Irish Daily Star - Inside Sport
THE DUBS ARE COOKING UP A SPECIAL YEAR
IT MIgHT only be the beginning of April, but Dublin footballer leah Caffrey has already packed a massive amount into 2023.
In addition to starting all seven games in the Dubs’ lidl
National Football league Division 1 campaign, Caffrey has spent the last 12 weeks on a Certificate Course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, Co. Cork.
Whereas Dublin rounded off their NFl journey last Saturday with a convincing victory over Waterford, the past week saw Caffrey bringing the curtain down on her time in Ballymaloe.
While she will soon be returning to collective training on a more regular basis, it won’t be until April 30 that Dublin’s Tg4 leinster Senior Football Championship odyssey begins in earnest against All-Ireland champions Meath.
Not many of the Dublin panel have been based outside of the county for an extended period
(her former team-mate Noelle Healy’s own spell on the leeside in 2019 being an obvious exception), but former DCu student Caffrey was more than happy to do so for something she feels passionately about.
“I suppose it’s the norm for anybody from any other county really.
“For me, it has been great. I’ve been able to do my own bit of training myself and then I’d be back on the weekends.
“It’s great that the management have been so supportive of the decision to do the course.
Worked
“It has worked out well.
“I’m looking forward though to getting back out with the girls full-time,” said Caffrey, who featured in the manifesto video for the lgFA’s new
‘Take a Second’ campaign, which was filmed at her home club Na Fianna in Dublin.
“It’s definitely a change of pace.
“It was just a career decision that I made and I’ve always wanted to do the course.
“When the opportunity came around, I was very glad and lucky that the management were just there to support me as well with it.”
The four-week gap to their provincial opener with the Royals will offer Dublin ample opportunity to assess what proved to be a largely positive league overall.
Despite the presence of several new faces within the set-up, Caffrey and her team-mates secured third spot in Division 1, with five wins from seven games.
Defeats to galway and Kerry meant a league final place was out of reach going into last weekend’s clash at home to Waterford, but Caffrey believes they can absorb the lessons from these reversals.
Great
“It’s great to have a bit of time now just to recap on how the league went and reflect on what we can learn from the games.
“Put a bit of time into those things now and be ready for the games once they come.
“Happy with how the league went.
“There were obviously the two defeats, which we can learn from.
“Overall we’d be happy with how the league went and just looking to build on the positives, but also learn from the losses as well.”