EXPERIENCED MAYO STAR Martha Carter admits that she still hasn’t dealt fully with the fall-out from last September’s TG4 All-Ireland ladies senior football final defeat to Dublin.
Mayo fell to a 12-point loss against the Sky Blues in front of a record final attendance of 46,286 at Croke Park — and Carter was joined on the starting team by Carnacon club-mates Marie Corbett, Fiona McHale, Doireann Hughes and Cora Staunton.
Another journey deep into the business end of the club campaign has helped to occupy the minds of the Carnacon contingent since then and on Sunday, they travel to Augher in Tyrone to play St Macartan’s in the All-Ireland senior semi-final.
Carter, (34), is anxious to finish the year on a high note, and then she’ll begin to process Mayo’s disappointment.
Carter explained: “I don’t think you can ever get over losing an All-Ireland.
“We hadn’t been there for so long. But you’re straight back into the club, we had a (county) semi-final the week after we lost the All-Ireland and it distracts you a bit.
“But when you start talking about it and thinking about it, it’s something that’s still there and something that hasn’t been dealt with properly.
“I’ll start thinking about it after the club but your mind would drift back to it on your own. I don’t think anyone can ever forget losing an All-Ireland – it doesn’t matter if it’s a day, month, or a couple of years.”
Carter says that she will consider her inter-county future in the New Year, as close friend Staunton prepares for a crack at the professional life with the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the Women’s AFL.
Carter reflected: “Yeah, it’s mad as in it’s something she deserves and has worked so hard for.
“It’s a serious opportunity and Cora being the first person to go over there is brill.
“We’ll definitely miss her. Regardless of whether we go back to county or not, she’ll be missing for the League for whoever is there.
“Hopefully she won’t miss too many games with the club, we might have an odd League game here and there.
“We’re all delighted for her and she’ll be a huge success down there. It will be interesting to see how she gets on and we’ll be watching. I can’t speak highly enough of Cora.”
Carter also revealed that, along with friends, she’s considered the prospect of travelling to Australia to watch Staunton play for her new club.
The more immediate focus, however, is on Carnacon’s quest for a sixth All-Ireland senior club title.
Carnacon were champions last in 2013 and Carter admits that playing first-time Ulster winners St Macartan’s, conquerors of last year’s All-Ireland winners Donaghmoyne, represents a trip into the unknown.
Carter says: “We’ve never played them before but we’d know a bit about them.
“They were building towards that and knocking out the All-Ireland champions was a huge statement.”
But Carnacon are battle-hardened, having come through a classic Connacht final replay with Galway’s Kilkerrin-Clonberne.
And Carter said: “If anything, those two games raised the profile of club football a bit. The crowds we had at both games were unbelievable.
“Fair play to Kilkerrin-Clonberne, we’ve always had huge battles and there’s a rivalry there but hopefully the two games will have brought us on.
“We’ve struggled in the championship so far and after losing the All-Ireland with Mayo, and coming back to the club, it’s hard to get the mind and body right.
“It has taken us a bit longer to settle into the club championship and we did struggle in the early rounds but those two games were of huge benefit, with a high standard on both days.”
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Unrelated but it looks sheenan’s injury isn’t too bad and he’ll be all good for the WC, according to a recently deleted tweet from the Indo
@J M: if you’re wrong I will hunt you down :)
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: if you have reddit you can see a screenshot of said tweet on the rugbyunion subreddit
@J M: unreal news on Sheehan, anyone else have any other news?
@J M: Thats made my day. We have some really good hookers but he gives the team a whole other dimension.
@J M: also hope both teams absolutely bash the crap out of each other
Will we be blown away again in the first 20 min with that AB pace? .. Going to be very interesting to see (doubt it though, plenty of rugby match time since then .. Fully expecting the boks to throw the kitchen sink. Very strong sides… Some more height in the bok backline obviously to counter the Aerial bombardment.. .. No better prep than this win or lose…
@Stuart: long as beat lumps out of each other i be happy
@Stuart: Depends which NZ shows up, they were poor against Aus in their last game and just flew to London this week, they may be rusty
@Owen ODonoghue: well they are pretty Much are at full strength… If we can slow down that quick ball (like the other top 3/4 sides in the world in the rwc), we should be able to strangle the life out of them and unleash the kraken…
Anyone know if there is somewhere we can watch this? I thought Amazon might be showing some of the games last week but they didn’t.
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: aren’t Sky Sports showing it ? If ya had a dodgy box it’s on the South African channel Super Sport … apparently
@Noel Roe: used to have a dodgy box but not for a long time. If its on Sky I know a way around it. Cheers.
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: according to Flashscore, it’s on Sky Sports Mix
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: Sometimes Premier Sports are late updating their schedule on the TV Guide, so it could still turn up there. Every rugby fan in the world wants to see this game, it’s sold out, so must be somewhere!
@John McNamara: checked – confirmed that on my programme guide. Yippee!
@John McNamara: cheers John
@John Morris: thanks guys
@Gearóid MacEachaidh: sky showcase
@Gearóid MacEachaidh:
Its on sky sports mix
South Africa have a pretty amazing warm up schedule, they’ll arrive to the ireland game with NZ, Aus, Arg Wales and Scottish games under their belt
@Owen ODonoghue: Ireland have beaten all of the above on their winning run to the SA match – oh, and include SA and France too!