It’s another big week for Kilkenny’s Brian Dowling as his camogie side reignites their rivalry with Galway on the biggest stage of them all, writes Daragh Ó Conchúir.
Into his third term with Kilkenny, the O’Loughlin Gaels man is well familiar with Galway, but his beginnings with the county setup were a little different.
Dowling succeded Ann Downey as Kilkenny camogie manager in 2020 having been head-hunted to join the backroom team days after the Cats defeat in the 2019 All-Ireland final. He’d never been involved in a camogie setup before then.
“I went in blind, to be honest with you,” says the 39-year-old looking back this week. “I had zero connection with camogie when Ann Downey gave me the call in 2019. You don’t realise the effort the girls are putting in. It’s the same as the lads. They’re on the pitch three times a week, in the gym another two times, they’re looking after themselves, giving up holidays, not going to weddings and things like that.
“I think it’s getting better but they can be looked after better. The lads get a lot more expenses and things like that. Our girls are very well looked after by Kilkenny county board. Anything that I ask for, we get. They’ve free membership into the gym in the Springhill Court Hotel, we’ve food after every training, food before and after every match. They’re little things I wanted to get changed as soon as I came in. I think it’s very important they’re well looked after, it’s the least they deserve.
“So I’m happy from a Kilkenny perspective but I definitely think camogie girls in general could be looked after a little better, though it is getting there, slowly but surely.”
If people outside the camp felt that this would be a trying year for the Stripeywomen, with the retirements of Davina Tobin and Collette Dormer, Meighan Farrell heading to Australia and then the Doyle sisters, Kellyann and Aoife suffering cruciate injuries – the former, like Galway’s Becky Hennelly, for a third time – integrating a new group has been a hugely positive experience.
The true tests have come off the pitch. March hit them with two overwhelming tragedies. First came the sudden death of coach Tommy Shefflin’s brother, Paul, at just 40 and then just three weeks later, Dowling’s uncle, Oliver Brennan died in a house fire from which his other uncle, Dom was lucky to escape.
“It was a huge blow when Tommy’s brother, Paul died. I would know Paul very well and would have marked him many times in club hurling. It was a terrible tragedy to happen.
“Tommy could see that the girls really rallied around him. They were all at the funeral and were there when Tommy needed them. My own uncle died as well and the girls were very supportive.”
In an interview in the Irish Independent ahead of the 2010 Leinster club hurling final that the Gaels would win, Dowling noted a sense of perspective he developed following a visit to a grave on county final day of another uncle who had died shortly after a brave battle with cancer.
Getting out on the pitch with a group of like-minded, committed people was a blessing, not cause for anxiety.
“It was great to have the camogie,” he says now. “It was something that we could cling on to.”
They have yet to lose a competitive game this year, missing out on a place in the League final on score difference to Cork. But they hadn’t been humming, unsurprisingly, given the significant transition.
But Dowling, Shefflin, Ray Challoner, Philly Larkin and Pat O’Neill had gone through this process very successfully in 2020 too, when they won the All-Ireland with five new players. They didn’t panic.
“We have a lot of new girls this year and the one thing when girls retire is new girls coming in bring a new lease of life into things. I think the likes of Denise Gaule, Miriam Walsh, Claire Phelan, Grace Walsh, girls that have been around a while, it kind of gives them a bit of a lift to see the new girls coming in as well.
Mixed form
“Our form wasn’t great during the League, we had a few disappointing results in challenge games and we were all wondering where we going. The Leinster Championship was crucial to this team. Normally we look at it as a way of giving girls game time and bringing up match fitness but we set our target to win it this year. We got confidence from that.
“We were very unlucky to lose the Doyle sisters during the year. That was the biggest disappointment. The other girls made the decisions themselves but Kellyann and Aoife were back training hard and probably in the form of their lives.
“For Kellyann to have a cruciate injury for the third time, it’s absolutely devastating. Anyone that knows Kellyann sees the hard work she puts in and I saw it myself first hand in 2020 to get back on the pitch, I think it was eight months from the operation, to play in the All-Ireland final. Just incredible.
“For it to happen to her sister Aoife as well, a freak accident against Limerick. I couldn’t believe our luck that day. Everything seemed to be going the wrong way. I have huge sympathy for Rebecca Hennelly and Orlaith McGrath who have done cruciates as well for Galway. You want to see the best players out there. But our girls stuck at it and whoever we have on the pitch, we’re confident that they can do a job.”
Thunderous affair
More than 1300 tickets were sold for the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland championship group game with Galway at Kenny Park and a thunderous affair ended in a draw.
“We went up to Athenry to test ourselves and see where we were at. It was probably one of the most enjoyable games in camogie that I’ve been involved in. It had everything. It was a huge Galway crowd, probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen at a game outside of big semi-final day or final day. It was just amazing, the atmosphere at the game.
“The last ten minutes there were some unbelievable scores. I don’t think I appreciated it till afterwards. The equalising point Áine Keane got (for Galway). Miriam Walsh had got a brilliant score off the sideline just before it. Áine Keane came off the bench, I think just a minute before, soloed down the line, bounced the ball off the ground and off her left hand side straight over the bar. It was an amazing score.”
The result meant Galway had the direct route to the semi-final with Kilkenny navigating the quarter-final path comfortably enough against Dublin after a slow start in Semple Stadium last Saturday.
And now, they face each other again, at Croke Park. That game is live in full on KCLR from 5.30pm with Martin Quilty and Áine Fahey on commentary duty.
“We’re looking forward to it and we know it’s going to be a huge test. Hopefully it’ll be a great day for camogie and there’s a big crowd at it. This is why we put in the hard work, for days like this.”
