All-Ireland Intermediate Ladies Club Football Championship Final Feature Interview: Orla Nevin (Longford Slashers) – Peil Magazine – January 20 2023

LONGFORD SLASHERS BREAK NEW GROUND

By Daire Walsh

On what was an historic day for club and county, Longford Slashers’ flying wing-back Orla Nevin explained how the backing of the local community helped to drive them on to success in the currentaccount.ie All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final at Croke Park on December 10.

By virtue of qualifying for a showpiece affair against Tipperary’s Mullinahone at the north Dublin venue, Slashers had already broken new ground. No club side from the O’Farrell County had reached a national decider at adult level in ladies football before, but the Farneyhogan outfit became the first to do so courtesy of a semi-final win over Charlestown of Mayo.

Braving bitterly cold conditions, a passionate group of Slashers supporters made the journey to see their club-mates putting Longford on the map with an emphatic 4-11 to 2-8 triumph over their Munster counterparts. Yet as Nevin readily acknowledges, it wasn’t just the Slashers faithful who were rowing in behind the team for their march to All-Ireland glory.

“The whole town was behind us. If you drove through town, there was flags everywhere. Even driving up today, there was a send-off for us. It was just brilliant, the support we got from all the clubs,” Nevin remarked in the direct aftermath of their impressive victory.

“The support was unreal. Anyone really you met wanted to go or was going in town. The last week, if you bumped into someone, everyone was talking about it. Everyone wanted to be here and it really helped out. The support was just brilliant. When you hear the crowd shouting, it really motivates you to keep going. A big thanks to everyone who came.”

A Longford senior debutant in 2017, Nevin was one of several Slashers players to produce stand-out displays on the biggest stage of all. Having chipped in with two excellent points in the opening half of the contest, she once again broke forward to hammer home her side’s fourth and final goal in the 51st minute.

To score 1-2 in an All-Ireland final is something that defenders can normally only dream of, but Nevin believes the way the team is structured – under the guidance of joint-managers Conor Clarke and Bryan Farrell – makes it possible for her to play with a degree of abandon.

“I’m lucky. We’re a great team, running up and down. If you go, someone is going to cover you. We have a really attacking half-back line. We know that we all have each other’s backs. It’s really nice to be able to do that.”

Joining Nevin in the pivotal half-back sector for the triumphant Slashers were inter-county duo Eimear O’Brien and Clare Farrell. The latter made sure that Nevin had some assistance in the scoring stakes as she kicked a fine point in the opening-quarter when the game was still very much in the melting pot.

Given she works in professional sport as a lead performance nutritionist with Munster Rugby, Farrell also has an important role to play away from a football pitch.

“She has a busy lifestyle now. She’s up and down to Cork or Limerick half the time. She’s brilliant. She sends in nutritionist advice the whole time. She’s helping out in that aspect and she’s up and down the pitch. We’re lucky to have her. Any team she’s on, I’m sure she has some nutritionist advice to give, but it really helps. It puts us in the zone.”

While nine points separated the sides in the end, there can be no underestimating how vital it was for Slashers to make a bright start to their duel with Mullinahone. All-Ireland junior club finalists last season, Mary O’Shea’s Premier County charges secured county and provincial honours in the intermediate grade with considerable aplomb.

There was also plenty of experience within the Mullinahone ranks – not least in the form of Kilkenny camogie stars Denise Gaule and Michaela Kenneally – but a fourth-minute goal from captain Aisling Cosgrove offered Slashers an early platform and they remained in the ascendancy for the rest of the action.

“Kara Shannon picked out the pass and it was brilliant. That gave us the confidence then to keep going and get the few more scores we needed to get over the line. We kept our cool and we were happy out.”

Although the senior showpiece between Kilkerrin-Clonberne and Donaghmoyne followed it on the same day, this intermediate spectacle goes down as the first All-Ireland ladies club football championship final to be held at Croke Park. This was the maiden game at GAA HQ for the majority of the Slashers players, albeit Nevin has stepped out on the hallowed Croker turf under different circumstances.

Additionally, as a student at the DCU St Patrick’s Campus in Drumcondra, it is a ground she passes by on a regular basis while in the capital.

“That took a bit of the wow factor out of it too, I’m only coming from up the road! It’s unreal to be here, we’re just happy out. We’ll never forget this day. I played across the pitch once, but I don’t think that counts! This was the first time and it’s a lovely pitch. We thought we might be a bit more shell shocked by it, but once the whistle blows, you kind of are in the zone and just plough on.”

Rather than being a culmination, Nevin and the rest of her Slashers colleagues will be hoping their All-Ireland victory is just another milestone in their continued pursuit of ladies football excellence. Having been put to the pin of their collar in this year’s Longford senior championship, she also feels it can help to drive on the rest of the county as well.

“Even when we were playing in the county, there were other teams in Longford that put it up to us. It just shows where you can go, if you really put your mind to it and keep going. It’s brilliant. It’s such a happy day for the county. Everyone is so happy for us and it’s lovely to see,” Nevin added.

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