O’Connell one of the driving forces in title run of 2004

WHEN Galway ladies football was at the height of its powers in the early noughties, there was a core group of players driving it on. One of those was Killererin native Marie O’Connell, who captained the Tribeswomen to an All-Ireland junior title in 2002 before helping her county to senior glory in ’04.

These days O’Connell resides in Togher in County Louth, where she is married to former Louth senior football panellist John Doyle. They have three children, Luke (4), Eoin (2) and Mark (three months) and “in between having kids, I am a vet,” she adds.

Indeed, it was her work that took her to Louth in 2011 – taking up a post in Dundalk – and it wasn’t long before she was kicking ball in the ‘Wee County’. “I played with Louth for two years when I came up here, in 2012 and 2013. We got to the All-Ireland in 2012 but we were well-beaten by Antrim (3-9 to 0-7).”

O’Connell played at centre-half back that day in Croke Park, returning to the ground where she had some great times with Galway. Despite the result, she really enjoyed being back there. “It was junior, so it was a different standard. I suppose, we were very lucky when PJ Fahy (2004 Galway manager) was there. We had professionalism before a lot of other ladies teams had.

“He really upped the ante when he came in, between being the manager, with the sponsorship, and he was very generous to us. The training methods implemented by Richard Bowles and my uncle Michael (O’Connell) were excellent. The management was years ahead of their time.

“So, when I moved to Louth, I saw that Louth ladies football was eight or 10 years behind where Galway was. There was some difference. Even the club football in Louth was a long way behind Galway, although they have caught up since. They are getting there now.”

In 2000, Galway were defeated in the All-Ireland junior final by Down, O’Connell lining out at wing-back on that team. Two years later, though, she captained the side to victory over Donegal, securing Galway promotion to the senior ranks.

While they lost the All-Ireland senior semi-final to Mayo in 2003, Fahy’s outfit turned the tables on their greatest rivals at the same stage of the competition 12 months later, winning 3-10 to 3-9 after extra time – in a replay! It summed up the rivalry between the neighbours.

O’Connell agrees. “Those games against Mayo were the best games we ever played. The rivalry we had with Mayo! I read Cora Staunton’s book there recently and it brought back a lot of memories. They hated us as much as we hated them. She openly says it in the book and I was like ‘oh my God, I am so glad they thought of us what we thought of them’,” she laughs.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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