ON THE 18 April 2022, we were struck down by something that no other club had to endure when we lost our beautiful little Kate Moran in a game against Ardrahan. Those girls have suffered for the last three years. And in this time of joy, I want to remember the Moran family. I can assure you if we had Kate, she’d be out on this field today.
****
Athenry camogie manager Joe Rabbitte was speaking to Galway Bay FM on county final day, when he made this emotional dedication.
He had just guided his team to the summit of the Galway senior championship, taking down the Sarsfields dynasty with a 2-8 to 1-8 victory. It was a day of family pride for Joe. His daughters Olwen and Sabina, All-Ireland winners with Galway earlier this year, are key cogs in the Athenry machine.
Dervla Higgins, another member of that victorious Galway outfit, is the Athenry captain. Galway legends Therese Donohoe (nee Maher) and Jessica Gill are still powering the engine for their club. Between them all, they helped Athenry dethrone the four-time All-Ireland champions who were chasing seven-in-a-row in Galway this year.
And now an All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny’s Dicksboro comes into view this weekend.
But amidst all the celebrations that county final day in Kenny Park, Rabbitte took a moment in Athenry’s home pitch to remember someone important to the team, and to himself. She should still be playing. She should still be growing up and still forming her own world.
And if things had turned out differently, Kate Moran would be doing all those things. And more.
****
Athenry weren’t ready to make the breakthrough yet. At least, that’s what Joe Rabbitte was hearing when he was first appointed as manager of their senior camogie team in 2022. He had been managing the juniors the year before and a vacancy opened up with their top tier side.
Sarsfields were the dominant outfit in Galway at the time. They were All-Ireland champions and en route to completing back-to-back successes that season.
“‘I don’t think you’re there yet,’” Joe tells The 42, as he remembers what he was told about Athenry’s chances at the time.
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Joe Rabbitte in action for Galway in the 2001 All-Ireland final. INPHO
INPHO
The two-time All-Star is speaking from his tractor on the day we talk, having just pulled in on the land where the Athenry club is planning to build four new pitches for the camogie teams. One eye on this generation and the other on the next.
In counties where one team seems unbeatable, faith can be hard to find among the challengers. But that wasn’t the case in Athenry. Contrary to what he was being told, Joe saw something something different in the players he was taking over.
In his first season in charge, they reached the county semi-final where they lost out to Ballinasloe by three points. The following year ended in semi-final heartache again at the hands of Oranmore. And in 2024, they took Sarsfields to extra-time in the semi-final before bowing out.
“We were close enough in those couple of games. But it was all about just sticking at it. There was no use in letting the last three years go uncontested as such and saying, ‘Oh, we’ll wait for Sarsfields to weaken.’
“It’s just about us keeping at what we had to do and keep pushing our own girls. And making girls enjoy playing camogie and that they want to play for Athenry.
“Sarsfields are still All-Ireland champions and they’re not gone anywhere. We knew that it wasn’t going to be like waiting for a great team to slacken off. They still have young girls coming through. We admire Sarsfields and what they have done for camogie for the last 10 years. They’re a fantastic club.”
In the days leading up to the county final, Joe could sense that his players were ready. The gradual improvements were obvious from when he first took charge of the team. They were also benefitting from the broad range of ages among the players.
Therese Maher after Galway's All-Ireland victory in 2013. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
Six starters in in this year’s county final won a minor A championship in 2025. And those rookie stars have seasoned veterans like Therese Maher and Jessica Gill to bounce off as well. Maher, regarded as one of camogie’s greatest ever talents, famously played a huge role in helping Galway end a 17-year wait for All-Ireland glory in 2013. Gill missed out on that triumph but did win an All-Star in 2008.
They were both involved in Athenry’s previous senior county success in 2009.
“You couldn’t have better experience,” says Rabbitte.
“We have girls from Therese Maher’s age down to one girl who came on in the county final who won’t be 16 until December. It’s about keeping them all on the one wavelength and enjoying it and keeping a bit of a buzz going.”
****
Joe knew the county final would be a difficult occasion for Kate Moran’s family. Her absence never leaves the team. Or himself.
He was there that evening in April 2022. It was his first year as manager of the Athenry seniors, and he was overseeing a league game against Ardrahan. Kate normally played as a wing back but she was needed at wing forward on this occasion.
