CIARA Tallon has been through enough bad times with the Kildare camogie team to know that she has to enjoy the good days when they come along and with an All-Ireland crown safely in the bag, she was in the mood to enjoy herself after the final whistle.
“We’re delighted, we knew we had it in us to win but we weren’t sure how it would go today with the wind. We knew that they would come out strong in the first half because whoever had that wind had to take advantage of it so I was glad that we had it in the second half. It’s easier to come out after half-time and know that you have half an hour left to give it everything,” she said.
Tallon has had plenty of experience in celebrating big wins after a trophy laden club career with St Laurence’s but before she got ready to hit the town, she paid tribute to the people who helped the team get to that position.
“It’s great to see people like Nuala Kerrgian and Bernie Farrelly here today, people who played for years and gave great service. I know they won an All-Ireland back in 1990 so 20 years is a long time. The likes of Jimmy Donnelly and Jimmy and Bernie McMullen put a lot of time into training us and it’s all their hard work over the years that have helped us get there today,” she said.
Tallon also singled out goalkeeper Bríd Byrnes after a brilliant save from the Maynooth stopper denied Collette McSorley in the first half.
“The girls defended really well in the first half and Bríd made two brilliant saves and without that we could have been in trouble. Bríd has been brilliant all year. We’ve been very lucky because we’ve had a few sub goalies but she hasn’t had to step out at all because she has been fantastic. I wouldn’t stand in there for all the tea in China but fair play to her she pulled it out of the bag for us today,” said Tallon.
Tallon’s St Laurence’s club mate and Kildare captain Niamh Breen was equally pleased.
“This is what dreams are made of. To win an All-Ireland is the reason that you play camogie. Today, we knew it was going to nail biting stuff until the finish and it turned out like that in end. Luckily enough we got the goals in the end and we came out on top,” said Breen.
“They got off to a good start and got those two goals, there was a strong wind in the first half so we knew it was going to be tough to defend against it. But we always said that we would play our own game and keep the scoreboard ticking over. It’s 60 minutes out there and we said to everybody give it everything and if you have to be carried off injured at the end we’ll fix you up then. I think everybody put 110 per cent into it and I think everybody knew going out there that was what was needed to win the game,” added Breen.
Breen emphasised just how far the team have come under Tom O’Mahony after he led the team to league, Leinster and now All-Ireland honours in the space of two years.
“A couple of years ago we couldn’t even field a team for the championship so we started our team from scratch two or three years ago. Karen Kelly came in and got a team going again and then Tom came in and over the last two years we’ve won three titles,” said Breen. Tallon agreed that O’Mahony has turned things around for Kildare camogie although she puts it down to his contrariness.
“He definitely has something about him, I don’t know whether it is his contrariness or what but he has something! We won the league last year and now this year we won a Leinster title and now an All-Ireland championship. He has got the best out of us and it’s great for him too, he deserves it,” she said.
The man himself was stuck for words at the final whistle.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said O’Mahony. “We played it down a lot but coming up here we felt a bit of pressure on us because we felt could win and we put that pressure on ourselves. We said all year that the goal was to get to an All-Ireland final and once we got there obviously we wanted to win and I am just delighted that we did,” he said.
O’Mahony was pleased with the way his team kept their heads when they went behind and never panicked.
“That’s one thing about the team all year, we’ve been in trouble and we’ve been down. There was a strong wind and we spoke about that before the game, we knew that if we were playing into it that we could come under pressure and that might go in a few points down. I was a bit unhappy with their first goal, it was probably a bit sloppy on our part, the second goal we couldn’t do much about but we got ourselves back into the game and were delighted to go in just two points down. The concern was that we might concede a third goal just before half time. Not for the first time Bríd made a really good save for us,” he said.
“At half-time we were just saying that the wind wouldn’t win it for them. We told them to play low ball and not to be shooting from ridiculous angles and way out the field trying to get crazy scores. The real reason that we were late out after half time though was that Mary Murtagh was in big trouble with a foot injury and we were trying to get that sorted out. We kept it quiet but she was in a car crash on Wednesday and it was touch and go whether she would start at all,” added O’Mahony.
The goals came at just the right times for Kildare agreed O’Mahony.
“We were lucky I suppose that the goals came at the right time, the last goal in particular from Louise was a lovely little flick. The goal just before half-time set us up nicely going into the break just two points down,” he said.
Kildare now move up to intermediate next year but that was not the Kildare manager’s most pressing concern.
“Next year is next year, we’ll worry about tonight first,” he laughed as headed off to join in the celebrations.