went attack after attack. They’re strong physical women as well and they’re not going to be easily pushed off the ball.

“There’ll be very little in it. Kilkenny have been in the last three All-Irelands and to have lost by such narrow margins, the hurt of last year’s defeat in particular is still there. We need to win this one, we can’t lose three-in-a-row.”

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