New Carlow captain Aoibhinn Gilmartin says that she is “honoured” to be leading the team in 2021.
Gilmartin is about to embark on her fifth season with the senior side despite being only 21 years old. The Old Leighlin clubwoman is relishing the opportunity to lead her county for the upcoming league and championship campaigns.
“We have quite a young team, but I was honoured to be named the captain at such a young age.
“I know that it holds a lot of responsibility and hopefully I can live up to the expectations,” said Gilmartin.
A Law with Social Justice student at UCD, three-time county champion Gilmartin outlined the goals for the Carlow senior footballers in 2021.
She said: “The Junior All-Ireland is the big aim, but we have one eye on promoting from Division 4. We’ve come close to promoting before and hopefully we can get over the line this year.”
Gilmartin, who is renowned at both club and county level for her versatility and leadership skills, was also part of the Old Leighlin side who made last year’s Intermediate Leinster Final against Wicklow outfit Tinahely. The game has yet to be played, however, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In spite of this, Gilmartin remains hopeful that the game will eventually get the green light to take place by the powers that be.
“We’d love the chance to get to play the Intermediate Final against Tinahely and finish out the 2020 season. There are more important things in life than football, but it would be nice to get to play. The club scene has been brilliant in general over the last few years.”
While she did acknowledge that there will be added responsibilities bestowed upon her as captain of the side, Gilmartin is in no doubt that motivating the team will not be necessary.
“We all bounce off each other so I don’t have to motivate the team.
“We motivate each other, and everyone is working as hard as they can on their own so there’s no obligation on me to motivate them.”
