*Photograph: Joe Buckley
Colaiste Muire’s mid-January provincial decider in Killeedy GAA against local Limerick side Hazelwood College Dromcollogher in Killeedy GAA was a difficult pill to swallow.
With the sides drawing at the group stages, the Ennis school felt that a historic provincial Junior B crown was there for the taking but it certainly didn’t go anywhere near according to plan as Colaiste Muire were blitzed by four early goals that meant they found themselves languishing by a whopping 14 points by the turn of the second quarter.
True to form, they did rally and eventually managed to lower the arrears to just a goal (4-5 to 2-8) but it was of little consolation as their season had seemingly ended in heartbreaking circumstances.
Fortunately, that would prove more a plot twist than an end of Coláiste Muire’s Junior narrative however as an eleventh hour notification of a backdoor route through the All-Ireland series offered an unexpected lifeline that they have welcomingly grasped with both hands.
Two victories later and they are now preparing for a first ever All-Ireland Junior B Post-Primary Schools Camogie Final against Leinster champions Borris Vocational School (Carlow) which takes place in Abbeyleix GAA this Saturday at 2pm.
It’s a shot at redemption that joint-manager James Carmody feels has completely transformed the squad both on and off the field. “When I found out about the All-Ireland Quarter-Final, I went up and found the bulk of the girls on the Monday that we were due to play. Personally I didn’t have a huge desire to go trekking up to Antrim to play so I went to the girls to see what they wanted. They were the ones to say ‘sir this is an All-Ireland Quarter-Final, we’ve got to give it one last shot. The players have driven it ever since in terms of taking ownership of this team and as a coach, that’s brilliant to see. Even from organising sponsorship this week, they have done the fundraising and gone around to businesses and families and taking ownership of it”.
Time has passed since the Munster Final giving Carmody a chance to reflect on what exactly happened. “We were very confident going into it, possibly over-confident as we thought we knew our team really well but I really feel that we froze on the day. It’s tough going down to an opponent’s venue for a final with a home crowd but the reality is that we were stuck to the ground that day and as a coach on the line, I felt pretty powerless. When four goals go in, you’re kind of scrambling a bit to be honest and I had never really experienced that before. I’ve been involved in coaching at schools level for 20 years but I never felt as powerless as I did that day.
“We got them in at half-time and tried to get them to rally and dig in and to believe that we could turn this around. And in fairness to them, they fought really, really hard but ultimately came up short. Afterwards I really wanted to understand the mindset of why we couldn’t penetrate and break Hazelwood’s defence down so I asked the girls how they felt on the field and they said it was like constantly hitting a wall.
“We thought that was it, that we were out and felt utterly dejected but then we got late word of a backdoor in the All-Ireland series and I just decided that I never wanted to feel as powerless again. So that was the catalyst for change. We needed to tidy up our team so we made a few personnel changes and they have really helped us become a better team, both structurally and in terms of belief”.
Freed from the crippling burden of expectation that enveloped their provincial final experience, there was a far more refreshening focus when faced with their next big evaluation against Dublin side Dominican College at the penultimate stage of the All-ireland series in Na Fianna three weeks ago.
“I was nervous and I could also see that the girls were nervous. So when we had a pre-match chat before the game, you could tell that that nervousness was going to be a positive thing. Thinking back it actually wasn’t there for the Munster Final and that energy wasn’t there so when we hit the ground in that All-Ireland Semi-Final, everyone was bursting with energy and there was that attitude that if a goal went in, it didn’t matter as we were just going to get one back at the other end.
“So I think we’re battle-hardened now. They’re far more mentally stronger and assured in that if someone gets injured or we aren’t scoring, there’s someone else that can come in and make a real difference”.
As with the bulk of their previous six opponents along this rollercoaster ride at Under 16.5 level, Saturday’s opponents Borris Vocational School are yet another step into the unknown but that isn’t such a bad thing according to Inagh native Carmody who manages the team alongside fellow teacher Mark Sweeney.
“I think it will come down to the day. I feel that we are a different animal now. We have a style of play that is much more defined and more represents our character. We’re not really going to focus too much on Borris. Look, they scored 2-6 against a fairly robust Hazelwood defence so that’s good to know but I’m more interested in our girls working to our gameplan.
“We have a few ideas and patterns that we have been working on in the last two games and our work ethic has improved by about 100%. It’s not that it wasn’t there before but it’s a more meaningful work ethic now in all working together to get a result.
“There’s a collective mindset and approach which probably only came about as a result of playing those extra games in the All-ireland series. In Munster, we came through what we thought at the time was a tough group but relative to what we’ve played since, it was an easier group than we first thought.
“We hope that this journey will stand to the girls on Saturday because we know that they are very capable of winning, it’s just about demonstrating that on the field for one last big performance.”
Coláiste Muire Panel: Aoife Murphy (Clarecastle) (Captain); Maria Burke (Kilmaley), Emily Carmody (Kilmaley), Aimee Colleran (Crusheen), Ivanna Costelloe (Ballyea), Lauren Cusack (Clarecastle), Rachel Conneely (Clooney-Quin), Ciara Frawley (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), Kate Hayes (Kilmaley), Cliona Jones (Ruan), Kate Jones (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Sally Kelly (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Leilani Kent (Kilmaley), Saoirse Kent (Kilmaley), Katie King (Crusheen), Caoimhe McDonnell (Clooney-Quin), Tara Moroney (Ruan), Olivia Neylon (Kilmaley), Doireann Ni Bhraoin (Sixmilebridge), Ailis Ni Choileáin (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), Shauna O’Callaghan (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Eabha O’Driscoll (St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield), Addison O’Loughlin (Clarecastle), Molly Potter (Clarecastle), Ciara Punch (Ruan), Shauna Queally (Inagh-Kilnamona), Helena Ryan (Newmarket-on-Fergus), Grace Stafford (Sixmilebridge), Anna Taaffe (Tubber), Maeve Wall (Clooney-Quin)
