1996 camogie final hero believes Galway can do it

Date Published: {J}

FORMER Galway camogie star Denise Gilligan knows all about the highs and lows of sport. She has seen it all . . . be it collecting the Player of the Match accolade when guiding the Tribeswomen to their one and only senior All-Ireland victory in 1996 or sustaining an injury which, in effect, ended her playing days with the county.

This Sunday, Galway’s senior camogie side – under the direction of manager Noel Finn – will seek to bridge the 15-year-gap since the county’s last All-Ireland triumph. For Gilligan, who bagged two vital goals in the Westerners’ 4-8 to 1-15 victory over Cork in the ’96 decider, this time of year evokes warm and happy memories. Nostalgia reigns.

“When that final whistle went, it was pure shock and elation and it was just a feeling that I can’t describe,” recalls Gilligan, who returned to her native Craughwell from London, where she now works as an Education Accounts Manager, for her cousin Fergal Healy’s recent wedding to another local girl, Karen Ryan.

“I remember, afterwards, walking across the Shannon with the [O’Duffy] cup and [RTE commentator] Marty Morrissey driving past and we all shaking the living daylights out of his car,” she laughs. “Another memory was coming into my own village here in Craughwell at 2 o’clock in the morning and seeing my grandparents out in the crowd that was waiting for us. It had taken us about eight hours to come down from Dublin.

“Dancing at the crossroads in Gortymadden was another memory, but, you know, the celebrations really went on for a year afterwards. We brought the cup the length and breadth of Galway and the amount of media coverage we got was absolutely fantastic. Ten years later, I still had people coming up to me and saying ‘I remember you playing in the ’96 final’. It was really good.”

No doubt, Gilligan – who, at 18 years of age, was the second youngest member of the team after 16-year-old Veronica Curtin – was a name on everyone’s lips in those days, particularly after her towering performance in the All-Ireland final. It earned her the Player of the Match award.

“To be fair, though, Sharon Glynn was responsible for the two goals I scored,” states ‘Gilly’. “I remember the first one; I will never forget it. It was coming up to half-time – it was 12-a-side at the time and there were four forwards – and Imelda Hobbins, Martina Harkin and Veronica Curtin had all scored and I was the only forward that hadn’t scored. I was like ‘if I don’t do something quick, I am in trouble’.

“I remember a big, long, high ball coming in from Sharon Glynn and it bounced in the square. I was literally on my knees and I had to dive for it and it ended up in the back of the net. We had been about six points down at that stage. Then at half-time, the referee gave us another point on the scoreboard because he hadn’t registered one of Sharon Glynn’s frees in the first half. So, we were only down two points at the break.

“Then, in the second half, about 10 minutes in, another big, long ball from Sharon landed in front of me. I ran onto it, let fly, and it went into the far corner. I think I knew then that we had a chance. With Sharon putting the frees over, Martina Harkin got the next goal before Dympna Maher got another. Once we had the four goals, we were on our way.”

An All-Ireland senior medal, the world was at Gilligan’s feet. Already, she had claimed minor and junior All-Irelands with the Tribeswomen in ’94 while she also collected a brace of national medals in the mid-‘90s with St. Brigid’s Vocational School. The trophy cabinet was filling, and, she believed, it would continue to do.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.