‘ No- one on our team wants to see the cup going to Marys’
ST. Mary’s will meet Eoghan Rua in the Intermediate final of this year’s Championship, and both sides are chomping at the bit, ready to go.
St. Mary’s, who are under new management this year, will have been aiming to go one step further than the disappointment of last year, when they were defeated in the final by Eastern Harps.
That hurt has driven Shane Breheny’s side on this year, and they will be hoping to put that hurt in the past.
“We’re looking forward to it. We’re third all year. The girls were there last year but they came up short so in fairness they’ve worked hard since March to get back to where they want to be,” said Shane Breheny.
“We know Eoghan Rua, we played them before in the group stages and we won by a goal so we know how tough it’s going to be. I suppose it’s a cliché but it’s a 50/ 50 game.”
Karen Moloney, a mainstay of the club says new management has freshened things up.
“It’s been great. There’s been a huge change and we’ve been used to having the same manager for a few years so it’s been great to get someone different. Change is good.
Breheny says his side will be hoping to make the most of it. “They’ve been there last year so they were very disappointed with that. They’ve worked very hard to get back to that. It’s about making the most of it now.”
Emma O’Connell says the support of the county board has been a big help: “It makes a big difference when you have that support there, especially when it comes from the county board. It’s hard for people like us to promote it but they have a bigger base on which they can promote it.”
Breheny says the ladies deserve the same amount of promotion as their male counterparts.
“I’ve been involved with both and you can see the effort put in by both is the exact same, the same commitment, same sacrifices, same weekends in. It’s great to see that and hopefully there will be a great crowd up there on the 17th for the final. In fairness to the county board here in Sligo it’s great to see that promotion of it. The one thing that’s impressed me was the huge effort put in by the ladies all year in the county, throughout the country. They put in huge effort and commitment so they deserve that promotion.”
Clubs in Sligo feel they are beginning to feel the benefits of the huge promotion behind the league. Similarly to St. Mary’s, Eoghan Rua’s club members feel it’s not before time that they’re getting the recognition they deserve.
“It’s the first time in a long time there’s been friends of mine genuinely interested watching the county game on the television. You only have to look at the turnout of people coming through the underage systems at Eoghan Rua. People are talking about their favourite player, that can only help,” said John Feeney.
Lorraine Tuffy says it’s been a positive year for ladies football.
“The fact that there’s county girls involved in the cul camps too does a lot for the young girls. For the kids to see that Katie Walsh on telly after being at the camps, she’s almost a celebrity. It’s been there for the boys always. When we were younger we didn’t have the same kind of inspirations, to have a face or a name to look up to and the young girls have it now. It’s great for the sport.”
Ahead of their meeting with Marys in the final, Tuffy says Eoghan Rua are ready to go.
“Excited, prepared, just can’t wait for it. We are confident because we’ve put the hard graft in for a long time now. We’re just looking forward to showcasing what we can do together. We sat down at the start of the year, and John was very serious saying we’re going to take this seriously. He said that there’s no point going into this tournament, be it the league or the championship without having your eyes firmly set on the final. When the league came back and that came to fruition it was testament to the work we put in. Now that we’re coming up to the Championship there’s not a member on that team that wants to let that cup go to St. Marys.”
And although Feeney admits the season has been somewhat dragged out, he feels his side are adequately prepared for the final.
“It has been really ( dragged out) because you’re looking for games to keep the momentum going. When you’re looking forward to a game there might be a case where it doesn’t go ahead. At the start of the year we set out to win a league and get to a championship final. We’re confident, our prep has been very good.
“In terms of training you have to work at training times that suit best for the most people. We have a couple of people who work away in Dublin and they’re travelling down at weekends so we have to facilitate them. We also have people that are working in the UK coming back and forth for training as well.
“We’re lucky in the fact that no- one got any serious injuries and the group that has been training all year has been there. We were lucky at the start of the year that a lot of younger players joined the panel and that added to training as well. It kept the numbers up.”