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‘Injury Time’ with Paul Gannon. Paul is again talking to Lisa Cole. Broadcast Friday the 31st Of May 2024 https://www.connemarafm.com/audio-page/
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‘Injury Time’ with Paul Gannon. Paul is again talking to Lisa Cole. Broadcast Friday the 31st Of May 2024 https://www.connemarafm.com/audio-page/
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‘Injury Time’ with Paul Gannon. Paul is again talking to Lisa Cole. Broadcast Friday the 31st Of May 2024 https://www.connemarafm.com/audio-page/
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Injury Time, sponsored by Kilmore Abbey and Gardens, is a program where Lisa Cole shares her experiences in sports. She talks about playing for her club and county in Gaelic football. She recalls a Junior B League semi-final that ended in a draw and didn't go to extra time. She also discusses how she moved from club level to county junior level, as well as her journey to winning the All-Ireland in 2004. She mentions the challenges and successes she faced along the way. This program is kindly sponsored by Kilmore Abbey and Gardens, 095 52001. Good evening listeners, you're all welcome to Injury Time, the final Injury Time program of the month of May 2024, and it's time for the sequel with Lisa Cole. Lisa, you're very welcome back into studio. We managed to get through your exploits in association football and athletics in our first engagement, so I'll tell you what, we'll just crack on because we have a lot to get through in terms of playing for your club and playing for your county in Gaelic football, so you're most welcome anyway Lisa. Thanks Paul. So we'll kick off in 2002 and I've a memory of a Junior B League semi-final that ended in a draw and controversially didn't go to extra time on the day, and yourself and Yvonne Daly had to leave straight away because you had a Junior match for Galway in Corrifin. Now that replay was played the following weekend, Grinding Whales managed to get through the second time round, but can you just tell us how it came about that you moved from club level up to county junior level initially, how did that come about? Pat Beeson got in contact with me actually and asked me would I be interested in playing for the Galway Juniors. We played that game against Milltown, many of the battles we had against them, they wanted to play extra time but myself and Yvonne Daly were playing on opposite teams and we knew we had a match so we jumped in the cars and went to Corrifin and instead of playing against each other we played with each other in midfield for Galway that day. I think Yvonne's dad had a much more favourable disposition to end the second game. Yeah he was an out and out Milltown person and when we were playing against him he was shouting for Milltown and he wasn't too pleased with me but when we went to Corrifin and we were playing with each other I was the best thing since I spread. PJ Fatty was the Galway Senior Manager at the time, was he present that day? It wasn't too long after that that he, you know, the two of you just fast-tracked straight to senior from junior. Yeah I don't really recall but I know obviously Patricia Gleeson played with the Galway Seniors and Pat was Patricia's dad who was with the Galway Juniors and I presume PJ and Pat were fairly good connections and stuff so I think that came about with a phone call from PJ Fatty asking me would I come and do it, they were playing a game, just a friendly game in Banliss Low and would I be interested in playing so I said I'd give it a go anyways. So I think he put me in full back that day, first time I ever played full back I was all over the place, the ball was coming in and hitting off the post and I didn't know which way to go because I'd never played full back. I tried my best anyways and I thought oh sure he's not going to pick me now, I didn't get the ball that much and blah blah blah so but afterwards he said oh would you be interested in joining the panel and I said I would so yeah that's how that came about. What do you think he saw in you? I don't know really, I suppose I was strong on the ball when they came in, I was a good fielder on the ball and I was very determined and I was very very fit from athletics so I suppose I would have been a runner really more than anything else. He used to joke with me actually because he used to call me Forrest Gump because I could run all day and everything like that and the soloing he said used to be up in the air but the more training I was getting the closer I was getting to my foot that I was improving so. So he saw the raw material and I suppose to be fair to PJ he is a legendary trainer of greyhounds isn't he? He is yeah. Maybe he saw a bit of the greyhound in you as well. Maybe yeah. He obviously would be very attracted to speed and would, you know I've met guys over the years and I could tell at an early juncture that the thing that they most took enjoyment out of in elite sports was speed and I'd say PJ was probably in that. Yeah I suppose, I suppose speed and everything else and I think one of the first official games I played I think was against Kerry in Pearce Stadium. I suppose the girls that came through from the All-Ireland in 2002 so they had played together for years and I suppose I just came into the set up then and we were playing Kerry in Pearce Stadium and I played right half forward but I think I got the ball about five times in the whole game. I was so frustrated but any ball I got I won myself but the girls were so used to playing with each other and they passed to each other because they were so used to playing and it wasn't that they weren't passing to me it was just that they were used to each other playing and so I went into the changing room and me being me I took off my boots threw them in the bag and told PJ you'll never see me again. So he's like oh jeez will you not come back and train and blah blah blah and I said nope not a chance. So off I went home and then he rang me the next day and he rang me the next day and the answer was still no and then about a week later he told me that if he had to come out and get me himself that he'd bring me back in so I decided anyways I'd go back in again and that was the turnaround I went to every week then, 125 training sessions the year we won the All-Ireland so driving from Clifton to Bellatare, Clifton sometimes to Glen and Maddy and home. It was handy actually I used to work in Gannon's at that time and started open a bit early so I used to do the early shifts and I'd be finished around three or four and then I'd jump in the car and go to training. I suppose just taking 2003 initially you went close in 2003 I remember being at the All-Ireland quarter final up in Pearse Park in