Following a 2024 club season that was beyond their wildest dreams, Shannen Cotter and Bennekerry/Tinryland are exactly where they want to be in this year's Carlow senior football championship.
Having overcome Old Leighlin a little over 12 months ago to claim their sixth top-tier crown in the O’Hanrahan County, Bennekerry/Tinryland subsequently secured a Leinster intermediate crown with an impressive final win over Meath’s Dee Rangers.
After getting the better of Cavan’s Mullahoran in a last-four bout, Cotter and her team-mates then pulled out all the stops to defeat Annaghdown of Galway in an All-Ireland intermediate final at Croke Park last December – becoming the first club from Carlow to win a national ladies football club title in the process.
Attempting to replicate an impressive treble success was always going to be difficult, but Bennekerry/Tinryland safely advanced to another Carlow SFC showpiece for 2025 with five consecutive group stage victories.
This sets up a top-tier final date with Old Leighlin for a ninth time in succession at SETU Carlow this afternoon and owing to their success in the Leinster IFC last year, the winner of their latest clash will progress to the provincial senior series.
"We had such a fantastic 2024," Cotter explains. "I don’t think any of us ever dreamed of it happening, but coming into club championship this year, at the start of the year there was 11 of us in with the county as well.
"The girls were training away on their own for ages and then we all came back together. Our group goal was three-in-a-row in Carlow, so that’s what we hope to accomplish now on Saturday."
While playing at the venue with her club made it a monumental occasion in its own right, Cotter’s experience in Croke Park on 14 December of last year was enhanced when Bennekerry/Tinryland defeated Annaghdown on a scoreline of 2-10 to 1-07.
Even better still, the reliable goalkeeper was captain of the side on the day and this meant she was the first one tasked with climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand and lifting the All-Ireland intermediate club championship trophy on behalf of her club.
"I mentioned before, a complete honour to be able to do that for my club," she said.
"I remember when Chris [Townsend, team manager] said I was the captain, I was like 'are you sure, because there is some amount of leaders on the team’. That’s one thing, I never felt like I had a job within the team."
Away from football, Cotter is currently in her second year as a teacher at St Mark’s Community School – located just is Springfield, Tallaght. Although this presents her with a sizable commute to and from club and county training, she is not alone in this regard.
She lives in the capital with her Carlow and Bennekerry/Tinryland colleague Clíodhna Ní Shé and there are others like them who are also based up in Dublin for the majority of the year.
"We usually commute together, so we’ll meet somewhere and one of us will drive down. Switching every trip. Some of the most enjoyable times and some of the memories I have when I think about football are those commutes up and down to Dublin."
