IN THE CLOSING minutes of July’s All-Ireland final — and Hannah Tyrrell’s inter-county career — the Dublin multi-sport star went to ground in agony.
Like she had done countless times before, Tyrrell had surged out to win a long delivery from a free, but her right knee buckled on the turn. She clutched it immediately, suspecting an ACL tear.
“It’s gone, it’s gone,” she told Carla Rowe, first on the scene. Aoife Kane was next over, asking if this was a tactic to delay time and if she was taking the free.
“I knew straight away,” Tyrrell recalls. “I felt a very weird sensation. I’d never done my ACL before, but I felt a sensation that I very much knew wasn’t right. I was very close to Lauren Magee physically when she did her ACL, and her reaction was very similar to mine. I don’t know how to say it, you just know.”
The cart arrived on the Croke Park pitch, the stretcher was prepared. Neither would be needed, as she hobbled off to a huge reception.
“I just didn’t want that to be the defining image for me in what was my last game. I didn’t really want it to be a big deal, so I was very happy to be able to walk off.
“I probably didn’t realise the standing ovation that I got after. It was only watching back. A couple of the girls were crying on the sidelines, which was so nice. That support is amazing. It just kind of epitomises the GAA and family and what it’s all about.”
Tyrrell walks off dejected. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“If someone said you’re going to do your ACL at some point in your career, that would have been the time,” she adds.
“Last few minutes of your last ever game, I got to walk off and we won.”
Dublin were 10 points up against Meath when The Last Dance came to a premature end; they won by 12 to secure their second All-Ireland in three years.
Tyrrell climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to collect her second Celtic Cross, which goes nicely with previous rugby and soccer accolades, and was able to celebrate through the pain.
“I tried to go without crutches, but it just kept swelling up. The Sunday night, I got crutches. If I sat down for too long, stiff, stood up for too long, stiff. Sleeping, horrendous.
“But it didn’t stop me. I went out and enjoyed myself for a few days.”
*****
Alexa, off.
The Christmas music is paused as Tyrrell jumps on a Zoom call with The 42. She’s just back from a school visit, laughing that she doesn’t wear the Dublin half-zip every day.
Her 2025 Footballer of the Year award is in shot, along with a framed photograph of herself and her daughter Aoife — now two-and-a-half — after the 2023 All-Ireland final.
Tyrrell with Aoife after the 2023 All-Ireland final. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO
Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO
“A really nice surprise and a nice way to end”, is how she reflects on 2025 in a nutshell.
2024 was due to be Tyrrell’s last season, but she went back for more. An All-Ireland, All-Star, Player of the Year award, ACL injury and retirement served up a whole career’s worth of colour in a few short weeks.
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“Ah look, it’s crazy,” the 35-year-old reflects. “I nearly didn’t come back this year.
“People are saying, ‘Jesus, you can’t be ending on Player of the Year!’ A part of you goes, ‘There must be something in me there’.
“But nah, look, it’s a great way to go out.”
The trip of a lifetime to Australia this time last year ultimately set the wheels in motion.
Tyrrell, her wife Sorcha, Aoife and the immediate family went to visit her three siblings in Melbourne for Christmas, hitting up Sydney, the Gold Coast and Byron Bay across five brilliant weeks.
The hurt of the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway lingered, but she was happy with her lot with Dublin. That didn’t stop the ‘One More Year’ campaign, with teammates and new management Paul Casey and Derek Murray chancing their arm.
Sinéad Goldrick had a decisive say when they met up Down Under.
“I’m going. I think there’s something . . .”
Back they went.
How 2025 finished: Sinéad Goldrick and Tyrrell. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
Ground rules were laid to help with Tyrrell’s family situation and relieve some time pressure: she did the gym work in her own time to allow for an extra night at home.
She recalls a “stressful” 2024; “trying my best to do everything when it was probably affecting my performance in some way”.
“Last year I just I didn’t feel 100%. I didn’t feel like I was performing to my abilities and wasn’t hitting as many metrics as I had been the year previous and I probably couldn’t understand why. Like nothing physically wrong with me or anything. But this year, everything felt good. I felt fast, I was hitting numbers I hadn’t hit in a couple of years.