Langford, you won the Player of the Match award that day and then was it Mayo that beat you in the semi-final? Mayo beat us I think in a really close match. Yeah in a very close game yeah, pipped us at the post but we got our revenge the following year so and Mayo obviously had been reigning champions for years before that, their role was very strong so they were the team to beat in 2003-2004 era you know? Yeah I mean they had picked up was it four All-Ireland titles between 1999-2003 of course they got Diana Hoare got the famous late goal in 2003 and they beat Dublin to win and then Dublin were destined to fall again a year later to Yee as it turned out. I remember that semi-final was played on a Saturday evening and it went to extra time when you beat Mayo and then the following day yourself and Yvonne Daly made the long journey down to Cardiff Strand for the county junior A championship final between Midtown and Croydon Wales and I remember it being talked about at the time like just the unfairness of it all on two county players to have to tag out again for your clubs the following day you know? Things are better now in that regard but at that time. It is but I don't it didn't really take much effect or I think that time Jeannie was there your sister she was doing physio and I remember my calf muscles were very very sore but once she wrote the note it was fine you know I think sometimes people are too mollycoddled and they're saying oh they can't play for another week and all this crap but that wasn't the case when we played like we were we were allowed to train with our club we were allowed to play with our club unless it was obviously coming up to the All-Ireland or something like that but they were quite good like that time they were all about club as well as county you know so. Just talk for a few minutes about 04 and that incredible journey to winning the All-Ireland and just some standout moments maybe on that journey you know for the inter county journey. I think PJ kind of I think he did one interview initially at the very start and he said I think we have something special here and I think we're going to be able to win the All-Ireland with this bunch of girls. I think he just I don't know what it was about him that everyone seemed to play for him like he was good fun at training and everyone like he really had good time for everyone and we just played for him really and I remember the day of the first championship matches against Mayo and Hulme Stadium you know Richard was saying like we've done all the work now so just go out and play like you can and so on and so forth and it was a really tough game and I remember we won it 9 points to 8 and we just thought we were the best thing since sliced bread and that's where that song came out of Twin just once that's when we started singing it and it was a great feeling like to beat the All-Ireland champions and you know defending All-Ireland champions and all that so. So that was your first of many. That was the first of many encounters with Mayo. We played them four times in 2004. But that was your first time to win a Connacht senior championship winner's medal. No that was the first round of the championship. That was the first round. Oh yeah with Roscommon we're in at that point. Then we played Roscommon and then we played Mayo in the Pier Stadium in the Connacht final that was we were really nervous about that because Yvonne Daly used to mark Cora Staunton and it was really hard to mark her once she got the ball. She'd nearly always draw a foul if she couldn't get past herself so we kind of figured out that the way to do it was to mark Clare Egan as well as Cora Staunton. Mark Clare Egan as much as we could to stop the ball going in. We absolutely hockeyed Mayo in the Connacht final that day. We actually played really really good. So that was a great feeling. First Connacht title, senior Connacht title again. A great celebration can go away that night. And then onward to quarter final after that? Yeah quarter final and then we played Mayo in the semi-final and Niamh Fahey's famous free kick that went into the goal. God she was quick thinking that day. I remember walking past her and we were kind of looking at each other and I was like go for it and she just buried in the back of the net and kept us in the game. It was a draw so we had to replay them again the following week in Hyde Park. First game was down in Portlaoise. God the Mayo games were so tense. I always remember the fans used to hate each other at the matches. They were all so tense because of the games and even the management panels and the selectors and the players. But off the pitch it was fine. They were the team to beat really and I suppose there was real passion in the games and everything like that so it was great to get over the line there. There were a county that won maybe four All-Irelands in a seven year period but they actually could have won about seven in a row. They had some great players like Clare Egan, Nuala O'Shea, Lina Lohan, Diana Hora, Cora obviously and the Holly Monks. Yeah Christie and Marcella Hepburn were brilliant. They were the team to beat. We played in Dr Hyde Park and the game actually went to extra time and we won it in extra time. I remember it was nearly by one point. It was nearly dark when we finished and I got Player of the Match in the replay. So I got a nice glass football booth presented at the end of the match so I was delighted. That was the second Player of the Match award that year. Yeah. And then the final itself and you didn't play that well for 25 minutes the first half. Oh my god no, the first 20 minutes. You didn't really turn up at all. I think we were six points down. You were 6-1 down. Yeah, or 6-1 down was it? I think so, yeah. Yeah, in the first. And Dublin had hit the crossbar or the upright at least twice and we were just all over the place. We were so nervous going out. I'd never played in Croke Park before and I mean it was just, you know, everyone was so hyped up for the game and all our families were there and so on and so forth and it was just pressurised and we went out and we actually got a goal I think. Niamh Duggan scored a goal about five minutes before half-time. I think you might have given her the pass. Yeah, a ball was kicked out and PJ had switched me from the right half forward to the left and I won the ball and I gave a hand pass to, I can't recall now, but they gave a pass into Niamh Duggan and we got a goal and that settled us. And when we went in at half-time I'll never forget Fiona Wynne giving us this inspirational speech and said what a yap, like you can play so much better than that. And I think all year long we were like a second half team anyways, we seemed to play better in the second half. And we made a few switches, I think