Neamh keen to help Red Hands hit heights again
NEAMH Woods’ journey in Gaelic football began much the same as any other girl who wanted to play football at the turn of the century. There was no ladies’ team in Drumragh, so she played on the boys’ team. Such was her pedigree — her father Seamus was a serial Championship winner with his club Carrickmore in the ‘70s — that she was among the best players on the team.
After Under-14 level, girls are not permitted on boys’ teams, but in the All-Ireland Feile in her last year, such was her standing among the team that she was designated to mark budding superstar Michael Murphy when they faced Glenswilly.
“It was like a baptism of fire as you might imagine. It is a bit of a claim to fame!” she laughed 14 years later as she prepares to captain Tyrone for their second attempt in a row to win the All-Ireland Intermediate Championship, against Meath tomorrow (Croke Park, 2pm, on TG4).
That particular age group had more than just Neamh showing promise and soon after, Drumragh added a ladies’ wing to their club. Most of the girls have stuck around and recently they got up into senior football in the county for the first time.
Back to matters national. Last year, Woods stood on the Croke Park turf and was helpless as the phenomenal Aishling Moloney produced a masterclass at full-forward for Tipperary and they took the Mary Quinn Cup home.
Despite her making her county debut back in 2006 as a 16-yearold, there was no chance she was going to leave things like that and almost as soon as they had left the dressing room, they were already thinking of how to go one further.
Now, they have a real chance against Meath, with the Royal girls having played in the league below the Red Hands over the spring. Gerry Moane’s side are rated as comfortable favourites.
“I would never have wanted to finish playing like that and I knew in our own team, I knew what was in us,” said Woods, a PE teacher in St Ciaran’s school in Ballygawley.
“I knew at that stage we were fully capable of playing senior inter-county football.
“A lot of us weren’t prepared to rest until we eventually got there again, because that’s where Tyrone ladies should be and really want to be and we are capable of being there.
“Last year, it was devastating being there after the final but quite soon after we began the next season and had three or four weeks off and it was great that everybody was back on board and really bought into it.”
Like other high achievers in this sport, she always seems to be coming or going from something. If it’s not Tyrone training, it’s Drumragh. If it’s not Drumragh, coaching the Under-16s and minors, it’s coaching every single ladies’ teams in St Ciaran’s. And then, of course, there are her netball commitments with Northern Ireland (below).
“I suppose I don’t know any different. I have always been busy and I have training every day of the week,” she said.
“I suppose in regards to strength and conditioning I have that in the SINI gym where we train in St Mary’s in Belfast and Eoin McNicholl takes charge of that.
“For me, Sarah Connolly (Tyrone physical trainer) and Eoin McNicholl were able to liaise. Particularly when you are at different stages in the competition, that one wasn’t doing something that was completely contradicting the other.
“But I manage both of them and the skills overlap and the fitness overlaps. One keeps you sharp and agile for the other so they complement each other. I suppose it is about getting that balance.”
Never before has the hardwood game been more spoken about in a Gaelic games context. Jason Sherlock’s work as a coach with the Dublin senior team is finally drawing the sort of attention it deserves, with the obvious crossover of skills in the modern version of Gaelic football.
As it is with basketball, it’s the same for netball, agrees Woods.
“The two sports are very similar, especially at this moment in time and you can learn a lot from that. The skills overlap, the spatial awareness, decision-making, all of that comes into any team sport and you are faced with the same problems,” she said.
When the final whistle blows in tomorrow’s Intermediate final, it will not be long before the Dublin team, with manager Mick Bohan, take the field for the main event.
While looking at the Dublin players, Woods may be tempted to recall the 2010 senior final against them, when she played centre-back and Tyrone’s stock was at its highest.
I asked why they have fallen out of that bracket and she explained: “Our management team of Niall Colton and Colm Donnelly of Dromore took us in 2009 and 2010.
“We won an Ulster Championship in 2009 and lost out on an All-Ireland title in 2010.
“Those two men put in a serious, serious effort, they really did. And the girls bought into it, we had a very small panel, I think we only had about 23, 24, whereas now we have nearly double that.
“If you hadn’t a successful year after reaching the heights of 2010, then all of a sudden it can work in two ways, you can respond positively or it can have a ripple effect.
“Unfortunately for us, through ‘12, ‘13 and ‘14 it did have a ripple effect, you were hoping to win a game or two to stay up in Division One and going out to the Ulster Championship just to compete, not necessarily going out to give your best in Ulster finals which we had done in the previous years.
“It got to a stage where I felt we simply didn’t have the best players in Tyrone playing for the county team and that’s the stage where we needed to regroup and get people back on board again.”
By and large, that has happened. Two winters ago, manager Moane went out and recruited former player and All-Star Sarah Connolly as their strength and conditioning coach and while that kind of work will always be a work in progress, there are signs they are getting to the pitch of what has become a game of unexpected physicality.
Last year, the All-Ireland ladies’ final drew the biggest crowd in Europe to any women’s sporting decider — 46,286 coming through the gates.
Woods was one of the early trailblazers, but girls don’t have to play with the boys anymore.
“They have so many avenues now,” said Woods.
“They start off at Under-8, it is promoted in primary schools, secondary schools, university and grassroots and there is such an emphasis put on all codes within the GAA.
“The attendances in Croke Park, they are down to the PR and media drive and I suppose it is like anything; to know those in Croke Park and those associated with ladies’ football, it is their responsibility to promote their sport and you want to do that in the most positive light.”
Tomorrow’s crunch Intermediate final clash will be another step on that road.