She suffered a head injury during the game following an accidental collision and died that evening. At the time, she was a student in NUIG who was about to turn 21 and had already started playing at underage level for Galway. The tragic story of her passing spread throughout the country. A vigil was held at Athenry’s Kenny Park where her name and the number 12 which she normally wore was displayed in large letters on the pitch.
Kate’s loss struck Joe on a number of levels. As her manager, he was required to speak to the media and try to articulate something which he could barely comprehend. He also had his players and daughters to think about, who were trying to grieve privately.
They had some challenging feelings to navigate. Of course, there was the devastating hurt of losing a friend and a teammate. But for some, that was also accompanied by a new sense of fear towards their sport, and the thoughts of something similar happening to them.
In an effort to help, the club gathered the players together and encouraged them to write about their emotions.
“We didn’t really know whether we’d play camogie again in 2022,” Joe explains. “It was up to the girls. We asked them to write down what they felt or what they thought. And we got the club to go through the notes to see what the feeling was.
“Some of them said that they would like to play camogie again but they didn’t know. The last thing we wanted to do was say, ‘Girls, we’re training next Thursday and that’s it.’ That wasn’t on.’ We had to just go with what we felt.”
Cathal Moran playing for Athenry in the 2001 All-Ireland final. Patrick Bolger / INPHO
Patrick Bolger / INPHO / INPHO
Joe felt Kate’s loss on a personal level too. The Rabbitte and Moran families go back a few generations.
Joe’s father hurled with Kate’s grandfather. Her father Cathal is a former teammate and close friend of Joe’s too. They walked up the steps of the Hogan Stand three times with Athenry in 1997, 2000 and 2001. When Galway won the All-Ireland U21 final in 1991, Joe was playing at centre-forward, while Cathal was a corner-forward.
“I don’t how many medals we won with club but Cathal is a fantastic person. It’s them that I feel so sorry for. And county final day for them, it’s a hard to be looking at it, thinking that Kate should be out there.”
The connections go on. Joe’s son Jason is in the Galway senior squad with TJ Brennan, who was Kate’s boyfriend. They often mark each other in training and have become close friends.
Joe can relate to that uncomfortable feeling towards county final day. In 1977, when Athenry were contesting the Galway senior final for the first time, there was great excitement in the Rabbitte house. Their day started with an early mass and the dinner was being prepared in time for the family to get over to Ballinasloe for throw-in against then reigning champions Kiltormer.
A seven-year-old Joe was outside pucking the ball with his two brothers, the youngest of which was Oliver, who was just three. Unhappy that his older siblings weren’t passing the ball to him, he eventually left and walked away from the field they were playing on.
After a while, their mother arrived to check in on her boys when they realised Oliver was missing.
“Myself and my brother walked around to a water tank, and he wasn’t there, so we ran around the yard again. We came back behind my father, and my father was saying, ‘Did you look in the water tank? We said we did, and my father said, ‘Oh my God,’ and he jumped in, and pulled Oliver out of the water tank.
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“So, he brought him out, and he died on the lawn in front of my parents. The doctor was there. I played in 13 county finals and every time those county finals came around, it was like an anniversary. It was kind of related to hurling. It wouldn’t have happened only for the day of the county final.
“It’s kind of the same thing for the Morans in a different way. Camogie has basically taken away their daughter as such.”
****
Joe has been tracking Dicksboro’s form ahead of their All-Ireland semi-final showdown on Saturday. He attended their Leinster semi-final win over Birr and was there to watch them get the better of Oulart-The-Ballagh and take the provincial crown.
From what he has seen of the 2023 All-Ireland champions, they’re a strong and physical side who have a slight edge on his crew in terms of experience.
“They’ve been there before, but we’re going to go and the only thing we can do is turn up and give a performance. Hopefully the result will go our way.”
But regardless of how far they go in the All-Ireland series, the memory of their wing forward won’t be far away. Kate Moran remains a driving force in the squad. Forever their number 12. Forever 20.
“It’s something that has driven me, and it’s something that you find it very hard to leave behind because we can never really forget Kate.
“She was a fantastic camogie player. And for the girls that were friendly with her, and my two daughters would have been very friendly with her, it was a horrific time in their life.
“The girls are fantastic to have come out of that, and to carry that with them, and to win two county titles actually, because we won the junior as well. She’s buried in Newcastle and I have land around there. I see those girls going in and out that road into Kate’s grave and it’s amazing to see even three years on, they’re still going in.
