NIAMH CARMODY SAYS lifting the Brendan Martin Cup on behalf of Kerry was the greatest moment of her life – and will probably remain so.
The wing-forward became the first Kerry captain since the great Eileen Lawlor in 1993 to get her hands on the precious silverware.
Aside from achieving success at the third attempt following final defeats in 2022 and 2023, Kerry’s win over Galway has also nudged them ahead of neighbours Cork into top spot in the Championship’s roll of honour with a dozen titles.
A good afternoon’s work then.
“It’s going to be the greatest day of my life – I’d say maybe forever!” said Carmody. “It’s just fantastic. I can’t put it into words what it means to us.
“We always knew what this team was capable of. The display the backs put in today was absolutely phenomenal and you could see why Kayleigh Cronin got Player of the Match. The tackles that she put in, you’d go far and wide to see a better display of defending and I think that’s what the overall performance was built on.
“And the players who came in off the bench, Hannah O’Donoghue like, she kicked 1-2, we just have a phenomenal group of girls. So yeah, I think we just really showed what we’re capable of.”
Full-back Cronin was immense for Kerry in their semi-final win over Armagh in Tullamore but turned in an even more impressive display in the 3-14 to 0-11 final defeat of Galway.
“The one thing I remember from last year was when we were on the pitch after the final whistle went, after losing to Dublin, and Kayleigh went around to all of us and said, ‘We’re going to go again’,” said Carmody. “We knew that we were going to lose one or two people but I think I knew in my heart that a lot of us would come back. We knew we weren’t finished last year.
“At least that’s what I felt, and once we found that the managers were staying on, I don’t think anyone was going to step away.”
Joint managers Declan Quill and Darragh Long weren’t initially planning on staying on though. In fact, they privately called it quits when chatting immediately after last year’s final loss to Dublin.
“We were in the middle of the field last year looking up at Carla (Rowe) getting the Cup for Dublin and blue everywhere,” said Quill. “I remember we shook hands and he (Long) said, ‘That’s it’. And I said, ‘That’s it for me too’. He has kids at home, I have three kids at home as well. It is hard to keep everything going.”
The following morning, during a chat at the team hotel before returning home, they started to talk about the tweaks and alterations that might possibly make the difference in 2024. And just like that, they were up and running again.
The journey from there to here, to the summit of the 2024 Championship, via a first Munster championship success since 2017, has been a thrilling one.
“Perseverance is some trait to have and we have got it in absolute abundance,” said Long.
“We wrote down four items five and a half years ago when we took this job. We have ticked every box as of today. And yet last year we could have thrown in the towel, and we were super close to doing that. We thought we had run our race. We thought we had asked as much of the girls as we could ask of them. But we sounded girls out and they wanted us back. Unfinished business.
“It was tough losing against Meath two years ago but we probably weren’t expected to win. A lot of people maybe thought we’d win last year so that one hurt. And last year still hurts even though we have won today. But today is also going to make up for every bit of sacrifice we have asked of them and that they have asked of us over the last couple of years.”
Against that background of final failures – they lost another one earlier this year too, to Armagh in the Division 1 league decider – it was particularly sweet for the management watching Kerry streak to victory at Galway’s expense. The game was as good as up at half-time when they led by eight points.
“It was a dream scenario to be in that position a couple of minutes out,” agreed Long.
For Galway, it was another All-Ireland senior football final defeat, following on from the men’s defeat to Armagh. Both Galway managers reflected on missed opportunities after the respective defeats too.
“We got our shots away, we were still breaking lines and getting opportunities to put the ball over the bar but our accuracy wasn’t where it needed to be,” said Galway boss Daniel Moynihan.
“The Kerry defence did really well against us, particularly where we like to probe and create opportunities. But I still think we made a lot of opportunities in the first-half and we just didn’t convert, even goal chances as well, and that’s going to cost you in an All-Ireland final.”