Julian Joyce came on for Michelle Zellini I think at half-time and Edele Kankana came on at some point and Nick Clarke scored a great goal and we got some goals and we didn't look back after that. Edele Kankana got the other one. Got another goal, yeah. Everything PJ did from that point on worked. It did, yeah, it worked and we just played, once we settled we played football we could play. I think Dublin may have got a bit complacent about it because they had Mayo beaten the previous year only for Diana Hoare to pop up last minute and score an opportunist goal right at the death to beat them. They were nearly home in holes in the approaching half-time against G. They had more experience of playing in Croke Park obviously and probably felt it was their time. And then that second half you blitzed them. I think even like TJ Carr had done a programme on them leading up to the actual All-Ireland and was following them in their training sessions and I think they believed they were going to beat us as well. But PJ definitely had different ideas. He knew if we settled we could do it. I remember my mum saying dad was there and he missed most of the first half because he was so stressed out watching it and he just went out and he was walking around and then he came back and he was like oh they got a goal so he was delighted then but yeah in the second half we just turned it around and I think Lorna gave me a point pass and I scored a point to level it and after that we just fired on all cylinders and we just played so well. I remember getting the second point and I turned around and god the passion it was just unreal and I just always remember the whistle. I just turned clarity I think at one point and I could see the clock counting down and I said we actually have it, we have it, we have it and the whistle went and I knew all my family were over and the queues expanded so I could just see my mother and Katie jump on the barriers and everybody else after them and the next thing I know all the Kingstown crowd had me up on top of their shoulders and oh such a feeling it was brilliant. Yeah I remember being on the pitch afterwards and there was just a mass of people on the pitch. Yeah it was crazy. That's the only time in my whole life I've ever been on the Croke Park pitch and of course I was an officer on the county executive at the time so I had a big vested interest in it and of course we had our issues maybe with senior management at the time and I remember thinking at the time that whatever happened anyway I had to protect my relationship with my signature player or whatever like and you know we've known each other a long time and we always managed. I never let any of that get in the way really to be honest like for me I love to play in club too and I love to play in county and I think I don't know that 2014 that we had with Galway was something special like I seen Dimgar as more than I seen my own family for the whole year long and they were so good and so nice to play football with and I don't know it was just a thing where I knew all the girls families and PG knew all my family and he knew my grandfather and he was like my grandfather used to back horses and PG would be sending me kits for my granddad and you know it was something special you know yeah it was really good. Great to be part of something like that and I'll never forget the celebration in the City West. Yeah coming back on the bus was yeah it was unreal that we came back on the bus and everyone was waiting outside in the City West and I hadn't seen my granddad or my granny at all because they hadn't come on for the pitch so I was looking for them like and that was it was you probably don't remember what you were on about Golden Ale Rivalry and stuff but I remember being on that bus and Diana Hora jumping on and getting the lift. Oh no way I don't remember that at all. Yeah she was just walking along she was heading yeah and I just thought Golden Ale you know yeah like it was just comical. It was it was mad yeah and just the drive up to City West and just everyone was out with the flags and you know something that you'll never forget you know it's something it was something really special. And here we are 20 years later and Golden still haven't won their second there's no sequel it's incredible we'll stay with the intercounty for a couple of minutes before we take our break yeah one year later you're back again. One year later we're back again yeah 2005. But PJ is no longer there. PJ's no longer there yeah Richard and Mick took it over and to be fair to them they did a great job but I just think there was just a chain there and one of the links was gone and I just think it just I don't know what happened on the day I mean everyone played well and everything it was just quirk. I think we should have stole it really but yeah it was tough I tore my cruise kit playing for college after that in 2004 yeah in 2004 so I didn't get back playing for Galway till we played Dublin in the quarterfinal in the championship in 2005 and I got a bad pass and I went down to get the ball and Angie McNally and another girl came in and hit my knee and it went again and tore my cruise kit again. Like I still went to the games and everything like that but obviously I wasn't even in training. You were introduced right at towards the end. Yeah I mean I don't think we were that far behind and I think Richard's thinking was maybe I could kick a ball in or whatever kicked fast pass to Gillian and it just skimmed wide at the post and it would have put us back into it but it's uh yeah when you just tore a cruise kit and it was all taped up it was simply hard to play. Something like 11 points to Cork there wasn't any goals scored in it I don't think. No. And Cork just pushed on in the last kind of 10 minutes a bit stronger but I remember Phil Miniflarity played very well on the day. Yeah. She hit two or three scores for Galway. I mean the same players were there as far as I can recall bar me I think but I think it was just that PJ wasn't there and not that Mick and Richard couldn't do it because they're the ones that were taking the trainings the whole time as PJ says sometimes that he was the only one standing there and Richard and Mick were running the show like and it was just that was something that was gone and I don't know maybe all the players felt it and I suppose they tried their best and you know Cork were the up-and-coming team that time too so it could have gone either way and it was just Cork stole it you know. That was their first at Ireland and sure look what they did after that you know. I mean they were given the team of the decade accolade and not the Kilkenny Earlers when it came down which was incredible. Yeah. And then the following year 06 that controversial game against Armagh that was