LOUISE NÍ MHUIRCHEARTAIGH is still smiling from ear-to-ear four days on.

On Saturday, she played a starring role as Kerry won their first Division 1 ladies football league title since 1991.

“It was very special,” one of the country’s top forwards began yesterday. “Any day you play in Croke Park is special, but the days you win here are more special. It’s something  we will remember forever, winning with a great group. It was just a great day out.”

And a complete performance: a 5-11 to 1-10 thumping of Galway to cap a perfect return to the top-flight for Darragh Long and Declan Quill’s high-flying Kingdom.

“Our management group as a whole would always tell us that they knew there was something special in this group,” Ní Mhuircheartaigh continues, “that a performance like that was in us — just to get us out of us really.

“Everything clicked on the day. I really feel the experience we gained in Croke Park last year in the three games we played here was something that helped us.”

2022 Division 2 champions and All-Ireland senior finalists, the goal was originally to consolidate their top-tier status. But a sensational Round 4 performance against Dublin, which yielded a 3-15 to 1-10 win in Austin Stack Park, came as a turning point.

“We realised, ‘Hang on a minute, we can actually make a final here’. That instilled something powerful in us.”

There’s been a resurgence in Kerry ladies football in recent times. A notable shift.

There’s a myriad of factors, Ní Mhuircheartaigh agrees — the management team, winning, belief, confidence, experience, silverware and improvements across the board — but she points to one key specific.

“The bond we have formed as a group is very special, it is a very unbreakable bond. We are very much like a family. We love spending time with each other. Any time they give us a break from training we are like ‘Oh God, what will we do without each other?’

“You love spending time with them, we love training and trying to improve one another. We have a very strong unit and a very strong team. Everyone is pushing one another this year more so than any other year I’ve been involved. There are a few players fighting for each and every position, it pushes you on in training. There is pressure on that you need to perform in every single training and match. I think that works really well for us, it drives us on and makes us focused that at training you need to bring your ‘A’ game every single time you put on those boots.”

It’s a brilliant balance. The fun and enjoyment remains pivotal amidst the seriousness of top-level sport, and that bond is cemented by management.

“They bring a lot of craic to training every time, as well as their professionalism, passion and love of the game. We just gel. There’s a mixture there between young and old but when we’re in that dressing room and on that pitch together, we’re all the same age really at heart.

“Look, we try and have a bit of craic together and I think that goes a long way as well. It sometimes takes away from the pressure and the stress that can be brought on by games at times. It’s a very special place to be involved and I’m very happy that I’m still there with that team, being part of it.

“If you weren’t enjoying it, I don’t think there’s any point in you going there. There was many years there that times were tough, we weren’t winning games and there was no enjoyment in it. You were wearing the jersey for the love of the game and for the sake of it, but now I think having that bit of craic and taking the biscuit out of each other is special, and important.”

That breath of fresh air has been mixed with belief, a lot of that coming from the knock-on effect of Meath’s recent success.

The Royals stormed through the ranks to win back-to-back All-Ireland senior championships, and their rise has inspired teams across the country.

Having already emulated their instant Division 1 league glory upon promotion, Ní Mhuircheartaigh and co. will be hoping Kerry’s story continues in the same vein, but they won’t get too far ahead of themselves.

They’ll stick to their ‘game by game’ motto, with Waterford up first in a “very tough” Munster championship opener.

“We spent many years there where it was either going to be between Cork or Dublin,” she concludes. “Since Meath did what they did the last two years, showed every single team that it can be done and all it takes is a bit of belief…

“That’s what our management have been trying to instill in us, that inner-belief that we can do it. It’s very exciting. Look, you couldn’t call the championship at all, there’s so many teams that are very strong.

“We’re hoping to do what Meath have done but it’s going to be a long road, and there are a lot of excellent teams out there that want the exact same thing that we do. So it’s going to be a tough, tight championship.”

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