OWENS HAS COMEBACK ON AGENDA
@bailemg
NICOLE Owens couldn’t help but smile as she watched Rianna Jarrett’s wonderful performance for the Ireland women’s team in Tallaght on Tuesday night.
Not just because she used to play with the Wexford striker at under-age level, but also because Jarrett has had to battle back not from one, but three cruciate ligament injuries.
The Dublin footballer is currently on the sidelines after rupturing her cruciate in this year’s All-Ireland semi-final against Cork. And despite some arduous work, when she did 35 sessions, in an effort to make the decider against Galway, Owens had to be content with being a spectator as her team achieved three AllIreland titles in a row.
‘I remember those few days of mourning (after the injury),’ Owens explained as she was unveiled as a sporting ambassador for Trinity College. ‘Mourning sounds a bit dramatic, but that is what it kind of was. I was looking up everything about ACLs and came across an article with Rianna about how she has done it three times. And when she did it for the final time, she was able to say I can come back from this, I have done it twice before.’
As Owens acknowledges, ruptured cruciate ligaments are such a common injury, even more so in female sport, there are plenty of people to lean upon. And plenty to ask for advice during her long rehabilitation process. She has a return date in mind for next season, but wouldn’t divulge it yesterday, preferring to keep it to herself.
‘I have a date in my head that I’d like to be back for. There’s a standard return to play period of six to nine months and it tends to be closer to nine months, because of the nature of this sport.
‘But I am doing everything I can and have talked to a lot of other people, seeing what worked for them. Unfortunately, there are a few of the girls I can talk to about their experience.’
Owens concedes it was a little surreal watching Dublin clinch their third consecutive All-Ireland and not being able to influence things on the field.
‘I have been lucky enough in that it was my sixth All-Ireland final in a row, but I felt like a spectator. And watching it was frustrating because I know we can be a lot better. The conditions didn’t help, the weather was horrendous and with the rain, it was like watching Olympic skating sometimes. But we got there in the end.’
Dublin Ladies’ third All-Ireland in a row came just 24 hours after the men’s side made GAA history in securing their five-in-a-row.
With the last eight football All-Irelands going to the capital, it saw some bunch the women’s team in with their male counterparts and ask if Dublin’s dominance will ever end, but Owens insists that the gap isn’t that big in the Ladies’ game.
And even though Mayo’s Sarah Rowe suggested during the summer that Dublin will just dominate the Ladies’ game because of their resources, Owens doesn’t see it that way.
‘Our three-in-a-row is nothing compared to Cork, who have done five-in-a-row twice and it was only in 2016 they were winning their fifth in a row,’ she added.
‘From that end, it’s hard to turn around and say that Dublin have that many resources. I suppose we have been lucky in that I don’t think sentiment has swung against us, which is what has happened to the lads. Because we won the three-in-a-row after their five-in-a-row, it might have just got packaged together a bit.
‘I’m not going to underestimate the support we have had from our county board and sponsors, but we are still out there for three or four days a week, doing our sessions and learning year on year, exactly as Mayo and Cork are. I don’t think there’s a gap at all and next year, it will open up again.’
While the dominance of the male side in their province has led to the slow death of the Leinster football championship, the Ladies’ team have nobody to face them in their provincial championships next season. Owens says the players remain in the dark as to a solution.
‘Obviously in hurling, they moved Galway into Leinster, to make it more competitive. I don’t know what they can do. We have been joking about it, saying how bizarre it would be to play in a Connacht final,’ said Owens.
‘At the same time, we don’t want to be handed a Leinster title and don’t want to go into the All-Ireland series, not having played a competitive match. I don’t know what they are going to do.’