a semi-final wasn't it and the point that was and wasn't given. Yeah uh jeepers who took that point at all? I think it was Barbara Hannon. It was it was Barbara Hannon um yeah Barbara Hannon scored a point and then we devoid that would have put us a point ahead and instead they came down the pitch and well first of all everyone was like trying to get the rest attention and the umpire's attention and seeing that that was a point and such and such but they took a quick kick out and we were kind of a bit lost because we were still going on about the point that went over eventually they got down the pitch and I think they got a free and they actually put the three over and they won the game and uh there was a lot of controversy over it uh it was put in pg put it got someone and then it was put into the papers the pictures and all but there was no way of overturning it and yeah and that was that was Armagh into their first ever All-Ireland Senior Final. Yeah. So I suppose looking back Lisa there's that incredible you know the the joy of the whole 2004 and it being so special. Yeah. But there must be a tinge of regret that it you know that really that was a goal of a team that had the capability of a three in a row. Yeah for sure yeah I think I think there could have been a three in a row there I'm not too sure what went on with the county board that time and PJ I know they asked him to reapply for his job for 2005 after winning the All-Ireland and I think he did and I think there was a bit of I don't know what went on really but yeah that was one of the cogs missing out of the wheel and I think that's what happened and I you know I think the girls that were there was I don't know I think there could have been a three in a row but it just wasn't to be you know. Yeah. You stayed with the county for a couple of years after that under different management. Yeah I did go through different managers Kevin Welsh took over at one point of Pat Costolo, Gail O'Brien was there at one point, Jason Tannion and we had a lot of different managers a lot of chopping and changing a lot of players gone and so on and so forth. Kind of a time of transition. Yeah I suppose. Ní Cháhi left. Ní Cháhi left yeah she went on to for bigger things and. She was a monumental loss. Yeah sure she was huge and Annette Clarke was injured for a while like even during the when she was playing the All-Ireland she was getting a lot of treatment on her Achilles tendons and she used to be suffered really bad with them and you know everyone was getting injuries and things like that but yeah. Well 20 years on from 04 you know players like yourself and Annette Clarke and Patricia Gleeson who were iconic kind of midfield players at incredible levels of fitness and I feel you know I don't know have Galway ever really replaced you. I don't personally I don't think so and that's not to boost your ego but that's I think that's actually the reality like. It's hard to know yeah I actually read an article there and that PGFI he had when Galway went to the All-Ireland 2007 was that PGFI was just doing an interview on the girls that were actually going and he just kind of went back. The last All-Ireland Galway lost was 19. And the one before that oh no maybe it was 2019 so actually sorry yeah and he was just doing an interview and he was saying like the average age of the teams and so on and so forth and then he kind of joked saying that maybe his team would still be the team that were going for the All-Ireland so he had a lot of faith in us I think and yeah the team there I just remember going to training and to be fair it wasn't the case that you'd walk up and you'd know your place not a notion you'd have to fight tooth and nail every training session because every girl there was a panel of 30 there 31 because he kept Rebecca McSullivan in on the panel she had torn her cruciate and he was very good like that to keep her in and sure she was absolutely classed there she would have been on the team if her if her leg was fine and you just really had to fight for your place it was so tough like the training sessions some of the toughest players I ever came up against were our own players that we would have trained against at training you know so I only saw one training session and that was in a place called Confi in Kildare on the way on the way this was the day before and I sat in on on the bus and everything you say about the group in terms of your interpersonal relationships and all of that and personalities like I you know was born out in that journey like and yeah there was a tremendous spirit oh yeah great spirit and the group and you don't the wine comes and the Jetsons and the whole yeah we did yeah we've got well up Jets in our own fairness PJ would have nothing but the best for us like we were actually treated like a professional team really to be fair and you know we had the best of everything we had a dietitian and Richard's wife Maria and we had Lara who was our physio she kept us all together and Mick and Richard and there was just a great great team there and panel and and management panel and it was uh yeah I like it was funny because some of the girls Patricia Gleason like she'd always be late for the bus she'd be doing her tan and she'd have her hair straightened and Laura would be forgetting something I would have to turn back for it and I'll stop yeah the girls were just they were comical really we just said we had great times I think that's why we played so well together just it was just such fun you know it was great fun I remember watching that training session and it wouldn't it wouldn't have been your most arduous obviously but you know I just thought Richard Bowles as a technical coach I thought he was just he's unbelievable he had so many drills yeah but like to watch an inter-county team do it because as you know club there's a big differential in club and things break down a lot quicker I remember thinking wow I remember him introducing the star drill and we did it at the end of every training session and we just we were so good at it like we didn't even have to look there'd be two and three balls going and you'd be skipping one to left and one to the right and just like and we had a lot of tall players actually on that team and yeah duck and dive but um yeah we had super fast hands going through and all the drills we did and just he's he's just amazing really all the drills even when I go to train the under 14s at the moment I'm trying to think of the drills that he did because when you're put on the spot it's very hard to think of what to do but he just had them one after another after another after another you know just to wrap up on the inter-county front in this conversation the homecoming to Clifton can't leave that oh yeah couldn't leave that out yeah oh my god