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'They will never forget her' - the memory of a teammate driving Athenry's All-Ireland quest
ON THE 18 April 2022, we were struck down by something that no other club had to endure when we lost our beautiful little Kate Moran in a game against Ardrahan. Those girls have suffered for the last three years. And in this time of joy, I want to remember the Moran family. I can assure you if we had Kate, she’d be out on this field today.
****
Athenry camogie manager Joe Rabbitte was speaking to Galway Bay FM on county final day, when he made this emotional dedication.
He had just guided his team to the summit of the Galway senior championship, taking down the Sarsfields dynasty with a 2-8 to 1-8 victory. It was a day of family pride for Joe. His daughters Olwen and Sabina, All-Ireland winners with Galway earlier this year, are key cogs in the Athenry machine.
Dervla Higgins, another member of that victorious Galway outfit, is the Athenry captain. Galway legends Therese Donohoe (nee Maher) and Jessica Gill are still powering the engine for their club. Between them all, they helped Athenry dethrone the four-time All-Ireland champions who were chasing seven-in-a-row in Galway this year.
And now an All-Ireland semi-final against Kilkenny’s Dicksboro comes into view this weekend.
But amidst all the celebrations that county final day in Kenny Park, Rabbitte took a moment in Athenry’s home pitch to remember someone important to the team, and to himself. She should still be playing. She should still be growing up and still forming her own world.
And if things had turned out differently, Kate Moran would be doing all those things. And more.
****
Athenry weren’t ready to make the breakthrough yet. At least, that’s what Joe Rabbitte was hearing when he was first appointed as manager of their senior camogie team in 2022. He had been managing the juniors the year before and a vacancy opened up with their top tier side.
Sarsfields were the dominant outfit in Galway at the time. They were All-Ireland champions and en route to completing back-to-back successes that season.
“‘I don’t think you’re there yet,’” Joe tells The 42, as he remembers what he was told about Athenry’s chances at the time.
The two-time All-Star is speaking from his tractor on the day we talk, having just pulled in on the land where the Athenry club is planning to build four new pitches for the camogie teams. One eye on this generation and the other on the next.
In counties where one team seems unbeatable, faith can be hard to find among the challengers. But that wasn’t the case in Athenry. Contrary to what he was being told, Joe saw something something different in the players he was taking over.
In his first season in charge, they reached the county semi-final where they lost out to Ballinasloe by three points. The following year ended in semi-final heartache again at the hands of Oranmore. And in 2024, they took Sarsfields to extra-time in the semi-final before bowing out.
“We were close enough in those couple of games. But it was all about just sticking at it. There was no use in letting the last three years go uncontested as such and saying, ‘Oh, we’ll wait for Sarsfields to weaken.’
“It’s just about us keeping at what we had to do and keep pushing our own girls. And making girls enjoy playing camogie and that they want to play for Athenry.
“Sarsfields are still All-Ireland champions and they’re not gone anywhere. We knew that it wasn’t going to be like waiting for a great team to slacken off. They still have young girls coming through. We admire Sarsfields and what they have done for camogie for the last 10 years. They’re a fantastic club.”
In the days leading up to the county final, Joe could sense that his players were ready. The gradual improvements were obvious from when he first took charge of the team. They were also benefitting from the broad range of ages among the players.
Six starters in in this year’s county final won a minor A championship in 2025. And those rookie stars have seasoned veterans like Therese Maher and Jessica Gill to bounce off as well. Maher, regarded as one of camogie’s greatest ever talents, famously played a huge role in helping Galway end a 17-year wait for All-Ireland glory in 2013. Gill missed out on that triumph but did win an All-Star in 2008.
They were both involved in Athenry’s previous senior county success in 2009.
“You couldn’t have better experience,” says Rabbitte.
“We have girls from Therese Maher’s age down to one girl who came on in the county final who won’t be 16 until December. It’s about keeping them all on the one wavelength and enjoying it and keeping a bit of a buzz going.”
****
Joe knew the county final would be a difficult occasion for Kate Moran’s family. Her absence never leaves the team. Or himself.
He was there that evening in April 2022. It was his first year as manager of the Athenry seniors, and he was overseeing a league game against Ardrahan. Kate normally played as a wing back but she was needed at wing forward on this occasion.
