DUBLIN LGFA AND AFLW star Jennifer Dunne is back on board with the All-Ireland champions and should feature in the league over the coming weeks.
The 2023 All-Star midfielder and Footballer of the Year nominee helped Brisbane Lions to AFLW glory in her first season Down Under. In doing so, she became the first Irishwoman to win an All-Ireland and Grand Final in the same season.
Dunne returned home before Christmas, with a return to the Dublin set-up never really in doubt.
“Obviously, after the success of last year, I think it probably would have been harder to step away from the group,” she tells The 42.
“Mick [Bohan] and most of the crew are still there, you know what you’re getting yourself into. The goal, ambition and drive within the group is still there, so everyone wants to keep pushing on. Once I discussed it with people over in Australia, they were happy with it.
“There’s a good few other Irish girls that have expressed an interest and are going to play with their counties. At the moment, it’s still feasible to do so, so once I was given the green light and had said that that was my priority, there were no major issues.
“It’s definitely an adjustment getting back into the training and the weather and the lifestyle here in comparison to what I was experiencing in Australia. It has been a challenge at times, but it’s been good. Slowly easing into it.”
Dunne, 25, wasn’t named on matchday panels for Dublin’s opening league defeats to Kerry and Meath, but hopes to make her first appearance of 2024 “in the next few weeks”. The plan is to play the full season with Dublin before returning to Australia.
“Obviously Dublin is my main focus now and the priority is to try defend our title. The last few league games haven’t gone our way, it’s hard to find your feet at the start. We hadn’t done a huge amount pre-Christmas really, just with the way we fell and finished up last year. Everyone was grateful for the break, but we’re probably taking a bit of a hit at the moment.
“With the nature of it now that two teams get relegated, it’s a bit of a shock for everyone. There’s not much more room for error. Hopefully we can build on the losses and not find ourselves in a position near the end of the league that we’re trying to fight for survival.”
Sinéad Goldrick, who plays with Melbourne, is Dublin’s other AFLW star. The multi-All-Ireland winner and All-Star focused solely on AFLW in 2023, and her inter-county involvement this season is unclear.
The AFLW experience was a positive one for Cuala powerhouse Dunne, who lived with Tipperary team-mate Orla O’Dwyer as the Lions reigned supreme.
“It worked out alright! It was a bit of a whirlwind, to be honest.
“I left the Wednesday following the All-Ireland. Winning that was the best thing ever. When that Wednesday came around and I had to pack up and move across the world, a few tears were shed. Obviously you work so hard with a certain group to achieve a goal and when it’s achieved, you want to live in that memory and moment forever.
“Immersed myself in the culture over there. Definitely a challenge at times learning the game and getting to grips with certain things and rules and elements of their game. There’s obviously similarities with their game and transferrable skills, that’s probably why there’s so many Irish girls over there.
“There can be days where it is challenging and lonely and hard because it is so far away from home. There can be times where you’re questioning what you’re doing and if what you’re doing is even the right thing. It’s nice to have an Irish connection to speak to on those days.”
“It was obviously eye-opening, but just being in a professional environment was really cool,” Dunne added.
“The group was great. We had ups and downs in the regular season, which is always the way, but came good near the final series. My Mum and Dad got to come over as well. They were there just in time for the semi-finals. Everything fell into place.
“I was so fortunate to be involved in it, getting to win over there was pretty cool and a surreal experience for sure. I had a great time, it was lovely, but happy to be home too.”
Jennifer Dunne was speaking at a STATSports event on technology in Ladies Gaelic football today. Clubs can enter a competition to win access to their cutting-edge GPS technology here.