“I don’t know if that (schedule tweak) was the big change from the year before, but it definitely helped.”
Tyrrell rolled back the years, her scoring output off the charts. She finished the championship with the Golden Boot, her tally of 8-19 including some memorable scores.
None more so than the last-gasp monster free-kick that forced extra-time in the semi-final against Galway. Full circle.
That’s made all the more impressive by the fact she had a hospital procedure on a throat infection that week, having been on antibiotics before the quarter-final win over Cork.
“The Galway game, I felt horrendous. I just didn’t feel like anything was going my way. I put the free over and all of a sudden I felt amazing again in extra time!”
The Last Dance loomed large. Tyrrell made no secret of the fact that this was her final season, mentioning so in several interviews. Did that add any pressure, or was she able to enjoy it all?
“It was obviously easier once we got to the All-Ireland final, I could enjoy it an awful lot more. I really tried in the knockout stages not to go into it saying, ‘This could be my last game for Dublin.’ I didn’t want to go in with that negative frame of mind.
“The last couple of training sessions with the Dubs, the last one in particular was really nice. I brought a little disposable camera and took a load of photos with the oldies.
“Just really enjoyed it, but nothing massively changed in terms of how I approached it. Same diligence, same competitiveness. Still arguing to the death about how we should do things!”
*****
There was a relaxing holiday after the All-Ireland celebrations, and then surgery. “It was up and down, mentally rough,” with a reaction to medication and some setbacks, including MCL damage sustained in a recent fall.
Four-ish months post-operation, Tyrrell is taking it day by day. “I’m in no massive rush. I’d love to go back and try and play a bit of club football.
“I’m in with the Dubs doing a bit of rehab, they’re helping me out. It’s really nice to be around an environment to give you the opportunity to do rehab with people and not in isolation. I bring Aoife to every single gym session, she absolutely loves it and the girls love seeing her.
Lifting the Brendan Martin Cup with Aoife. Ben Brady / INPHO
Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
“If I probably had been at any other stage of my career, I’d be very much like, ‘I’m going to get back in six or seven months.’ I’ve always set myself these targets that have been really unrealistic. Look, I’m setting it for 12 months. If it’s earlier, brilliant. If there’s club football to be played, then I’ll jump right in.
“I just want to get the knee back more for me, my health and for my family’s health to be able to play with Aoife.”
Her day job as a teacher, punditry work and enjoying free time will keep her busy enough on top of rehab in the interim.
Who knows what could yet follow, but Tyrrell’s elite sporting career has been remarkable.
Two All-Irelands on the inter-county stage; a Six Nations title and representing Ireland at the Rugby World Cup; an FAI Cup medal in soccer. And they’re the top lines.
She pauses for thought when she’s asked how it all sits now.
“Some of it’s so new, it’s hard . . . with Gaelic football when I came back in in 2021, I obviously hoped I’d win an All-Ireland and that was the dream. I really didn’t know or think I’d get one after ’21 to be honest. To get two, just phenomenal. Incredible achievements.
“I probably didn’t realise the significance of the FAI Cup medal in 2011, or how big a deal that was. I just had always played soccer and loved it. Played with some incredible girls. I wasn’t very long playing rugby when I won the Six Nations. In my first season, I probably didn’t realise . . . Ireland haven’t won a Six Nations since, and it’ll be very difficult to beat England anytime soon.
Tyrrell with Alison Miller and Eimear Considine at the 2017 World Cup. Dan Sheridan / INPHO
Dan Sheridan / INPHO / INPHO
“Probably in a few more years, I’ll be way more appreciative than I am now. But I know what I’ve achieved is very special.
“But they’re all team sports. I couldn’t have done any of it by myself. And it’s actually nice to be able to look back with different groups on what you’ve won and what you’ve achieved. Even the things you don’t win, just the years you spent playing with them are pretty special.”
The accolades are great and all, but it’s the people you meet and the memories and connections you make along the way that stay with you forever.
“Sport is just so unifying and and it brings people together,” Tyrrell concludes.
“There was a little girl at the school I was in today and she had her Irish rugby jersey on. She was saying, ‘I loved watching you play for Ireland.’ I haven’t played for Ireland in five years. It’s so nice how these kind of things come around. It’s brilliant.
