29 September 2004 Interview with Kildare manager Nuala O'Mahony Share this Article 0 0 0 Shares! 0 Shares! Perfect blend bears fruit for Nuala By John Roddy Click on above image to go to web site IT was a natural progression for Nuala O’Mahony to take over the management of the Kildare ladies football team this year, for the Allenwood woman has been head, neck and heels into the club and underage scene since the infancy of the girls’ game in the county. She would have wished for the circumstances to have been very different, however. She began the year as selector but then tragedy struck. “When Sean Delaney passed away earlier in the year the county board felt that they needed someone who knew the players and also the up and coming talent in the county, so I suppose I was a kind of natural choice” says Nuala. “Later on in the year team trainer Peter Dobbyn finished up and that was how Sean O’Toole came on board.” It has been a good year for Kildare so far, with winning the second division of the league an early highlight, beating old rivals Donegal on the way. “Donegal had beaten us in last year’s All-Ireland final and that victory gave the team a huge boost in confidence” declares O’Mahony. The Leinster campaign began quietly enough with comfortable wins over Meath, Offaly, Longford and Dublin. “It was really only in the Wexford game in the Leinster final that we were in any way tested and that was no harm at all. Against Armagh in the semi-final we were able to enjoy the luxury of missing a penalty, conceding one which was scored and still having the composure to win comfortably enough.” The Kildare boss puts that confidence down to a nice blend of youth and experience. “Three years ago a very young Kildare team lost heavily to Roscommon in the final, while last year a couple of second half goals ended our challenge in a matter of minutes. “This year the team is much better balanced, with a number of fine young footballers coming along, who have blended very nicely into the team, notably Elaine Dillon of Suncroft, Stacey Cannon from my own club Na Fianna and Clodagh Flanagan of Balyna. While it will be a first final for all of them, there is enough experience in the team to help them along the way. And what a bounty of experience there is. “We have long-serving players like Anne Hughes giving the defence a very steady look about it. We’re really well served in midfield also with Brianne and Kate Leahy, both of whom have been around for a while with both Kildare and their club Grange. Noelle Earley has really blossomed this year when moving into the centre-forward berth and in full-forward Tracy Noone we have one of the best forwards in the game.” Nuala admits that she hasn’t actually seen Sligo but reckons that they have to be there on merit. “By all accounts they’re a very fast young team and we’ll have to really perform on the day to beat them. Still I reckon last year’s experience should stand to us and we have to be in with a really great chance of finally bringing a junior All-Ireland title to Kildare and having a crack at the big guns in the senior grade next season.” She refuses to be drawn on the fixture clash that sees the male version of the county SFC and MFC finals taking place the same day, beyond making a wry admission that it is particularly difficult for both herself and fellow Allenwood woman, wing-forward Stacey Cannon, as well as the likes of Naomi Treacy from the St. Laurence’s end. “I suppose there’s no point in letting it get to us at this stage; it’s just one of those things that you have to live with. At the end of the day it’s the right result is all that counts – in the three games of course!” This article was kindly given to us by The Kildare Nationalist Newspaper Share this Article 0 0