Galway need to hit the ground running against Kerry
Daire Walsh
When Charlotte Cooney first emerged on the Galway senior ladies’ football panel in 2012, she had no shortage of experienced figures to look to for guidance.
Eight years on from helping the county to their sole All-Ireland senior title — a 3-8 to 0-11 final triumph over Dublin on October 3, 2004 at Croke Park — the likes of Annette Clarke, Geraldine Conneally, Aoibheann Daly and Edel Concannon were still representing the Tribeswomen with great distinction just as a teenage Cooney was arriving on the adult inter-county scene.
Now one of the more senior members of a Galway team that take on Kerry in this afternoon’s All-Ireland SFC decider at Croke Park (4.15), Cooney finds herself in a similar position to those players who went before her.
“I was obviously very fortunate to be in the dressing room when they were in the dressing room. Unbelievable footballers and people. They were just great role models to have. You look up to them so much and again they were looking to raise standards all the time. Trying to leave the dressing room in a better place,” Cooney explained.
“For the likes of myself, who have been around a while now, raising standards and leaving the dressing room in a better place is what you try to do. They were unreal. I can’t speak highly enough of them. They were just superstars.”
Although she will be seeking to add an All-Ireland winners’ medal to her list of achievements today, Cooney already has experience of lining out on the biggest day in the LGFA’s calendar. Back in 2019, Charlotte and her older sister Fabienne — who retired from inter-county duty a couple of years ago — came on as second-half substitutes when Galway lost out to Dublin in a low-scoring Brendan Martin Cup showpiece (2-3 to 0-4).
That was an historic occasion for the female code as a record attendance of 56,114 passed through the Croke Park turnstiles for an All-Ireland ladies’ finals day that also included junior (Louth v Fermanagh) and intermediate (Tipperary v Meath) deciders.
She hadn’t necessarily envisaged that it would take five years to return to an All-Ireland senior final, but Cooney is delighted that Galway are within 60 minutes of picking up a second top-tier championship title.
“It was an unbelievable experience. It was class. Unfortunately we didn’t get the result on the day, but to have an opportunity to hopefully get the result on Sunday, we’re very grateful for it. Please God again we can bring the performance and get the win for the group.
“When you play in an All-Ireland in 2019, you think ‘from here we’ll surely get to an All-Ireland next year’ and it doesn’t happen like that. It takes a huge amount of work and the girls have worked so hard this year. To be back in an All-Ireland final, it’s great excitement. There’s a great mood in the camp and we’re really looking forward to it.”
Whereas it isn’t particularly surprising to see Kerry returning to an All-Ireland final following their showpiece appearances in 2022 and 2023 — losing out to Meath and Dublin respectively — the possibility of Galway getting to this stage of the competition seemed somewhat remote just a few short months ago.
Courtesy of six defeats in seven games, the westerners suffered relegation to Division 2 of the National Football League in April.
Yet Cooney — who is originally from Castlerea in Roscommon, but moved to Claregalway with her family when she was 10 — insisted there was no sign of panic within the Galway ranks during this period.
Indeed, with a stunning quarter-final victory over defending champions Dublin at Parnell Park on July 6 serving as the catalyst, the Daniel Moynihan-managed outfit have turned their season around in impressive fashion.
“The league didn’t go exactly how we planned, but our performances were there. We just didn’t get the results. There were games that we lost by a point in the last minute and if we got the result, it might have been a totally different league campaign for us,” Cooney said.
“The win against Dublin, it was a tough battle. The girls that came off the bench, they made the difference. I think each game we’re improving and each game we go after the performance.”
Left half-back in their recent knock-out victories against Dublin and Cork (a semi-final win at Glenisk O’Connor Park in Tullamore 15 days ago), Cooney was on the opposite wing for the Tribeswomen’s last competitive outing at Croke Park.
April 15 of last year saw Galway also facing Kerry in a National Football League Division 1 final in GAA HQ, but the Kingdom were much the better side and sealed top honours with a convincing 5-11 to 1-10 triumph.
A seven-point cushion (2-5 to 0-4) had Kerry well on their way to victory by the midway stage in this contest, before they placed the outcome beyond any doubt by firing 2-6 without reply upon the resumption. If their latest showdown with the Kingdom is to be a successful one, then Cooney admitted the westerners can ill-afford to be that slow coming out of the blocks again.
“It was a disappointing day. It just wasn’t good enough, we didn’t perform to our standards at all. I think that is why we’re just focusing a lot on ourselves for the next day because it is all about the performance,” Cooney added.
“You can do all the training in the world, but you have to be able to bring it on the day. Go after it and play with no fear. Because 60 minutes can go pretty quick and we don’t want to be coming into the dressing room with 30 minutes chasing the game, like we were in the league. It will be a challenge, but we have to start strong and we’re definitely up for the challenge.”