Galway captain Carrie Dolan says that, if her team are content with their achievements to date and dwell on them, they will stay stagnant.
Instead, it's all eyes on the prize as her side prepare to face a buoyant Waterford in the Centra National Camogie League Division 1A final at Nowlan Park on Sunday.
Dolan is the team’s top scorer with 2-24 in the bag ahead of Sunday’s decider. But she says their league campaign was inconsistent and there is work to be done.
Speaking at the launch of the John West Féile 2026 competition, Dolan of Clarinbridge reflected on a busy few months.
Along with Kinvara's Aoibheann Barry, she was recently named on the Electric Ireland Camogie Third Level Rising Stars Team of the Year. Dolan was the sole University of Galway player named after standout performances with the college this season.
She also shone brightly as Galway beat Cork to cement their place in the league final, as they ran out 0-18 to 1-09 winners in Athenry. Dolan set the hosts on their way with three early points.
"It was a very competitive league; we had an up-and-down type of league, but we try to take positives and work on the not-so-good things," she told RTÉ Sport.
Galway go into the final minus Olwen and Sabina Rabbitte, who miss out through injury. Dolan says they will be huge losses but is happy that the county is developing young players and conditioning them to reach the pitch of inter-county senior camogie.
"We have always been good at feeding players into the senior team," she says. "When the intermediate team was there it worked well, and now the Under-23 championship has been a good success and players are stepping up too from that level. We train alongside the Galway Under-23s at the minute and it is good to see them develop."
Dolan (above) knows that the production lines need to keep churning out talent to retain Galway’s status in a competitive top tier.
"It’s healthy and a great thing for camogie that other teams are playing so well," she said. "Ourselves, Cork, Tipp, Waterford – Antrim has done a huge amount of work, too, and we were put to the pin of our collar to beat them. You want as many competing as possible at the highest level."
Dolan says that Galway have to look forward to keeping their own house in order.
"Every team is in the gym, so what can you do as an individual to make the team better? Can you do bits yourself? The more players you can get to do that in your squad, the better.
"Your feet have to be firmly on the ground. Last year is last year and if you stay looking back you will stay in the same spot.
"We are under no illusions about what’s coming for us this year and we have a target on our backs. But this group doesn’t want to be ordinary. We want to go on and do more and want to be better."
Watch the Camogie League finals, Clare v Dublin (12.15pm) and Waterford v Galway (2.15pm) on Sunday from 12pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and RTÉ News app and listen to Sunday Sport from 2pm on RTÉ Radio 1.
Watch The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on all matches on the RTÉ News app and on rte.ie/sport. Listen to Sunday Sport on RTÉ Radio 1.
