THEY’RE SPOILED FOR choice when it comes to sporting icons around Moycullen in Galway.
Home to the county’s ladies and men’s football captains, a current Olympian, an in-form Irish soccer international and any number of talented basketballers, it’s a high-achieving community.
Ailbhe Davoren works in Dublin so plays her club football with Kilmacud Crokes but is one of those homegrown heroes and will captain the Galway ladies in Sunday’s TG4 All-Ireland final against Kerry.
Last Sunday, Moycullen’s Sean Kelly came on in Galway’s narrow All-Ireland final loss to Armagh, the captain unable to start due to injury.
They’ve been following Fiona Murtagh at the Olympics too while Davoren was quick to note that Julie-Ann Russell, who has scored for Ireland in recent soccer internationals against England and France, is another local.
Davoren herself has international basketball caps and is a talented dancer too so whatever they are doing in the area, it’s churning out remarkable athletes with a broad range of talents.
“Yeah, they’re very proud, the Moycullen people,” said Davoren.
There is a huge mix of things going on, probably competing with each other at times in terms of all that is on offer with basketball and football and camogie and hurling, and there is a big music scene as well. It’s a lovely spot to be from.
“I don’t know Fiona Murtagh personally but I have looked up to her in this Olympics and the last Olympics, she has been incredible. Julie-Ann Russell, representing Ireland is from Moycullen too, she’s just living over the road. I don’t know either of them personally but I definitely look up to them.”
That sense of respect is surely reciprocated. It was Davoren’s goal that secured the win for Galway in their All-Ireland semi-final win over Cork. And now she is on the brink of becoming just the second Galway player to lift the Brendan Martin Cup as the westerners seek to win the title for the first time since 2004.
All of which seemed entirely unlikely just a few months ago. Galway were relegated from the top flight of the National League after losing to Waterford in April, manager Daniel Moynihan describing it as their ‘worst performance’ of the campaign. They also lost their All-Ireland SFC opener to Cork.
Three games, and three huge wins, later, they’re closing in on that elusive All-Ireland win.
“I suppose you could call us delusional but we always believed that we could turn it around,” said Davoren, who struggled to explain exactly how they steadied and redirected their ship.
“To be honest, I’m not sure what the difference has been. We stayed training the same, we just tried to improve on a few things.
There is nothing between so many teams, one point here or there, and thankfully we have been on the right side of that recently.”
In defence of Galway, they lost four of their league games by two points or less. Their biggest losing margin was five points, so they were always competitive. But putting 7-22 on the board against Laois and following that up with an All-Ireland quarter-final defeat of holders Dublin still took everyone by surprise, perhaps even the Moycullen faithful.
“That was hugely exciting and meant so much to the girls,” said Davoren of the win over Dublin. “I don’t know, maybe from the outside it looks like we over celebrate our wins but we just were so happy to be, you know, kind of achieving really. Dublin are brilliant, they’ve driven the standard for years.
“We knew it was going to be extremely tight and it went to extra-time. We were dropping like flies, I dropped myself with cramp. It just shows the ferocious effort that people put in to win that game and we backed it up with our subs coming and doing brilliantly to get us over the line.”
Cork must still have fancied their chances in the last four but Galway goals from Roisin Leonard and Davoren elevated them to a landmark win. In all, they’ve scored 12 goals in their last three games.
“We probably weren’t able to create them in the past and it’s been the difference this year in terms of getting through to this All-Ireland final,” said Davoren.
The Dublin based schoolteacher plays for Kilmacud Crokes in the capital, along with Galway goalkeeper Dearbhla Gower. Another Galway icon, Shane Walsh, is a key figure for the Crokes men’s team. Davoren was at Croke Park last weekend to watch Walsh and Galway come up short to Armagh in the All-Ireland final.
It wasn’t her first time to feel the sting of an All-Ireland final loss there. She was part of the Galway panel in 2019 – having overcome a cruciate knee ligament injury – when the ladies reached their last final, and lost, to Dublin. A record crowd of over 56,000 turned up for that one but it was ruined by the weather and Dublin won it by scoring just five times; 2-3 to 0-4.
“No doubt it will be lashing again on Sunday,” smiled Davoren. “Ah look, the conditions will be there for both sides, whatever it is. We can’t blame the weather. It wasn’t a particularly great game for that one, 2019, so we are just hoping for a good game this weekend.”
Afterwards, the multi-talented Davoren will turn her attention to her other love, Sean-nós dancing. Look her up on YouTube and you’ll be impressed.
“I missed last year’s final, I was away in Lorient,” she said, referencing her involvement with a family group in the annual Interceltic Festival in France. “That’s kind of what I get into after the football finishes.”
It helps with the fitness too.
“Absolutely, I’ll tell you, I only do a few minutes at a time,” she said. “You’d be wrecked. I’ve dropped the gigs now for this week and last week, so that’s it, it’s all about the preparation for Sunday.”
