Family and community ties are the bedrock of Kilkerrin-Clonberne's success.
The Connacht champions are chasing a third All-Ireland ladies senior club football title in a row tomorrow and have a team featuring multiple sets of sisters, like the Noones [Eve, Hannah and Lynsey], Divillys [Niamh, Olivia and Siobhán] and Ward twins Louise and Nicola.
Michael Divilly and Gerry Noone are selectors while Willie Ward is manager of the club representing two north Galway villages. But they needed technology to save the day in the dramatic semi-final win over Kilmacud Crokes when a virus meant Willie was unable to travel to the capital.
"He was unwell Friday, Saturday, and Sunday," Louise told RTÉ Sport of her father. "He got up early Sunday and couldn't travel. I had it two weeks before mam and dad. I am probably the one to blame.
"We had our stats man, TP, in the stand and Michael Divilly took the bainisteoir's bib. Dad was able to watch the stream and still phone in. We still had different angles looking at the game, which wasn't a bad thing either. But when the stream acted up for the first 10 minutes, there was carnage at home!"
Former Galway boss Willie has thankfully recovered to take his place on the sideline for tomorrow’s decider against Ballymacarbry at Croke Park, secured after an extra-time epic in Parnell Park a fortnight ago.
"I think he felt he missed out a little bit, especially when you win a crunch game like that," said Louise. "The supporters flooded the pitch. There was so much emotion. You could really feel the community spirit. So when he got back to training on Tuesday, he was raring to go.
"The last day was the biggest test we have got in a long time, probably since Mourneabbey [All-Ireland final] in 2021. We only won that All-Ireland by four points.
"Seeing the physical conditioning of our players in extra-time was great. So to get a test like that and come through it, I think it is testament to all the work that the girls have put in themselves. That will really stand to us the next day."
At 27, Louise Ward is one of the elders of the panel, and she is proud that Kilkerrin-Clonberne have fought their way back to a fourth final in a row, having lost to Cork’s Mourneabey in 2019.
"We're a small rural club," she said. "We don't have the selection that the likes of Kilmacud Crokes have, getting players in from outside that are of inter-county standard. All of us are born and bred Kilkerrin-Clonberne. I think that's what makes it special is that it's just our small little club and we've got ourselves to here.
"Dad was with us when we were under sixes and now he's back managing us and we're winning All-Irelands with him. It's nice to see that the work that they put in at grassroots has led to this. It has taken time obviously, 20 years from when we were Under-6, but to get to here is great.
"We won in 2021 [final in January 2022] and then there was great excitement about putting the two All-Irelands back-to-back in the one year, which was great, it was our own little piece of history.
"But then this year we lost Ailish Morrissey. To be a small club and still get back to an All-Ireland, having lost your top scorer from the year before, I think has been a massive achievement. It’s a huge loss to lose somebody of that calibre.
"Then obviously you have the pressure of trying to hold on to your title with everybody chasing you down. Sometimes it's easier to be the chaser than trying to retain your own titles. But we'll embrace every challenge."
Of course, the most high-profile Gaelic games transfer of recent times came when Kilkerrin-Clonberne and Galway star Shane Walsh joined Kilmacud.
But Ward insists that was no motivation for her and her team-mates in the semi-final, revealing Walsh had even wished them luck.
"There was no motivation that way at all," she said. "We are not really a team that is built on motivation. For us, it is just facts and figures and working things out around that.
"It is completely different. We are irrelevant to Shane, in a way. Obviously, we are his home club. But Shane himself texted me before the game saying 'best of luck and I will be shouting for ye’ and that."
Ballymacarbry are the only senior ladies football club to have previously claimed three All-Irelands in a row, and in fact racked up seven in succession from 1989-95. However, this is the 42-in-a-row Waterford winners' first final since their victory in 1998.
The teams met in last year’s semi-final when Kilkerrin-Clonberne were comfortable 2-10 to 0-02 winners but Ward is expecting a much tougher test this weekend.
"Everyone keeps bringing us back to that game," she said. "But what you are missing with that is the fact that the weather was so bad last year, the pitch was bad, there was a lot of surface water, and none of it made for good football for either side.
"In that game, it definitely took us around 13 minutes to break Ballymac down for the first time. I don't think people should look back at that match and think that it is going to be the same this time around because it is definitely not.
"They had won Munster for the first time in a long time [22 years] and were into bonus territory. This year, they have put their two Munsters back-to-back and have that little bit more experience.
"In 2018 we played Mourneabbey in the semi-final and got hammered by them. In 2019, we got to the final and should have beaten them (lost by a point), so it is amazing how much a team can change in one year. We will obviously do our analysis from it, but we will be doing more analysis on Ballymac's recent games."
"We've all dealt with a lot of other brands in the field and they're all predominantly male-owned"
Another win on Saturday would also be a boost for Ward’s fledging sportswear career.
Along with former Sligo goalkeeper Noelle Gormley, she last year set up Gowa - see if you can figure out the name - and just a week ago left her job as a senior physio to focus on the business. They are already providing Kilkerrin-Clonberne’s training tops and some underage jerseys.
"Noelle used to do a little bit of work for a sportswear company up the north and a lot of people had said to her would she ever try to go out on her own," Ward explained. "We were in a car on the way back from Limerick and she was saying it to me. I did my own little bit of research into it and I said we should give it a try.
"We licensed the LGFA logo, which has been huge for us. You need that licence just for inter-county jerseys and for senior club jerseys so we're hoping to maybe get an inter-county team down the line.
"We've all dealt with a lot of other brands in the field and they're all predominantly male-owned. We're female owned, actually the only female-owned sportswear company in the country doing teamwear and leisurewear. So we think that we can best fit the needs of the ladies that probably haven't been met before, just with different anatomy and cycles, stuff like that.
"It's great to be able to provide our own girls anyway. They've been huge ambassadors for the company as well in getting to the All-Ireland last year because they're all decked out. It's been good promotion for us too. Good models.
"Obviously, we don't want to forget about the men either because management teams are predominantly male and there are a lot of men's clubs attached to ladies’. It's been huge learning over the last year and we're both really excited about where it could go.
"Noelle is a HSE clerical worker [in Sligo] and I was working in the hospital [Portiuncula in Ballinasloe]. She played for Sligo in goals and we actually met at the All-Stars. There's a gang of us that ended up back at a room party after and a few of us stayed in touch as friends. To see that this is where our friendship has gone now in creating a company providing sportswear to females is just mad really."
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