“Maybe when Aoife grows up and she’s old enough to have a look back at all the memories and stuff, she’ll go, ‘You did all right for yourself!’”
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‘Probably in a few more years, I'll be way more appreciative than I am now’
IN THE CLOSING minutes of July’s All-Ireland final — and Hannah Tyrrell’s inter-county career — the Dublin multi-sport star went to ground in agony.
Like she had done countless times before, Tyrrell had surged out to win a long delivery from a free, but her right knee buckled on the turn. She clutched it immediately, suspecting an ACL tear.
“It’s gone, it’s gone,” she told Carla Rowe, first on the scene. Aoife Kane was next over, asking if this was a tactic to delay time and if she was taking the free.
“I knew straight away,” Tyrrell recalls. “I felt a very weird sensation. I’d never done my ACL before, but I felt a sensation that I very much knew wasn’t right. I was very close to Lauren Magee physically when she did her ACL, and her reaction was very similar to mine. I don’t know how to say it, you just know.”
The cart arrived on the Croke Park pitch, the stretcher was prepared. Neither would be needed, as she hobbled off to a huge reception.
“I just didn’t want that to be the defining image for me in what was my last game. I didn’t really want it to be a big deal, so I was very happy to be able to walk off.
“I probably didn’t realise the standing ovation that I got after. It was only watching back. A couple of the girls were crying on the sidelines, which was so nice. That support is amazing. It just kind of epitomises the GAA and family and what it’s all about.”
“If someone said you’re going to do your ACL at some point in your career, that would have been the time,” she adds.
“Last few minutes of your last ever game, I got to walk off and we won.”
Dublin were 10 points up against Meath when The Last Dance came to a premature end; they won by 12 to secure their second All-Ireland in three years.
Tyrrell climbed the steps of the Hogan Stand to collect her second Celtic Cross, which goes nicely with previous rugby and soccer accolades, and was able to celebrate through the pain.
“I tried to go without crutches, but it just kept swelling up. The Sunday night, I got crutches. If I sat down for too long, stiff, stood up for too long, stiff. Sleeping, horrendous.
“But it didn’t stop me. I went out and enjoyed myself for a few days.”
*****
Alexa, off.
The Christmas music is paused as Tyrrell jumps on a Zoom call with The 42. She’s just back from a school visit, laughing that she doesn’t wear the Dublin half-zip every day.
Her 2025 Footballer of the Year award is in shot, along with a framed photograph of herself and her daughter Aoife — now two-and-a-half — after the 2023 All-Ireland final.
“A really nice surprise and a nice way to end”, is how she reflects on 2025 in a nutshell.
2024 was due to be Tyrrell’s last season, but she went back for more. An All-Ireland, All-Star, Player of the Year award, ACL injury and retirement served up a whole career’s worth of colour in a few short weeks.
“Ah look, it’s crazy,” the 35-year-old reflects. “I nearly didn’t come back this year.
“People are saying, ‘Jesus, you can’t be ending on Player of the Year!’ A part of you goes, ‘There must be something in me there’.
“But nah, look, it’s a great way to go out.”
The trip of a lifetime to Australia this time last year ultimately set the wheels in motion.
Tyrrell, her wife Sorcha, Aoife and the immediate family went to visit her three siblings in Melbourne for Christmas, hitting up Sydney, the Gold Coast and Byron Bay across five brilliant weeks.
The hurt of the All-Ireland semi-final defeat to Galway lingered, but she was happy with her lot with Dublin. That didn’t stop the ‘One More Year’ campaign, with teammates and new management Paul Casey and Derek Murray chancing their arm.
Sinéad Goldrick had a decisive say when they met up Down Under.
“I’m going. I think there’s something . . .”
Back they went.
Ground rules were laid to help with Tyrrell’s family situation and relieve some time pressure: she did the gym work in her own time to allow for an extra night at home.
She recalls a “stressful” 2024; “trying my best to do everything when it was probably affecting my performance in some way”.
“Last year I just I didn’t feel 100%. I didn’t feel like I was performing to my abilities and wasn’t hitting as many metrics as I had been the year previous and I probably couldn’t understand why. Like nothing physically wrong with me or anything. But this year, everything felt good. I felt fast, I was hitting numbers I hadn’t hit in a couple of years.
