Back with the Big Guns
By Daire Walsh
‘What a difference a year makes’ is a well-worn saying in the lexicon of competition sport but, in the case of Meath ladies footballer Niamh O’Sullivan, it is a rather apt one.
A designated water carrier for her county’s All-Ireland intermediate championship final defeat to Tipperary 15 months ago, the Dunshaughlin Royal Gaels club star returned to play a starring role at Croke Park on December 20 as Meath finally regained senior status with a 2-17 to 4-5 victory against rivals Westmeath in a compelling Mary Quinn Memorial Cup decider.
Having captained the Royals during their intermediate showpiece reversal to Tyrone in 2018, O’Sullivan subsequently ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament while travelling abroad. Nevertheless, she was made to feel at home upon her return to these shores and this encapsulates the indomitable spirit of a gifted Meath group.
“The amount of people that told me I was mad to go [travelling], but the girls were brilliant. Unfortunately when I went away I got an ACL injury, but Paul [Garrigan, Meath joint-manager] was unbelievable to me and kept in contact with me. The minute I landed back in Ireland, they got me down to a training session straight away,” O’Sullivan explains.
“Roped me in and made me feel part of the team. To be playing in Croke Park a year later, I didn’t think that would come through. Having come through an ACL injury. No words can describe how happy I am. Only for the girls, the Meath management, my club and everyone behind me, I wouldn’t be back here.”
In reaching the summit of the All-Ireland intermediate football championship, Meath had to overcome considerable adversity. Inside the opening six minutes of an unprecedented Christmas time affair, they had conceded three goals to a rampant Westmeath attack.
Instead of tearing up the script at this point, O’Sullivan and her team-mates never panicked and ultimately banished the heartbreak of final defeats in the past two seasons.
“We were always going to press up for their kick-outs and we knew they were going to go long. There was a chance they’d win breaking balls and they’d let the ball in quick. We stuck to our game plan, we never reverted to anything else. I think the most important thing was we answered any score they got. We went up to the other end of the field and we got a point or a goal.
“We had Maire [O’Shaughnessy] there. She’s a fantastic captain, she drove us on. Vikki [Wall] there getting crucial scores for us. There was something different this year. I knew coming to Croke Park, there was definitely a lot of fire in the belly and we knew it was going to be our day. That we couldn’t leave it behind.”
A primary school teacher at St Seachnall’s NS in her hometown of Dunshaughlin, O’Sullivan was kept busy during lockdown but still managed to strike a nice balance between work and leisure. She wasn’t alone in doing so, with the Meath squad discovering new ways to maintain their fitness in advance of ladies football’s eventual return to the limelight.
“A lot of Zoom calls. A few girls met up for socially distanced running with each other, to push each other on. It was hard during lockdown when you’re running on your own. Girls in the same club paired up and just egged each other on for that one per cent margin to get us over the line and I think that all proved pivotal [against Westmeath].
“When we were training with our clubs it was fantastic and then when we got to train with our county again, it was a nice little break that you could go out and see other people. Get a bit of a breather from your house. My school have been so supportive of me. It was great to have those distractions during lockdown.”
Had the season continued as initially planned, O’Sullivan might well have had a fight on her hands for a starting place in this Meath team. She was restricted to cameo roles against Clare and Armagh in rounds four and five of the LIDL National Football League, having missed out on earlier Division Two clashes with Tyrone, Cavan and Monaghan.
However, the lockdown afforded O’Sullivan ample time to work on her fitness and after getting a succession of club games under her belt, she worked her way into Meath’s full-forward line for the remainder of the season.
“The break definitely benefited me, getting a few club games. I got on in a few league games, but it was hard to break into the team. The lads didn’t really see me playing, so it was great that the club championship was on. That favoured me big time.”
Meath’s success over Westmeath was part of a double triumph for Leinster counties on the penultimate Sunday of a turbulent 2020, with Mick Bohan’s all-conquering Dublin side capturing their fourth consecutive All-Ireland senior title courtesy of a hard-earned 1-10 to 1-5 win at the expense of Cork.
The Royals are now guaranteed to face the Jackies in next year’s Leinster championship decider – the Metropolitans were the province’s only senior outfit in 2020 – and could well face the Rebelettes depending on how the draw for the Brendan Martin Cup pans out.
While it will represent a massive step-up in quality regardless of who they face, O’Sullivan and her inter-county colleagues are ready to embrace the challenges that lie in wait.
“These are the teams you want to be playing against, Dublin and Cork. These are the girls you watch day in, day out. You want to see where you’re at by playing against them.
“Playing Dublin in a Leinster final next year is definitely going to be a huge challenge and I think the girls will be really, really raring to go in 2021. Just to see where we are against a senior team. We do fancy ourselves against the bigger teams,” O’Sullivan added.