Donohoe on guard after loss to Tipp in league tie

REIGNING All-Ireland camogie champions Galway may be favourites to win this Saturday’s semi-final, but three-time All-Star Aoife Donohoe says the Tribeswomen have not forgotten the hurt they felt when losing to the Premier County in the National League last March.

Galway’s 1-8 to 0-10 spring defeat to Tipperary at Duggan Park, Ballinasloe, stung. It wasn’t just the loss itself, or that it ended Galway’s interest in the competition, but it was the manner of it, explains Donohoe.

“We were hugely disappointed after that game,” says the 27-year-old midfielder. “That day, we came out second best in all the physical battles and the hurling; they were on top for most of the game.

“There was a bit of soul searching done after that and we spoke how, going forward, we’d never be seen to come out second best in either work-rate or physical battles on the field again. They absolutely out-worked us that day and that was something we were hugely disappointed with.”

It is this that cuts her the deepest. Now, an experienced senior player, Donohue’s modus operandi has always been her work ethic – fighting for every ball until there is nothing left to give.

She does so willingly, embracing those facets of the game that, often, other players shirk from: winning the hard ball, making the selfless runs, tracking opposition players and putting the body on the line.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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