“I don’t know if that (schedule tweak) was the big change from the year before, but it definitely helped.”
Tyrrell rolled back the years, her scoring output off the charts. She finished the championship with the Golden Boot, her tally of 8-19 including some memorable scores.
None more so than the last-gasp monster free-kick that forced extra-time in the semi-final against Galway. Full circle.
That’s made all the more impressive by the fact she had a hospital procedure on a throat infection that week, having been on antibiotics before the quarter-final win over Cork.
“The Galway game, I felt horrendous. I just didn’t feel like anything was going my way. I put the free over and all of a sudden I felt amazing again in extra time!”
The Last Dance loomed large. Tyrrell made no secret of the fact that this was her final season, mentioning so in several interviews. Did that add any pressure, or was she able to enjoy it all?
“It was obviously easier once we got to the All-Ireland final, I could enjoy it an awful lot more. I really tried in the knockout stages not to go into it saying, ‘This could be my last game for Dublin.’ I didn’t want to go in with that negative frame of mind.
“The last couple of training sessions with the Dubs, the last one in particular was really nice. I brought a little disposable camera and took a load of photos with the oldies.
“Just really enjoyed it, but nothing massively changed in terms of how I approached it. Same diligence, same competitiveness. Still arguing to the death about how we should do things!”
*****
There was a relaxing holiday after the All-Ireland celebrations, and then surgery. “It was up and down, mentally rough,” with a reaction to medication and some setbacks, including MCL damage sustained in a recent fall.
Four-ish months post-operation, Tyrrell is taking it day by day. “I’m in no massive rush. I’d love to go back and try and play a bit of club football.
“I’m in with the Dubs doing a bit of rehab, they’re helping me out. It’s really nice to be around an environment to give you the opportunity to do rehab with people and not in isolation. I bring Aoife to every single gym session, she absolutely loves it and the girls love seeing her.
“If I probably had been at any other stage of my career, I’d be very much like, ‘I’m going to get back in six or seven months.’ I’ve always set myself these targets that have been really unrealistic. Look, I’m setting it for 12 months. If it’s earlier, brilliant. If there’s club football to be played, then I’ll jump right in.
“I just want to get the knee back more for me, my health and for my family’s health to be able to play with Aoife.”
Her day job as a teacher, punditry work and enjoying free time will keep her busy enough on top of rehab in the interim.
Who knows what could yet follow, but Tyrrell’s elite sporting career has been remarkable.
Two All-Irelands on the inter-county stage; a Six Nations title and representing Ireland at the Rugby World Cup; an FAI Cup medal in soccer. And they’re the top lines.
She pauses for thought when she’s asked how it all sits now.
“Some of it’s so new, it’s hard . . . with Gaelic football when I came back in in 2021, I obviously hoped I’d win an All-Ireland and that was the dream. I really didn’t know or think I’d get one after ’21 to be honest. To get two, just phenomenal. Incredible achievements.
“I probably didn’t realise the significance of the FAI Cup medal in 2011, or how big a deal that was. I just had always played soccer and loved it. Played with some incredible girls. I wasn’t very long playing rugby when I won the Six Nations. In my first season, I probably didn’t realise . . . Ireland haven’t won a Six Nations since, and it’ll be very difficult to beat England anytime soon.
“Probably in a few more years, I’ll be way more appreciative than I am now. But I know what I’ve achieved is very special.
“But they’re all team sports. I couldn’t have done any of it by myself. And it’s actually nice to be able to look back with different groups on what you’ve won and what you’ve achieved. Even the things you don’t win, just the years you spent playing with them are pretty special.”
The accolades are great and all, but it’s the people you meet and the memories and connections you make along the way that stay with you forever.
“Sport is just so unifying and and it brings people together,” Tyrrell concludes.
“There was a little girl at the school I was in today and she had her Irish rugby jersey on. She was saying, ‘I loved watching you play for Ireland.’ I haven’t played for Ireland in five years. It’s so nice how these kind of things come around. It’s brilliant.
“Maybe when Aoife grows up and she’s old enough to have a look back at all the memories and stuff, she’ll go, ‘You did all right for yourself!’”
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hannah tyrrell Interview