THE REBIRTH OF the Kilkerrin-Clonberne Ladies club took place around 12 years ago.
A Junior A League title set them off on their way to climbing up through ranks, picking up a Junior A championship the following year, and an intermediate title in 2013 which propelled them up to the top grade.
Eight years on, and the rebuild has yielded a place in the currentaccount.ie All-Ireland senior club final against the reigning champions Mourneabbey of Cork [throw-in, 1pm TG4]. It’s their second time to reach the decider since meeting the same opposition in the 2019 showpiece where Mourneabbey emerged as back-to-back champions after a late point.
After last year’s competition finished at the county final stage, Mourneabbey are now effectively aiming to complete a three-in-a-row on Saturday.
Annette Clarke, who captained Galway to an All-Ireland senior title in 2004, is part of a core group of five players who were key to that Kilkerrin-Clonberne revival and are still part of the squad today.
Another survivor of that class of 2008 is panelist Sarah Ward. A distant relation of the famous Galway Ward sisters, and clubmates, Louise and Nicola, Ward insists that this is her final year of playing with the club.
Home life is hectic for her right now. She has two children aged 5 and 4 who are gradually starting their own journey as GAA players. That brings its own host of organisational challenges when you’re still trying fulfill your own role as a player.
She also has a demanding job with Microsoft where she works in the area of real estate. The pandemic allowed her to work remotely from Galway but in ordinary time, and she always had that option before restrictions existed. But she was also commuting to her office in Dublin.
Similar to the dynamic in Kilkerring-Clonberne, juggling all the commitments requires a team effort at home.
“I work in Microsoft in a European role for them,” she begins.
“They are a very progressive company and allow men some good work life flexibility which means that I can balance work life with kids and, this week, football as well.
“I must add into the mix that it takes a very patient husband and a very supportive family that help. He plays soccer for a local side, Kilkerrin United so we are like a revolving door sometimes in this house around scheduling.
“It is a good balance for training and in turn the management in Clonburn understand I have a job that involved travel and they are quite patient with me and accommodating when I do have to travel and miss training. Sometimes I miss the endurance work which isn’t a bad thing.
“I worked in corporate real estate for most of my career. I was working with a commercial agency in Dublin and then in June this year I moved across to Microsoft to work inhouse in real estate. It has been very good so far, it has been a positive experience with all the flexibility they give me.
“I think when I took the job my mum thought I would be working outside Bill Gates’ office but that was not to be the case. There is a lot of inspiring people even in the Dublin office so it has been really good so far.”
There are other members of the Kilkerrin-Clonberne also working in Dublin, according to Ward. They often carpool back to Galway for training and organise sessions in Dublin.
Ward concedes that the nature of her job can sometimes interfere with her chances of getting regular game time for the club. She was part of the panel who reached the 2019 All-Ireland final but didn’t get a run during the game, although she did feature in their Connacht final win over Glencar/Manorhamilton last month.
That was Kilkerrin-Clonberne’s fourth consecutive Connacht title, and sixth in all.
Ward’s work is partially the reason for her regular spot on the bench, but she stresses that the competition for places is fierce too.
“Probably the work and the travel has played a part to a point but you have got a team where the competition is just fierce. You have got a lot of inter-county players that you are competing with for that starting spot. It is a great headache for a manager to have that you have so many players pushing for a certain spot and pushing to come on and play.
“We have been really, really fortunate in Clonberne that we have an amazing underage structure that was set up years ago and a lot of our players have progressed through that underage structure. As a result, you have a lot of adult players of a really high standard and that is a testament to our club and all the underage coaches. We have probably a higher number of adult players in a small club.
“For those who are not familiar with Kilkerrin-Clonberne it is one small parish with two small villages in North East Galway. We don’t have a huge population but we have a lot of girls who want to play and who have played throughout since their adolescence.
As a result we have got a great pick, we have two adults teams, we have a Junior B and a senior team. The amount of youth coming through is quite phenomenal and we are fortunate to have it but then as a result you are looking at a lot of competition for 15 starting spots and at most only five players can come on in any game so you will have girls who are always going to be disappointed.
“The most we can do as panel players is really push and try and push those starting players as much as we can.”
Ward has soldiered for Kilkerrin-Clonberne for 20 years, but is ready to step aside after a term of great service. She All-Ireland medal would be the ideal parting gift.
“You always feel like you might get to that Holy Grail of an All-Ireland medal. I think anybody who plays football would have the dream of winning an All-Ireland medal and it’s no different for me or the rest of the girls so the closer you get, the more you feel like you can achieve it and, absolutely, this year, it would be great to just finish off the career with an All-Ireland medal.
“We’ll do our best to try that. I think the older you get and the further on in your career, towards the end, you’ve a tendency to savour the moments a little bit better so I think coming on in the Connacht final and being there for the final whistle, my kids coming onto the pitch, those are the type of memories that stay with you and I think I’ll probably savour them more than some of the earlier ones where success, you took it for granted or you didn’t put as much meas on it as I do now.”
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