She suffered a head injury during the game following an accidental collision and died that evening. At the time, she was a student in NUIG who was about to turn 21 and had already started playing at underage level for Galway. The tragic story of her passing spread throughout the country. A vigil was held at Athenry’s Kenny Park where her name and the number 12 which she normally wore was displayed in large letters on the pitch.
Kate’s loss struck Joe on a number of levels. As her manager, he was required to speak to the media and try to articulate something which he could barely comprehend. He also had his players and daughters to think about, who were trying to grieve privately.
They had some challenging feelings to navigate. Of course, there was the devastating hurt of losing a friend and a teammate. But for some, that was also accompanied by a new sense of fear towards their sport, and the thoughts of something similar happening to them.
In an effort to help, the club gathered the players together and encouraged them to write about their emotions.
“We didn’t really know whether we’d play camogie again in 2022,” Joe explains. “It was up to the girls. We asked them to write down what they felt or what they thought. And we got the club to go through the notes to see what the feeling was.
“Some of them said that they would like to play camogie again but they didn’t know. The last thing we wanted to do was say, ‘Girls, we’re training next Thursday and that’s it.’ That wasn’t on.’ We had to just go with what we felt.”
Joe felt Kate’s loss on a personal level too. The Rabbitte and Moran families go back a few generations.
Joe’s father hurled with Kate’s grandfather. Her father Cathal is a former teammate and close friend of Joe’s too. They walked up the steps of the Hogan Stand three times with Athenry in 1997, 2000 and 2001. When Galway won the All-Ireland U21 final in 1991, Joe was playing at centre-forward, while Cathal was a corner-forward.
“I don’t how many medals we won with club but Cathal is a fantastic person. It’s them that I feel so sorry for. And county final day for them, it’s a hard to be looking at it, thinking that Kate should be out there.”
The connections go on. Joe’s son Jason is in the Galway senior squad with TJ Brennan, who was Kate’s boyfriend. They often mark each other in training and have become close friends.
Joe can relate to that uncomfortable feeling towards county final day. In 1977, when Athenry were contesting the Galway senior final for the first time, there was great excitement in the Rabbitte house. Their day started with an early mass and the dinner was being prepared in time for the family to get over to Ballinasloe for throw-in against then reigning champions Kiltormer.
A seven-year-old Joe was outside pucking the ball with his two brothers, the youngest of which was Oliver, who was just three. Unhappy that his older siblings weren’t passing the ball to him, he eventually left and walked away from the field they were playing on.
After a while, their mother arrived to check in on her boys when they realised Oliver was missing.
“Myself and my brother walked around to a water tank, and he wasn’t there, so we ran around the yard again. We came back behind my father, and my father was saying, ‘Did you look in the water tank? We said we did, and my father said, ‘Oh my God,’ and he jumped in, and pulled Oliver out of the water tank.
“So, he brought him out, and he died on the lawn in front of my parents. The doctor was there. I played in 13 county finals and every time those county finals came around, it was like an anniversary. It was kind of related to hurling. It wouldn’t have happened only for the day of the county final.
“It’s kind of the same thing for the Morans in a different way. Camogie has basically taken away their daughter as such.”
****
Joe has been tracking Dicksboro’s form ahead of their All-Ireland semi-final showdown on Saturday. He attended their Leinster semi-final win over Birr and was there to watch them get the better of Oulart-The-Ballagh and take the provincial crown.
From what he has seen of the 2023 All-Ireland champions, they’re a strong and physical side who have a slight edge on his crew in terms of experience.
“They’ve been there before, but we’re going to go and the only thing we can do is turn up and give a performance. Hopefully the result will go our way.”
But regardless of how far they go in the All-Ireland series, the memory of their wing forward won’t be far away. Kate Moran remains a driving force in the squad. Forever their number 12. Forever 20.
“It’s something that has driven me, and it’s something that you find it very hard to leave behind because we can never really forget Kate.
“She was a fantastic camogie player. And for the girls that were friendly with her, and my two daughters would have been very friendly with her, it was a horrific time in their life.
“The girls are fantastic to have come out of that, and to carry that with them, and to win two county titles actually, because we won the junior as well. She’s buried in Newcastle and I have land around there. I see those girls going in and out that road into Kate’s grave and it’s amazing to see even three years on, they’re still going in.
“They will never forget her and none of us will.”
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Athenry Camogie Camogie Camogie Club Championship GAA In Memory Joe Rabbitte