Our athletic focus throughout this past summer was primarily placed on Paris, where numerous athletes made exceptional strides during the Olympics and Paralympics in preparation for 2024. Among these individuals, several standout names include medal recipients Kellie Harrington, Mona McSharry and Róisín Ní Riain. One can’t disregard a prospective September awardee, Katie-George Dunlevy, due to her array of accomplishments.
For fairness’s sake, each sportswoman is entitled to only one monthly award per year, otherwise there would be no space in their homes for the surplus of awards based on their 2024 performances.
Conversely, on August 4th, the populace of Kerry were fixated on Croke Park, where the county endeavoured to break a senior All-Ireland football championship drought which stretched as far back as 1993. During this period, they clinched their tenth trophy in twelve years, the only interruption being Waterford seizing the Brendan Martin Cup.
When Kerry defeated Laois in 1993, Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh was but a toddler, her attention likely elsewhere on toys rather than the victory of her elders. Her prodigious talent and Kerry’s reign of dominance soon had her poised to accumulate numerous All Ireland medals over a period of 30 years. Surprisingly, she had none when she stepped onto the final in August.
The three decades since 1993 had seen other counties, namely Cork, Dublin, Mayo, Waterford, Monaghan, Laois, Galway and Meath, rise to the top while Kerry’s star seemingly dimmed. In fact, they’d only made the finals three occasions since then, with losses to Cork in 2012, Meath in 2022, and Dublin the previous year. A situation which could have led to the question, ‘Have you ever considered saying, ‘Enough is enough?’
“Yes, there were certainly moments of doubt,” acknowledges Ní Mhuircheartaigh, the 2023 footballer of the year who also boasts four All-Star titles. She recalls a heartbreaking loss to Dublin in a quarter-final that challenged her faith in her own team’s potential. After the game, she reached out to her brother and sister-in-law, confessing, “I question whether we can actually pull this off. Will we ever cross that elusive line?”
By that time, Ní Mhuircheartaigh had been saddled with the label of being the best player who had yet to claim an All-Ireland victory. However, she didn’t attach much importance to such praise, claiming that praise was something she didn’t respond well to. “There are numerous players who you’d believe to be deserving of an All-Ireland medal, yet have never been able to secure one. Winning an All-Ireland medal is no mean feat,” she notes with a light-hearted chuckle.
Ní Mhuircheartaigh’s faith remained unwavering and was further solidified when Darragh Long and Declan Quill assumed the roles of co-managers in 2020. She remarks, “From the outset, there was a distinctive, exceptional aura about them”. Further setbacks in matches against Meath and Dublin were painful, yet she remained steadfast in her belief that Kerry’s day of glory would arrive. This belief led her to commit to her 17th successive season in 2024, having kicked off her senior football career as a 16-year-old in 2008.
“Returning was a challenge, yet we vowed as a team to dig deeper than we ever had,” she reflects. They knew they had to face Galway, a team that had achieved victory against reigning champions Dublin and equally formidable opponents Cork, on their path to the final. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she was confident in the excellent groundwork laid by the management team. She says, “their impressive mastery of tactics had been proven in every match we’d played that year. We felt sufficiently prepared.”
At the break, they had pulled ahead by eight points, with Ní Mhuircheartaigh contributing five of them in a surprising 11-minute run. “It was an exemplary performance from the entire team,” she admits. Anticipating victory, Kerry’s coaching team gracefully sidelined her during the last moments of the match to afford the audience of 30,340 an opportunity to applaud her, which they enthusiastically did.
Although not one to soak up accolades, she was eager to leave the field. “I believe I sped off quicker than I have before, all I desired was to embrace Darragh and Declan,” she recalls. “It was they who brought us to victory. We owe them enormously. It was an extraordinary experience for me. When Emma Dineen scored our third goal, we were all in disbelief – we had truly made it. To relish the final moments, savor every bit, anticipating the final buzzer… It’s a memory I doubt will fade.”
She continues, “With the final whistle, all the despair of defeats evaporated. All the effort we put in seemed justified. Players have joined and left, and we’ve had to bid adieu to remarkable ones like Emma Costello and Louise Galvin. Even so, they remained a part of our journey. The game was just as much for them as it was for us. We share a strong bond, rather like a family.”
When asked if she’s still basking in the glory, she says, “Oh, indeed, we are. I believe this euphoria will persist.”
Is she now the greatest player with an All-Ireland medal?
“Ah, enough of that,” she modestly responds.
Past monthly winners include December’s Fionnuala McCormack; January’s Lucy Mulhall; February’s Mona McSharry; March’s Rachael Blackmore; April’s Róisín Ní Riain; May’s Rhasidat Adeleke; June’s Ciara Mageean; and July’s Kellie Harrington.