Dublin a team determined to succeed

Dublin a team determined to succeed

Sundays TG4 Ladies football final at Croke Park starting time
3.10pm, bring together a unique pairing Mayo who are making
their 5th final appearance in a row and Dublin who are making
their first appearance. The Mayo team are household names
in the world of sport as is their enigmatic manager Finbarr
Egan they have been there done that 3 times, but no doubt
they want to reach the top spot again. They have a huge motivating
factor and this one no doubt will be dedicated to their colleague
Aisling McGing who tragically lost her life in a car accident
in June, on the way to seeing her sisters Sharon and Michelle
play for their beloved Mayo last year, she was part of the
winning panel with her Co and with her club Carnacon, who
won the All-Ireland club title.

Mayo people will travel in their thousands to see their heroines
and will them to win their 4th title in 5 years. Dublin will
be home at headquarters and such is the interest in the capital
all the 50,000 tickets could be sold by Sunday. It is the
first time that Hill 16 will be opened for a Ladies final
and of course it will be the last for the “Hill” as we know
it. The spiritual home of the Dubs has an allocation of 10.000
tickets and it should be full on Sunday with Dublin Gaels
wanting to experience its unique atmosphere in its present
form which has seen many famous victories for the Dubs.

For ladies football in the capital this is their day of destiny.
How will they cope? This remains to be seen, but judging by
the enthusiasm of their Manager Mick Bohan their mentors,
Ann O’Mahony, Marjorie Ahern, Paul Gilheaney and David Cullen,
they are not there just to make up numbers and to be part
of the historic occasion. Their sponsor of a numbers of years,
Bernard Lynch of the Cuckoo’s Nest, in Tallaght is delighted
that the confidence he has shown in them has been rewarded.
Talk to the players they are exuding with confidence and they
have made huge sacrifices to bring themselves to this great
day. The Manger, Mick Bohan is a larger than life character,
steeped in the traditions of the GAA both as a player Manager
and Coach. He is married to Elaine and they have 2 children
Kate 5 and Kevin 2. He is a member of the Clontarf club and
is a PE teacher at St Mary’s Community school in Tallaght,
he played Senior Football with his club from 1985 to 2000.
He has coached School and club teams for the past 14 years
and at Inter-co level the Dublin Minors.

Mick became involved with the ladies team in 2002 as coach
and took over the managerial position from Willie Lillis in
January 2003 and they rest they say is nearly history and
it will be if he can guide his girls to success. Mick is very
philosophical about their chances on Sunday When asked what
it all means to him he said, “In fairness it will only
mean something if we win on Sunday. We set out at he beginning
of the year to retain the Leinster title to get to this stage
so it is no shock that we are here. Obviously it is a big
day and we look forward to it, these are special days in all
of our selves.”

When asked how they would counteract the strength? Of Mayo
he said “Mayo branded us as a very physical team over the
last 18 months, but we would see it somewhat different, we
feel we are every competitive and we try to move the ball
very quickly, we feel Mayo try to slow the game, I think the
open spaces out here on Sunday will suit us. When asked about
the age profile of the team which seems to be higher than
most counties. he stated ” Most of our squad are late developers,
the likes of Angie have only taken up football in the last
6 years and that is the story with a lot of the girls, although
the underage structure in Dublin has improved significantly,
the under 14’s and 16’s have been very successful this year
and this is what has fueled the other counties much more,
but with the age profile comes for us the whole experience
and feel that we mentally we are very strong at this stage
and we hope that this will stand to us on Sunday.”

Questioned about which was more difficult to get commitment
from the men or the women he said. “It has been a pleasure
working with this group, we had to raise the bar for them
to get to the stage we are at. I think an awful lot of the
sacrifices the men make the ladies had to be shown the road
for, they have taken ot on and it is not chance that we are
there at this stage, they have earned the right to be in an
All-Ireland final and please God things will go well for them
on Sunday”, speaking about the Mayo defeat last year “We deserved
to lose to Mayo we were not good enough, but we have learned
a lot, we feel in our own hearts we are not playing in our
first All-Ireland, we have already lost one, we felt if we
had beaten Mayo last year we would have won and that will
stand to us.

What about the support for Sunday you predict 40-to 50 thousand
why? “I feel we are very much in touch with the clubs and
the football public in Dublin, there are a number of teachers
involved and the feed back from the schools and the clubs
has been huge and I think there will be a huge crowd and we
will rewrite the history books for more than one reason. It
will be nice to see Hill 16 full on Sunday with a sea of blue
behind them, it will be as historic day with the last day
there will be standing room there, so please God that will
be another reason for them to come out” Win or lose the future
of Dublin football seems secure? ” You look around the country
and you see the Cork’s, Kerrys and the Galways with young
teams and it is getting harder and harder to win it and we
feel we have an opportunity to do that on Sunday we won’t
be looking to next year this is all about now.”

Hardworking PRO Hardworking PRO Patricia Monaghan sounded
very confident. “we are really looking forward to it and everyone
in Dublin is behind the team I have set up an email and good
wishes are flying in to “upthejackies@eircom.net’ Its caught
the imagination of the public with the Dublin Minors under
21s and ladies playing within a period of 6 or 7 days, its
great for the football and great for the ladies. The only
difficulty is the accessibility of tickets its difficult to
get into Croke Park. There is a huge buzz around particularly
in the schools they look up now to he likes of the ladies
idols Angie McNally, Martina Farrell and Louise kelly. Asked
about their chances she said “Like everything else, its 60
minutes of football, its their first All-Ireland ever, its
Mayo’s 5th in a row, the favourites tag has to lie with Mayo
but I think that if Dublin have the belief which I think they
do have, they have the capability, they have put in 9 months
of hard training 3-5 nights a week, it could be theirs if
they take the game to Mayo and get on with the job and dont
let the sense of the occasion get to them, because everyone
in Dublin is wishing for them to come home with the Brendan
Martin cup.

The ref Eugene did a very good job against kerry, he was up
with the play and spot on in most of his decisions, at the
end of the day it is up to the players and the attitude they
take on to the pitch with them as to what way the game will
go, they are 2 good footballing teams. Dublin have lost 3
Leinster finals before they won their first last year, there
is a huge amount of experience in the squad and there is a
huge hunger in the squad there is a huge commitment and they
have made huge sacrifices,so I dont think that they are going
to let their chance go by” Confident talk form Patricia.

Fr Liam kelleher PRO 087 – 8516984