Clubs and Societies Day on �The Concourse�. Any news of budding freshers to replenish the ranks? Professor Lee usually had the first word on potential panelists. Anyone who could hold a hurley, not to talk of use it properly, was usually drafted in, willingly or otherwise. I believe that we thought that all of our Christmases had come together when we heard that Galway Senior Olivia Broderick was in, and back were Bridget Kilgannon and Odelle Callaghan.
Having recruited the players, the next job was to find a manager. �The Horse� had trained us the previous year and had seen the potential � so how could we go wrong with such an animal at the helm? We had won the Ashbourne Shield the year before but with a strong panel, a strong leader and no expectation to do well from any other team in the competition, how could we go wrong? The shield days were no longer for the Galway Cinderellas � move over the Northern teams � here we come!
Training began and the league came and went � we didn�t do very well but we were focusing on the task at hand once the Christmas break came and went. Along with the training was the Annual �Song Contest� at which older players out did themselves once again.
Having beaten Mary Immaculate in the first round before Christmas, (this was the first year that all third level teams participated in Ashbourne) we faced a fancied Athlone side in the quarter-final. Having prepared well, we managed to beat them easily and a semi final place was booked with the dreaded UL. But the doubts started creeping in. Who was going to curb Fiona O�Driscoll? And that young first year from Kilkenny called Millea? How were we going to keep up with these Limerick ladies, most of whom were training to be PE teachers?
We arrived in Coleraine for the weekend and advanced narrowly to the final by 2 points after a titanic struggle with UL. We then faced the champions of the previous two years � UUJ. What had we to lose? Jordanstown were at the top and had everything to lose. On Sunday afternoon at approx. 3pm, UCG had won the Ashbourne Cup against all the odds and against all expectations. Scenes of absolute jubilation followed with various dances performed on the field. And how we celebrated for the following 3 months back in Galway�
Camogie has been very good to me. I have met many people, traveled the width and breadth of the country, won many accolades, but the Ashbourne is the one that I will keep closest to my heart. The memories will always linger � the muck and dirt, the stiff joints after Ashbourne weekend, frozen Dangan, the cruel winters, the noisy post final funtion and the post mortems.
Long may they last.
Moira McMahon. |