THEY SAY THE dual player is a dying breed in the modern game but no one appears to have told that to Kildare star Siobhán Hurley.

This weekend Hurley will be part of the Johnstownbridge camogie team preparing for their first ever Leinster Junior club final. While it is a first for the club, Hurley will line out for what is an incredible 65th game since last December.

Between club and inter-county commitments for Johnstownbridge and Kildare, both in camogie and football since she went back training 12 months ago, the school teacher has trained 186 times and had 69 games, missing just five through injury and illness.

Despite such a busy schedule this year Siobhán revealed that she is still enjoying herself.

“I don’t really know, I suppose I never knew any different,” she said when asked how she keeps going.

I was playing both from a young age and I would find it very hard to pick one over the other. I suppose I complain a lot about it during the year but when you win you forget about the sacrifices that you’ve made, winning makes it all worthwhile.

Tough times

Holidays and weekends away are cut to a premium with all the training but it’s not toil according to Siobhán who will line out alongside her sisters Áine and Eimear in the Leinster final.

“I suppose you I do love it really. I get on so well with the girls on all the teams and I respect them so much that you just wouldn’t mess around.

“You know what you sign up for at the start of the year; you know you can’t just go away on holidays whenever you want because you know you’re letting somebody down.

“At the end of the day they are all your friends and you don’t want to be the one to let the team down, to miss the important training that could cost you a match at the end of the day.

“You know you have to be there all the time and that’s what you sign up for so you can’t really complain when you can’t do other things.”

She has won a league and championship double with her club in both football and camogie this season but she revealed that Kildare’s loss to Dublin in the Leinster football semi-final was a turning point in the year for a number of reasons. It was the only time she questioned her hectic schedule.

“I suppose this year after the Dublin game in the football I questioned things. We put so much work into it and we just didn’t perform on the day and then we had to go out and play Roscommon the next day in the camogie.

“I think Louise (Keatley) and Jane (O’Donoghue) were both injured but I had to play and I remember not wanting to be near a pitch at all.

Having lost such a big match it is so hard to motivate yourself and go out and play another championship match the next day. That told in my performance in that match and I just remember after that I did have a very hard think about playing the two of them for the rest of the year because it was such a big year for the two teams.

“I decided I would finish out the year anyway but it would be rare enough, it’s only when you get injured or sore and you’re feeling sorry for yourself that you think ‘can I do the two,’ but usually it’s fine.”

Drive

The defeat did drive herself and fellow dual players Keatley and O’Donoghue to help Kildare win the All-Ireland Premier Junior championship.

“It did really because myself, Louise and Jane were so depressed after the football that we said to one another that we were winning the camogie and that was it. We were sick of losing every year, to get to a certain stage and then to fall short at the end and that really drove us on this year.

We’ve been training since last October and we decided we weren’t going to fall short this year.

So when does she get time to rest?

“You can rest after matches!” she said laughing.

“I like training when there are games to play, and I would be looking forward to a break but I hope it doesn’t end until after the club All-Ireland!”

6 Talking Points before this weekend’s GAA club action