Galway Camogie star Aoife Donohue expresses delight after so many near misses
The winner would be. While much was made to the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final of the gut-wrenching litany of beats of Kilkenny at the build-up in deciders, Galway have experienced their run affairs.
There was a sense from the wake that it believed that a number of the criticism they had obtained over the years for not making it to the September party since 2015 was harsh and motivated the Tribeswomen.
It was evident from talking to dynamo Aoife Donohue, the Galway players claimed they had suffered every bit as much heartache as their Kilkenny counterparts and they had no intention of suffering .
“There’s huge belief in this group” said Donohue.
“Everyone trusts each other from the group. We’ve already been there. We have lost as much as Kilkenny lost. There is some of the women have dropped four or three All-Irelands, we have been defeated in semi-finals.
“We’ve been on the other side of it also and I believe it’s about time we got a bit of credit today we’ve gotten over the line. What a barbarous team”
Another motivation was colleague Tara Kenny struggling to take her position after having a cruciate knee ligament injury in their training match, 10 days before what would have become the day of her athletic life’s sight.
“We played a board match Thursday week. A ball came between her and Ailish (O’Reilly). Tara slipped. Went to get a scan the following day. Cruciate gone,” clarified Donohue.
“It obviously had a massive effect on the group but we said we were going to head out and win for Tara and since Sarah (Dervan) stated up on the measures (in her victory speech), she had been the 16th woman who drove us on the line. I can not picture how it was for her to watch to the sideline.
“But that is the strength that is in the panel. Players arrive in and have a direct impact. Catherine Finnerty awakened, she has plenty of energy and legs and she remained going until the last whistle.”
Dervan was that the captain however there were quite a few survivors from Galway triumph in 2013 which stood to them.
“There’s leaders all over the pitch, and” continued Donohue. “Kilkenny went and got a score, Niamh Kilkenny comes back up the pitch and then also throws the ball over the bar. We had them all.
“We knew we had a great chance coming up. We beat Kilkenny in the League Final, there were just two things inside Athenry (in the first round of the Championship once Kilkenny prevailed) and we felt we didn’t execute that day.
“(Manager) Cathal (Murray) stated if we had been in the match with 10 minutes we’d come from the ideal side and thankfully that has occurred.”
Donohue was a revelation for a midfielder, having won an All-Star as an inside forward.
“I’ll play anywhere,” she explained. “I don’t care as long as I am on the group. If this was the location for me to play with and Galway went to win and I didn’t mind. I’ve played there for your club. However, I’ve already been out and in this past year. Even in the last couple of minutes I went wing-forward along with Ann Marie Starr came .”
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