CT Gaels and Tourlestrane’s Intermediate decider
IN what promises to be a thrilling double header of ladies finals in Tubbercurry on Saturday, the opening game sees CT Gaels and Tourlestrane take on each other in the Intermediate final, throw in 12:30pm.
The neighbouring clubs are hoping to gain the bragging rights. Kelly Hayes of CT Gaels said being in the final is a fantastic thing for the club.
She said: “It’s a really big deal to be in the final. When we started out this year that was out aim and there were times we were thinking that it wasn’t going to happen but we dug in, we’ve been training since January and we’ve put a lot of hard work in.”
Teammate Leah Gannon said the path to the final through the round robin stages was tough. “Every game you have to take it as it comes and just have to play our best in every game.”
CT Gaels are a team that have been impressing in recent times especially at underage and to be in the intermediate final is obviously massive for the south Sligo club.
“We have a really good structure at the moment and I think all of our teams are in finals this year.
“I’m not actually sure about the stats of who’s won so far but we have a really good structure at the moment and we will be a force to be reckoned with in the future,” Kelly added.
They are facing a strong Tourlestrane side who will be up for it on the day too.
Leah said: “They will be a tough team but we will definitely give it a good go and try our best and hopefully we will get the result.”
Kelly added that the team is quite young. “I suppose I’m the most seasoned but we have a very young team but they are playing to a really high level in school and like we mentioned we have a really good underage structure so we are young but yet there is still a lot of experience down through the team,” she added.
Kelly said going back to the start of the season it was all about getting to a county final. “That’s what it is all about. That’s why we took the boots out in January that’s what you want to get to at the end of the day.
“So we’re not just turning up, we will be going to give them a good battle.”
Leah, 19, added that clubs are faced with trying to keep girls playing football once they reach their late teens.
“It is a challenge because you’re at that kind of age when you’re not sure if you want to play football or be interested in any sport at all really because you’re going into college and things but everyone around Tubbercurry really loves GAA so it’s important to keep it up.”
Winning the final this weekend would be a huge boost to the team, Kelly added. “It would mean a lot it would be the icing on the cake on what has been a really good year. We already really happy with how we have performed and to win felt really good in the group stages and we were really proud. In some of them I think we weren’t expected to win and we did. So it would mean a lot.”
Coach Francis Mannion said it’s a great CT Gaels team that he is coaching. “It’s a fantastic side and it ranges from very young girls to girls that are more seasoned campaigned girls. It’s a super team and a pleasure to work with. We’ve been training since back in January and we’ve got a fantasitc manager in Liam Murray. It’s a long process but when knock-out stages came, the girls really shone.
“I suppose we wouldn’t have been one of the favourites at the start of the year but I don’t think we realised how big the win over Drumcliffe was. That would have been the defining moment in our season when we pushed on and won the next few games,” he added.
Also looking ahead to Saturday’s final is Tourlestrane manager David Bailey. He said the club went through a bit of a transition over the years and lost players to travelling and so forth but the team has reformed in the last 2 weeks and now have a panel of 30. He said: “It is shaping up well now for Saturday and things are going good.
“We had a lapse here for a number of years with a lot of players travelling but in the last 2 years the club has got together again and pulled it together.
“We have a panel of 30 ranging from 15 years upwards, I won’t say who the most senior are! Our captain is Shauna Henry and we have some great experience there with the likes of Katie Walsh.
“Our young players too have come in from U16, minor and senior county so there is a lot of good players coming though.”
Tourlestrane really impressed in the round robin stages and the manager praised the team for putting in so much effort.
“The girls in fairness have really knuckled down and are coming home from Dublin or wherever to train twice a week. The commitment they have is huge and it is great to see.”
In terms of CT Gaels, he said they know the team quite well. “I know Liam Murray and Francis Mannion and have good knowledge of their players. It will be nip and tuck and there won’t be many between us. With the senior lads too in the county final on Sunday at 4pm and the minors playing Tubbercurry/Cloonacool there is big excitement in the club,” he added.