CAMOGIE ROLE MODEL
Storey’s a true Wexford inspiration DUBLIN v WEXFORD
ROYALS ARE READY: Sean Brennan with the Delaney Cup; celebrating with Ronan Ryan following Meath’s Tailteann Cup victory last summer it's probably the best thing that could have happened to me because I don't think I would have been too good of an outfield player so it's kind of a blessing in disguise really.
“After two years, they came back and said, ‘Listen, it's worked itself out'. I wasn't getting irregular arrhythmias in it so, touch wood, it's been all good to this day.”
Expected
He was promoted to the Meath senior team sooner than might have been expected as the fallout following last year's Leinster quarterfinal defeat to Offaly, which landed them in the Tailteann Cup, led to a shake-up in team selection and he was dropped into the side for the opening game against Tipperary.
“To be honest, I didn’t see it coming at all. I was more or less surprised. I think I got told maybe a week or 10 days beforehand that I was playing so it felt like the longest week or 10 days ever waiting for it to come around but I didn’t see it coming.
“I kind of just accepted it with open arms and just said, ‘Listen, just go at it with no regrets, they obviously have seen something in me to give me the shout'. So kind of never looked back since then and thoroughly enjoying it.”
This Sunday brings his first exposure to Dublin, the opposition that all Meath footballers are measured against but who they haven't beaten in 14 years.
“I was there in 2010 but unfortunately there hasn't been any more days like that since.
“You'd like to think with the current crop we have that the next four or five years, you don't know where that could take us.”
THERE is a lot to sink your teeth into when talking about one of the most enduring, remarkable figures of camogie.
Ciara Storey has stuck with Wexford through the leanest of times, the worst of which arrived in a Division 1 League outing against Galway in 2019, when they could field only 13 players and were pummelled by 45 points, with the Tribeswomen even withdrawing two players at half-time.
This was just three years after the Yellowbellies had appeared in an All-Ireland semi-final. It was only seven since they had completed the three-in-a-row, with the teenage Storey having broken through in those halcyon days.
The daughter of former AllIreland-winning skipper Martin, she valued the purple and gold but after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis eight years ago, no one would have batted an eyelid had she walked away.
Storey kept her shoulder firmly pressed to the wheel, making some lifestyle modifications for a disease that has no cure.
She remained a leader in word and deed.
Then there is the tattoo. A half crescent moon and star, situated on her right quad.
“The meaning is don't go on holidays with the Leacys. They'll cod ya,” details Storey, guffawing and then elucidating.
“Me, Úna Leacy, Mary Leacy and Niamh O'Connor went away to Thailand and Australia for six or eight weeks. I'd say we weren't in Thailand six hours, we'd a few of the buckets in, and it was Mary's great idea to get a tattoo. Mary was on about getting a barbed wire tattoo around her leg. We went into this place on Khao San Road in Bangkok. Mary was looking them up and it was taking too long and I just said, ‘I'll go first.'
Resolute
“We went on and had a good night. We got up the next morning and I was like, ‘What tattoo did everybody else get?' And they were like, ‘Oh no Ciara, you were the only one got one.' So I was codded!” It was a rare misstep by the resolute defender, who celebrated her 34th birthday in January.
Returning to the Very Camogie League Division 1B final against Dublin at SETU Carlow tomorrow, 12 months after a defeat to subsequent All-Ireland finalists Waterford, feels good.
Wexford did win what was then the Division 2 title in 2022 but the restructuring of the divisions with only six teams making the top tier left them where they were, albeit in deeper waters.
They have been competitive though, with Colin Sunderland building on the gradual improvements overseen by Kevin Tattan.
Notably, a number of talented and experienced operators have returned to the fold, including another who got a taste of the golden age, Storey's clubmate Shelley Kehoe.
It isn't the headline act Storey got used to, coming on as a sub in 2010 to win her first All-Ireland with that majestic team of Kate Kelly, Ursula Jacob, Mags D'Arcy and the aforementioned Leacy siblings but it is due reward for her longevity and obduracy.
“I suppose I just wasn't ready to give it up just yet. I'm still under the illusion that I still have something to offer. “I worked
so hard to try and make the team. Shelley and myself came up through the intermediate. I loved the intermediate. We worked so hard to make it to senior and by the time I got to get the jersey, I wasn't ready to give it up quickly.
Days
“And you can't always be there for the good days. Everybody wants to be there for the good days. But sure to get back to the good days, you have to go through the bad ones.”
You wonder if the bloody mindedness is part of her make-up or a response to discovering she had MS?
“I’m going to say it’s probably a little bit of both. I think I would be pretty determined anyway but it’s the fact I’m so well. If I wasn’t as well, I wouldn’t be able to keep playing. The fact I was playing camogie so much and so active before I was diagnosed, was a big help. There were only a few things I had to change to my lifestyle.
“Training consistent, eating properly, looking after yourself — it was mirrored by what you'd do if you had MS. And then, doing that at the higher level of inter-county. Not drinking probably stings a bit! But you're allowed a sip every now and then. But the lifestyle suits.”