Missing players ‘gives other girls a chance’

LAURA HOGAN and her Tinahely clubmates were due to meet Old Leighlin in the final fo the Leinster intermediate football championship the weekend before last. Unfortunately, due to a decree from the GAA and LGFA on October 5, all club matches at regional, provincial, and national level were postponed for the foreseeable. Therefore, Tinahely – who won their sixth consecutive county title in 2020 – were made to wait before getting to contest for a Leinster crown. This was the second consecutive such occasion on which a provincial final involving Tinahely has been delayed, however.

A little bit over a year ago, Tinahely’s intermediate championship final against Offaly’s Naomh Ciarán was postponed in bizarre circumstances. Old Leighlin, who had won the Junior championship in 2018 and were set to play in the junior final the same weekend as the intermediate decider, were expelled from the competition owing to a rule stipulating that the reigning champions of one grade cannot compete in that same grade the following year. Old Leighlin lodged an appeal against the decision, leading to the postponement of Tinahely vs Naomh Ciarán. The fiasco was eventually resolved, ultimately leading to Naomh Ciarán vs Old Leighlin in a revised intermediate semi-final which the former won to set up the original final,

That ironic moment of déjà vu could have dampened the mood of that club contingent when they hooked up with the county panel a couple of weeks ago. That wasn’t to be the case for Hogan and co., who were conditioned to deal with the scheduling conflict, while also well in the knowledge that they would get their crack at the provincial final, instead using the disappointment as fuel for their county’s national bid which has been somewhat hindered by a loss of personnel.

‘After last year, we are probably used to postponements,’ Hogan joked.

‘Obviously, we would’ve liked that game to go ahead, because we were preparing really well for it and we felt that we had a really good chance, but, sure look it, the game is only postponed, not cancelled.

‘We still have that to look forward to. It’s nice to get in with the inter-county and focus on that and park Tinahely, and not have to try and balance the two. It’s an uncontrollable, I suppose, and there’s no point in stressing out over it.’

Now that she and her clubmates have returned to the Wicklow team that Hogan herself captains, they are in the midst of preparations for this Sunday’s All-Ireland junior football championship opener against Carlow. Theirs are preparations that have been somewhat disrupted by the withdrawals of the likes of Jackie Kinch, Kim Connors, Lorna Fusciardi, and Aimee Maher due to reasons ranging from work commitments, to personal grounds, and to the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.

While the loss of such significant talent represents an obstacle that the team will have to overcome, Hogan has insisted that it has given some of the fringe players, who may have been on the outskirts of the Wicklow starting XV earlier in the season, a hunger to take the opportunity that has presented itself.

‘I actually think it has had very little impact on the group, to be honest with you. Everyone is in good spirits. Everyone is very positive.

‘Everyone is training as good as ever. It’s not that you would not miss the girls that haven’t joined the panel, but the girls who are there are going to hell for leather. It gives other girls a chance. We were missing girls at the start of the year that we now have. I think it has kind of balanced itself out, to be honest with you.’

It all makes for quite the fascinating prospect when Wicklow host Carlow this Sunday in the All-Ireland junior championship. On the one hand, it is a Wicklow team that will have a bit of an unpredictable feel to it because of the loss of personnel, while Carlow are a team not to be underestimated, having been on the cusp of gaining promotion from division four of the national league before lockdown earlier this year. Hogan is well aware of the task at hand, and is not underestimating their opponents.

‘(I am expecting) a tight game, I would say. They will be very tight at the back. We both will be championship rusty, I suppose. It will be very tight, it will be about who makes the most mistakes and who works the hardest. Both of our preparations have been short.’