that was a week to remember the whole week either coming first we left Dublin going home on the bus and we stopped off at the Bannisloe horse fair actually I have to give a shout out to Katrina too I presume it was her that put up there was signs for vested up for Lisa and the Galway ladies on the Bannisloe road yeah and I think it was her that put them up so they were like who's putting signs up for you in Bannisloe and you're from Clifton but anyway we stopped off at Bannisloe on the way home and and we continued on to all the different clubs and I remember getting to Terry Burns I think it was five or six o'clock in the morning I could be mistaken and I remember going in there and I really didn't go home we went home then at some point and had showers and we ended up going into Taft for that the next day and PJ had organized to get the match shown for us in Busker Brown so we watched the match again and oh we went to different places and then eventually it came to our turn to bring to Clifton and yeah that was super special you know we were actually quite late coming home I remember stopping on the bus in Oak Garage and there was lines of cars behind us going to Clifton following the bus and we ran into Kyo's supermarket and we were obviously buying alcohol for the bus you know and we piled up all the things we were holding up the whole traffic in Oak Garage and everything we were trying to rush through and this lady was ahead of us she goes oh the girl's the one you learned we said we are she goes she bought all our drink for us and everything and she's like oh well done and we were like great thanks we jumped on the bus and then we came to Clifton and sure the first thing they said was a lot of them hadn't been ever to Clifton and they were like oh my god I can't believe you drove this road day in day out to train in Oak they could not believe it was so far out they call it out the sticks to me but it is and um yeah the fire brigade and the squad cars and everything was there and they never seen the likes of it and there was a massive crowd in Clifton absolutely massive crowd in the square and uh obviously my uh my dad my gran my nanny on my dad's side she didn't go to the match and she was waiting for me when I got off the bus so that was something special as well you know and we got our photo taken and you know it was great you know and uh obviously all the Crony Wales were there and everyone from hometown and everywhere it was very special you know some things you never forget there absolutely yeah well in terms of your club that you just mentioned there 2004 was a very special year for Crony Wales also and we we'll pick it up there after this track which uh we often played on celebratory nights for Crony Wales yeah tonight's the night and tonight's going to be a good night so I think that was we got a feeling for some of the games that we were going to play and I remember even just before we'd just go out the pitch and said I've got a feeling and that was how the track came about with the Crony Wales so that was one of the things so we'll talk some more after the sound good good night I got my money let's kick it I know that we'll have a ball way and we won't do it again that tonight's gonna be a good night that tonight's gonna be a good night that's a nice gonna be a good good night that's a nice gonna be a good night that's a nice gonna be a good night that's a nice gonna be a good good night I'm about that's over come on let's kick it off and then we'll do it again let's do it let's do it let's do it let's do it and do it and do it and do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it do it here we come here we go we gotta rock easy come easy go now we on top till the shot body rock rock it don't stop round and round up and down around the top one day tuesday wednesday and thursday friday saturday saturday you know what we say party every day party every day that tonight's gonna be a good night that tonight's gonna be a good night that's a nice gonna be a good good night that's a nice gonna be a good night that's a nice gonna be a good night so this program is kindly sponsored by calmore abbey and gardens 095 52001 so welcome back listeners i'm with lisa cole here and they said before we talk about growing your whales and a very special year in 2004 i omitted your all-star awards in 2003 and 2004 which was an amazing achievement like particularly in 03 when Galway didn't even reach the final yourself and emma flirty won the award yeah myself and emma flirty won the two all-star awards yeah um yeah that was something special too it was a bit of excitement going up to city west and it was all black tie and sharing my aunt so i think we're more excited than i was the one and lisa mccona and a few of my cousins and stuff came up so we made a right i'll go good night of it like and um yeah it was kind of nerve-wracking sitting there and i actually have a video on my phone of it a pj sent me so that was kind of cool to see it again we were just all waiting to hear who got it and my name is called out and it was yeah it was really cool dad jumped up and gave me a big hug and a kiss and he was so excited you know and it was up to get the mary mac lisa's presenting the all-star and um that was a great night then in 2004 there was a lot more of the goalie team uh selected and uh i suppose i think it was bertie hearn that presented the the all-star award and uh yeah it was something special and it was kind of a reward for all the hard work and the training throughout the two years and um we got to go on some trips we got to go to uh new york for 2003 all-stars we got to go to new york in 2004 and a few other girls actually got went on that because i think it was one of uh they brought a rest of ireland team to play us we played a curtain raiser to mayo and the men's championship uh game in gaelic park that was great fun sure it was we didn't go too mad because that was 2004 and we knew we were fairly on for the all-ireland so uh pj warned us before we left but we did it we still enjoyed ourselves and uh then in 2005 we went to singapore and uh that was amazing we on both trips we go on to a primary school and we teach uh some of the kids some bit of gaelic football and yeah something special and also obviously mixing with all the people you played against especially all the mayo players i know cora referenced in her book when we were going to singapore we got delayed in amsterdam i'm sure myself and claire egan and annette clark were enemies at the time because we always played against each other and everything always got heated you know even though we talked each other off the pitch but whatever kind of way the seating arrangements were anyway all the way to singapore from amsterdam there was myself and then claire egan was