*Aisling Reidy. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
MIDFIELDER Aisling Reidy has been central to St Joseph Doora/Barefield’s run to a first ever senior ladies football championship final, with a fine collection of underage medals to her name, she’s determined to add a missing piece of silverware this weekend.
Already the holder of club titles at Intermediate and Junior A level, Aisling has benefitted from “a fantastic underage set-up” at St Joseph’s Doora/Barefield which saw her win titles at all grades. “We’re very lucky in Doora/Barefield that we had a fantastic underage set-up, it comes to the fore then when you haven’t won a senior championship so that is definitely the one we’re after”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, Aisling outlined, “It isn’t just this year that has got us into a county final, you have to give credit to all managers who have been with us the last few years, the ones who have dogged it out when we weren’t doing well, we won junior and then intermediate the next year so we were fortunate because intermediate can be a tough place to get out of which we know from the camogie.
“We were all so young when we won the intermediate, we were in secondary school and thought this was Doora/Barefield’s wave but it doesn’t happen like that, it has taken five years to get to a senior final, we knew we always had the potential but we lacked a bit of belief whereas I think this year we’ve taken it game by game, we’ve built in every performance and we know the talent that is in our group from one to twenty there isn’t a difference in any girl playing, we’ve a few girls in as well that didn’t play other years that hadn’t been playing and I think a bit of belief goes a very long way in ladies football, maybe that was the key to success, the lads have come in this year and there isn’t a thing they haven’t done for us, training is great, it is so organised and prepared, everyone is enjoying it and that is the main thing because you have to enjoy it to stick at it, we’ve really enjoyed this year”.
Reaching the league final where they lost to Sunday’s opponents Kilmurry Ibrickane was when belief started to grow, she recalled. “Getting to the league final was the start of it, everyone went off for the summer to do their different bits and bobs, when we came back and beat Kilmurry Ibrickane in the first round we knew that we had a tough group but we knew we could do it if we wanted to, Kilmihil then put us back in our box and to the bottom of the table but going back to Cross against a team in last year’s county final and beating them with quite a big scoreline definitely settled a lot of belief into us, we had a break and everything was going on. Coming up against the Banner, there was a lot of nerves and unknowns because they are the team setting the standard and they have set the bar on where you have to get to, coming up to then everyone knew what they had to do, they knew the challenge ahead, getting on top of them in the first few minutes we started to think that we could go on and beat the Banner, it has been building a while but every game has brought us on”.
Overcoming the five in a row chasing Banner Ladies in the semi-final “was huge, they’ve been great champions and have set the bar for everyone to get to, they were so gracious in defeat. There will be new county finalists and a new champion this year but you have to hand it to them because they have been great champions,” the twenty three year old stated.
After completing a business degree at the University of Limerick, working in the captive management department of AON Insurance in Dublin. “I’m up and down so the work from home is great, it is quite flexible,” she remarked. “There’s three of us that go up and down, myself, Maebh and Aisling, there’s a few of us in it but it can be tough, when it comes to a county final though you would go up and down every day if it would make a difference”.
For the last week, there has plenty of football talk on the commute to the capital, she admitted. “The last week most of the talk has been about football, it’s great, there is a great buzz around the place, when you go into shops people are saying it and you’re getting texts to say best of luck, people understand and as ladies football is becoming more popular people understand that it means a huge deal, it takes a lot to get to a senior county final and we’re there now so hopefully the support will come out on Sunday to back us”.
At midfield, Aisling was a vital pillar for Clare’s Division 3 National League success, kicking two points in their 1-6 1-4 win over Roscommon. Her loss during the championship was keenly felt as she spent the summer Stateside on a J1, a trip which allowed her to come back refreshed for the club. “It was a tough decision to go away for the summer but if I don’t go now I’ll never go, when the group of girls from college were going it was hard to say no but I think it was the break I needed, two months football free was great, I don’t think I’ve had that in a while so it was great and enjoyable but I came back hungrier for the club championship which was great”.
Losing the league final to Kilmurry Ibrickane on a free taking competition “was very tough,” she reflected. “There’s questions on whether it should be decided on frees but we were all glad to have it done on the day, a lot of us were in the midst of college exams and accountancy exams so it came at an awful time, it’s a tough way to lose but if we were to win on Sunday and win the championship we won’t worry too much about the league”.
Her father Mark is a selector with the senior side but Aisling is quick to point her mother Annette was previously involved, “I have to give a mention to Mam too, she has been involved for years, Dad came in this year, the kitchen table is football mad so I get a bit of a break when I go to Dublin, it is really special. My grand-dad (Jimmy McNamara) was so involved in the club and Gurteen, to be in a senior county final means so much to me but it means so much to them, that is what the club is really about, it is great to play with the county but when you’re playing with the club it is your family and friends, it definitely comes down to it but it is a football filled house”. She added, “It is a football mad house and club, everyone here is looking forward to it, we got on so well with the camogie last year so we’re trying to bring that momentum, we’re buzzing and we can’t wait, to win it would be more sweeter”.
Such is the level of excitement that Aisling is posing for photographs with young supporters and the Mayor of the Ennis Municipal District, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) in Gurteen. “These media nights are more for the younger girls, when we were growing up with the club being so new, a lot of our older girls were at the time playing with the Banner and other clubs so to have girls from Doora/Barefield see Doora/Barefield in a county final can only bring them on”.
Cllr Colleran Molloy may be to credit with helping Aisling to master the art of a ‘political answer’ as demonstrated when asked if she was going to return to the Clare squad next season, “we’ll get over Sunday first, celebrate hopefully and make decisions about that then”.
It’s a novel final for both clubs and to have Cusack Park as the venue is “absolutely super”, she said. “Ladies football has been growing and growing so it was going to come to the Park at some stage so to get it in this year in our first final and Kilmurry Ibrickane’s first final is super, it is where you want to play on the big day, we’re hoping for a big Doora/Barefield support”.
An expected strong support from Kilmurry Ibrickane who also contest the men’s final won’t faze The Parish, Aisling said as she pointed out, “There might not be many people left in Doora/Barefield either”.
