On Sunday next, Oulart-The Ballagh go in search of back-to-back wins in the AIB All-Ireland senior camogie championship when they take on Sarsfields from Galway, the side they defeated in the 2020 decider that was played just before Christmas.
The Wexford champions had five points to spare in that clash at UMPC Nowlan Park. Any All-Ireland win is sweet, even more so when you were labelled an ageing team in advance. Úna Leacy picked up a third All-Ireland medal in the Marble City on 18 December, adding to the four successes at inter-county. The 33-year-old fired home three goals against Sarsfields and was quick to dispel the notion that Oulart's best days were behind them.
She told the assembled media afterwards: "Coming in here today, no one gave us a chance. We were listening to podcasts during the week. They're the best motivation you can get. They didn’t give us a chance. 'Oh they’re an aging team,’ and all this. That’s all bulls**t. Age is only a number."
A view also echoed by Stacey Kehoe, the player of the match in last December's finale.
Speaking to the media ahead of another date with Sarsfields, Kehoe said: "With age comes experience and things that can't be taught. We get that ageing thing a lot but we have new blood coming in that has intertwined with the older group. That is working fairly well. We're just happy to be where we are in terms of our performance.
"After losing finals in Wexford a few of us sat down, realising that our chance of more success may be gone. That chat brought us forward to win a county final. The journey continued and the dream grew. We got over the line in December. We don't intend to be a pushover on Sunday. We're there to do a job."
For Kehoe, winning an All-Ireland medal last December came a day after she got married. With the 2020 decider finally being played at an unusual time of the year due to Covid and the pressure from within the camogie family to get the match played a year on, the bride-to-be did not let her focus waver too much.
"It was only when we beat Slaughtneil (in the semi-final) that it became an issue, that the final was the day after the wedding," she added.
"Everything was in place to get married in December, not thinking that we were going to be playing camogie in December. We were delighted we got to play the 2020 championship. Everything went according to plan and we couldn't have asked for better.
"We all knew we had job to do on the Saturday, this after the time and effort that went into the training and all the arguments to get the final played. Thankfully we got over the line."
In the semi-finals, Oulart The Ballagh had a comprehensive win over Scariff Ogonolloe, while Sarsfields were taken to extra-time before edging out Slaughtneil by the bare minimum. The latter clash controversially switched after Kingspan Breffni in Cavan was deemed unplayable.
Kehoe doesn't accept that Sarsfields will be more battle-hardened, stressing that preparations have gone well for the defending champions.
"Training has gone well. We have to play what's in front of us. The scoreline (against Scariff) did not reflect the physicality of the game. We'll take a lot of positives out of that and bring it forward to Croke Park on Sunday.
"We're facing a huge battle on Sunday. Any team you meet will be the best of the best. We will take nothing for granted. All the hard work is done now. It's going to be a real dogfight and it will be down to who wants it more, who wants to win the dirty ball in the rucks.
"It's a great position to be in playing two All-Irelands in the space of a couple of months, to be playing again for your club in a senior final at Croke Park.
"We're happy to be there and we'll go hell for leather on Sunday and please God we'll get over the line."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Listen to the RTÉ GAA Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