in the middle and annette clark on the other side and cora was teasing her for the whole time and she was so cross she didn't speak to us the whole journey so but uh yeah i'm sure if i met her no i'd speak to her yeah and look just moving on for that you also represented your province in the interprovincials for connect and just your thoughts on that yeah i don't i don't think he ever won it just kind of surprising yeah because it all took place in mullingar as far as i can recall etha han used to run the conic team that time pjs is company ecc timber companies to sponsor the jerseys and it was kind of cool you know it was all about the year that time when we got uh nice jerseys and uh we uh i think we won the shield a couple of times and would have been there thereabouts so the best of every team in every province but i suppose with conic to be fair there was only um senior teams that was only going and mayo to pick from whereas in the rest of the provinces they had a lot more to pick from for their provincials but it was an experience and it was good fun and so you got to play with cora i got to play with cora yeah and terry again and everybody else oh they were good yeah and the old fairness when we went on the trips we got on we got on great sure we played on the all-star teams together and stuff like that and uh oh they're they're lovely girls really outside of football you know so look we'll just switch over to to your club and and just very very shortly after winning that all-ireland intercounty course um going away we're crowned championship winners for the first time in our history and beat milton by 110 to 16 down in cardistran that was the day after that semi-final aforementioned semi-final against mayo and well julian went into the conic championship and played barnacula the leetroom champions up there and we had genie with us that time as vizio and all of that and a big squad of you know young and old and quite a mixture like a classic kind of a mixture for juniors was looking back when did the cruciate go for the first time i was playing a college game in dangan and i was just a really bad mucky day pitch was really heavy and just got a bang and my knee just popped out and popped back in again and it was just this was after the obviously this was after the all-ireland yeah and it was just excruciating pain for five five minutes as far as i can draw i was rolling around the ground and i thought i'd broken my leg but um i remember tina hughes was in goal for gmit that day and she played with me on the goa team and she said oh she could hear me all all ireland semi-final for granuel i was just roaring because i knew i was just oh i just so you were yes you were fully fit for the conic final against giva for giva yeah yeah which after that which we won up there as well yeah but then for the ensuing all ireland semi-final down in the kingdom against abby dorney we didn't start you no and um that game was level at one two a piece at half time and then you come on you come on second half i remember saying to you please stay in as an orthodox full forward because i knew you can't change the nature of the beast and and you still wanted to be you know we had kim young who was she was only 12 years old playing midfield it was quite extraordinary and marianne mcdonough was who wouldn't normally play there was playing your position and but like it wasn't in your nature to play a kind of a thick central but you you know you were yeah yeah and then of course we had a brilliant third quarter and found ourselves seven points up yeah with about 12 minutes to go and then it just what do you think happened in that last time well obviously you you weren't at full fitness and i i know looking back that had you been at full fitness and played from start to finish we would have won the all ireland uh junior champ at club championship that year no question and it was just an absolute it was a disaster for us as a club that you incurred that injury we still should have made the final we should have yeah we should have still made the final i think we got a bit of a raw deal the referee what had played as you said we were seven points up and they come back and they're picking off points and then i suppose when it drew level they seemed to the ref just seemed to play this i don't know how many minutes extra time it just seemed like forever and uh they when they went ahead he just seemed to blow it up so it was it was sickening really and then we learned afterwards that he was from down around the area and that's part and parcel of playing with the with gaelic football and referees is always a big problem too sometimes you know with um that kind of thing so we should we should have had a replay back here in west connemara like the winning goal came very very deep into it yeah it should have been a draw and even even then i think we should have won it really but i mean it was but i think even fair results would have been a draw because obviously they had pushed on a bit but um yeah he he definitely gave the extra time for them to to get the win like you know of course they had their heartbreaking really but yeah they had a marquee player as well in noreen feely the carrier and she was magnificent at centra forward and i know it was my toughest ever 10 minutes in management and i thought my own inexperience maybe a naivety maybe at the time you know at that level maybe caught up with me a bit too and you know i regret maybe some decisions i made or maybe didn't make and so on but look not easy to win and carry not easy no no and i was it was a long journey home that day for everyone and i don't know we just probably thought what if and i suppose what was on my mind as well was now i need to go and get my knee done again as quick as i can and try and get back to footballs try and get the surgery done and you duly did and in all fairness actually thanks to dr john casey actually because i had been up to dublin and i was supposed to get my knee done with her son up in dublin or was it the mooring fella but um he told me that he couldn't do my knee for months on end and i was i was anxious to get back i knew the sooner to get done the quicker i'd get back playing and uh i was actually on my way down from dublin and i rang uh john casey and i think he knew pork murray in the gallery clinic and he gave him a bulletin pork murray brought me in and um he's like yeah obviously your your acl is gone and how quick do you need the surgery and i was like joking and i said oh tomorrow and then he was like oh maybe next week and i was like fair enough that'd be great and um so i was just on my way home actually and i got a phone call and he was like oh pork murray here i'm just wondering would you be actually able to do the operation tomorrow if you came back in this evening and i was like he said i just a lady had to pull out because she was sick and so on and so forth i was like this is my chance and i was like jumped out of my mind and you came back the following year and and i suppose we as a club too showed you know that we were resilient and we came back the following year to in our first year in intermediate level to reach both the league and the championship final and our opponents in both matches were um calanin and calanin were good that time yeah and we you know we we put in a great first half in the in the championship final we were six up at halftime breech mcdonough had held nifa he scored us in that half and nifa he got a good 10 minutes in the second half yeah and debbie ruddy our keeper went off injured remember she dislocated her shoulder in the middle of it but i've won you know these are memories from that match we came back then ourselves and and cut the lead brought it back to two and as the game went into the dying moments i remember you making one of your trademark runs right through the middle and it was a stonewall penalty that was been given yeah and it was a penalty that would if converted would have given us the title by a point yeah but it was calanin's it was calanin's day and they beat us subsequently in the in the league final as well you know the following year then we won the intermediate division two league and became a senior team for the first time ever in league and do you remember that final in ross muck when we absolutely blitzed milltown it was one of our vaguely remember it yeah yeah um yeah i do i do remember it yeah i live on daily was the middle time we're always a tough team to beat no matter where you play them you know and uh well we we played exceptionally well on the day i thought and uh yeah we got over your own personal performance on the day you scored two four off the eight nine that we scored that day and was one two off either foot and i remember thinking like it was as close to perfection technically in all elements and aspects as you could you know possibly get and it was great the following year then of course we we said right let's become a full senior team now and um we went in as underdogs against tune cartoon down in invern in the semi-final yeah of course they had emer and adelican cannon who were very strong county players at the time they were the reigning conic junior champions from the previous year and the expectation was that they'd have too much for us and we put in a brilliant performance and maria kind that day in particular got two goals and we beat them by seven and then went into the final against carlist random on of a and maybe a bit like dublin earlier you know thinking that the second year against goldway it had to be their year i think we thought this has to be our yeah that was a strong growing away the squadron was seven it was yeah yeah it was yeah carlist ran were good the teams in in in the age meets and and the seniors and juniors there was there was very good strong footballers and all those teams i suppose all the the all ireland winning team players were all on club teams that time playing and yeah there was always a good team to play there was no one that you just walk over you know so yeah no they had a data carrie senior of carlist ran and she ended up winning the player of the match where she was hugely influential on the day but the last 10 minutes just the wheels fell off yeah you know the concession of five goals later on i think it was kind of a dark time for us really wasn't it yeah i suppose it probably was yeah i mean uh when you go from the highs of winning and then you go to this transition then and a step you're stepping up obviously to play better teams and sometimes it's demoralizing when you when you just when the wheels fall off at five or ten minutes to go and so on and so forth but yeah i think growing your wheels kind of never has a never say die attitude and they just you know you shake it off and you just think oh you know yeah it was curious because we we put eight goals past milltown in 06 to go senior in the league yeah and here we were one year later and we conceded eight goals in a county final yeah you know eight seven to three nine five goals coming in the last two minutes like it was unheard of yeah but we stuck to the process and we were back again in 2010 we did yeah and having a third shot at winning the championship and going senior and i definitely had a strong sense on the day that if we didn't do it that day we'd never do it but it was one of our greatest maybe our greatest ever performance do you remember that day yeah yeah i remember actually i think it was the one time ever that the whole team was actually early turning up to the pitch we did everything really professional that day we were out in time for the warm-up and we all dressed the same and we were actually yeah we um we were very determined we had a great team that time too in fairness and i think our game plan at the on the day was to try and pack the kind of a diamond shape and really have a really strong half forward line and forward and really defend out and i think that stood to us really because we won a lot of their kickouts and we ended up scoring a lot of that turnover so i'll probably never have a football team like it again in terms of you know my own because five of that team were capable of playing the midfield kind of unheard of yeah so with the two midfielders and the three half forwards you'd mariana mcdonough kim young marithe kine yeah as the half forward but they could all play midfield and then yourself and geraldine mctavish yeah and just i don't know stuff happened that day like with nine shots on the goal in the first half three six yeah but it was a standout moment for yourself that day lisa i want to share with the listeners where milltown had mary fahey and alice gannon inside and they were dynamite yeah because they had played us in earlier in letter frack and i scored five goals between them in a brilliant match that we won by a point 4 11 to 5 7 i don't know were you there the night at training in the lead up to that final when kevin o'neill the the mayo footballer he was just staying locally and this lad turned up we were training with a big bag of footballs and i recognized him straight away because he would have been a good friend of my brother would have played with jerry and jarlison so any brilliant footballer for me and i remember bringing him over he just went down practicing freeze he obviously had a match for knock more that weekend and he spoke to the girls and just little things and midtown and glenn maddie went to double replay and i think by the time midtown or glenn and maddie got out of that i think they thought that they had their championship won and we were kind of lying in the long grass and just preparing and we got more time to prepare than maybe we should have and it helped us and then just on the day but the first attack glenn and maddie got there were two six to no score down it took them 20 minutes to get into our defensive half and the first time they got in they scored a brilliant goal they had great forwards as well but we had cut the supply through our kind of strategy of crowding out the the middle and so on the ball was kicked out and i remember you catching it with a fantastic overhead catch and you passed it to your sister katie and you just kept running as you always would and she just threw it back to you and you just took it on another maybe 30 yards top corner from 20 like game over and they're just the iconic moments and that's just the you know the elite athletes in full flight and it's just an incredible spectacle when you see it like yeah and it's just a standout memory for me it was a very very joyful occasion to go senior was very special isn't it yeah i was yeah of course and so it's always special with your club as well you know because you see those girls all the time day in day out and when you win something like that and obviously to bring club up to senior level was always a goal of yours like from start and ours like but um yeah and it was it was brilliant to win that day and uh god the celebrations i'll never forget even even the the going back to the giva game as well like all the way from sligo and those bonfires and everyone so it was brilliant all around the area and you know those are the days you never forget and beating glenn and maddie was like they were no easy team to beat like and we really played uh on fire that day like and uh we really put it up then we showed how good actually we had a class team that time and you know it was it was good yeah yeah we went to the hide after that and we we we um we put castlereagh um away yeah you know beat them comprehensively and and then you had a most unique connacht intermediate championship final you had the leitrim champions it was a leitrim connemara connacht final it'll never happen no i don't think it'll ever happen and they were an exceptional leitrim team because they absolutely demolished the sligo and the and the mayo champions in quarter and semi-final we should have been in mckale park and we were ended up having to play in brave feet club grounds it was really disgraceful for a match of that stature a connacht intermediate championship final yeah and look we've only five minutes left in this interview and i just want to put this out that we lost that game by 210 to 112 and in my opinion that was your finest ever game for your club and never was i more proud of you than that day when as a collective we didn't reach the heights that we had reached in our county final performance they were a right good leitrim team in fairness yeah we very much had the winning of that game and just little things went against us and maybe our conversion rate was just below what it needed to be we definitely created enough chances and so on and you were magnificent in that finally and i'll always remember you for it in terms of you know what a county player can do for her club team and so on it was heartbreaking it was heartbreaking we would have become the first galway club to win connacht junior and intermediate and the following year that honor fell to caltricoons yeah but look there you go tremendous memories hard to believe that just five years later we were out of football yeah because we hadn't the young players coming through you played with the pierce then we amalgamated and then then we were developing young players at that time but eventually they came of age you know they're all in there they're in some of them are in the present setup now in their early 20s and so on and here we are again now and you're you're you're back again now lisa 20 years on and um our custodian and playing super in the goalkeeping position as we try to reenact 2004 all over again so maybe we'll wrap up with your thoughts on that and just to say to the listeners as well you're back coaching as well now you're you're you're coaching the under 14 team with your sister katie a lot of good footballers in that squad and you're doing a wonderful job and to have you back now in the club again in both the playing and the coaching capacity it's just quite amazing and i don't know how long it'll last for but i hope it's a long long time lisa your thoughts on the present team and what we're trying to achieve this year and going forward i'm looking for a different aspect now because i'm looking out from the goals and i can see a lot more i mean there's a great team there and um there's potential there to go all the way this year if we if we keep doing what we're doing and we're doing well in intermediate league at the moment so hopefully all going to plan that uh we'll do what we didn't succeed on doing in 2004 yeah it's a different different ball game when you're playing in gold but um it's challenging enough yeah a big shout out to my under 14s i suppose because i'm i'm actually going to clouded up now to train them and uh yeah they're a great bunch of girls and it's actually such a different aspect to football and i'm really enjoying it at the moment with them just a shout out to yourself paul i think i don't think you ever get the recognition that um you deserve really because i don't think there will be a granny wales without you for a start just in for sports and everything all around you know you're just unbelievable really so just a big thank you to you for that well thank you so i'm gonna get very emotional well i probably wouldn't have started back playing football only for you so there wouldn't have been an anthem no all i know nothing so thank you so much it's really good of you to say that um a huge thanks to linda here a former granny wales player in her own right who was just make sure you're at that we're having that we'll have a big get together at the end of the year now linda with you know celebrate 20 years on from the big year for commemorations of course you're celebrating 40 years in granny wales uh 20 years since that you know and it's look these are great things to be happening in the parish aren't they you know and all these happy memories you know across the local clubs and so on i wish we had more time and i hope your lgfa journey goes on for a long long time to come yet it's been an absolute honor and a privilege to sit in with you and um onwards and upwards for manon here yeah yeah hopefully thanks yeah so from paul gannon you've been listening to injury time uh good night so this program was kindly sponsored by kyle more abby and gardens 095-52001 so you
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