IT WAS A real family affair for Kilkerrin-Clonberne.
As it so often is with club football.
Willie Ward is manager of the freshly-crowned back-to-back All-Ireland senior ladies football champions, and his twin daughters, Louise and Nicola, are among the star players with the former captaining the side.
There’s other parents on the management team, with children involved: Michael Divilly and his three daughters Olivia, Siobhán and Niamh, Gerard Noone and his trio of Hannah, Lynsey and Eva, and Martina Dunleavy and her daughters Claire and Michelle.
The Wards, the Divillys, the Noones, the Dunleavys and co. all celebrated on the hallowed turf of Croke Park after their 0-13 to 0-7 win over Donaghmoyne, a memorable moment for all involved.
“Oh, very proud of them,” Willie Ward beamed afterwards. “Very proud of them.
To see your daughter walk up the famous steps, it’s a great thing. Great for any parent to see. I think it’s a day in a lifetime for me to see that today.
“I’ve had a good few spells with them at different underage teams,” he explained. “Myself and Michael Divilly, we started off when they were under 10s. They were about seven-years-old, the twins and Olivia Divilly and Sarah Gormally and a few more. We went all the way up along with them.
“We eventually took them at senior 10 years ago, we stayed with them [for] three years. We were there with them for the first three county finals, then we had a break for a while, and we came back again two years ago. We’ve been involved for five of our 10 senior county titles.”
Yesterday brought the curtain down on an unforgettable 2022.
Kilkerrin-Clonberne lifted their first All-Ireland senior title in January, having gone close in the past, and successfully defended it 11 months later.
So that’s 10 Galway titles in-a-row, five consecutive Connacht crowns and now back-to-back All-Irelands, all completed in the one calendar year.
“We have one lady out there that won four [All-Irelands in 2022],” Ward enthused. “Ailish Morrissey won the colleges O’Connor Cup as well, and won the Sevens. She’s had a fantastic year.
“It is great to do it in the calendar year. We’re so lucky, such a lovely day today as well at this time of year, we were delighted — considering we played our last three games in absolutely torrential rain! Today was a wonderful day.
“I think the game went very much as we hoped it would go,” he added, particularly pleased with his side’s fast start, how they coped with a second-half sin-bin and the nature in which they saw the game out.
“Most of our match-ups, we got them right and our game plan worked pretty well. I thought we handled the game pretty well all the way through. Donaghmoyne kept fighting, kept going, as they would. They’re a classy team, great tradition, great experience, and they kept pushing everywhere they could. But I thought overall, our team had a good combined effort, a great team effort, and particularly, a great defensive effort.”
While Kilkerrin stayed in the Croke Park Hotel last night and began their celebrations in the capital, Donaghmoyne headed home empty-handed.
Though manager Francie Coleman had no complaints.
“Very disappointed,” the long-serving boss reflected. “We didn’t perform to the best of our ability today. That’s taking nothing away from the opposition — I thought they were fantastic today. We were second best all through the match, and can have no complaints.
“I don’t think if we were there for another hour that we’d catch up on them really. Our big disappointment was probably losing our two top players during the year, Amanda Casey (injury) and Hazel Kingham (suspension). They were two massive misses for us there. Two strong players.
“Hazel Kingham got a red card in the Ulster final, she missed most of the Ulster final and the All-Ireland semi-final. It was a big blow to her to not step out on Croke Park today. I feel sorry, especially for her. Two massive players. Both of them have won 20 county titles. To deprive her of not getting out on Croke Park today was upsetting for her, and for the rest of us.”
Coleman did note that being part of an historic occasion at HQ was “a privilege for the club, the parish, the players, subs and supporters” and ”a good day out” but stayed tight-lipped on the potential for more of this.
There is an end-of-an era feeling around the Monaghan heavyweights, a potential changing of the guard en route.
“Well, there’s a lot of young talent there and they’ll be there next year,” Coleman, who formed the club 31 years ago, noted. “I can’t see the older lassies packing it in yet. I think there’s another year or two in them. Hopefully they keep at it.”
Asked about the prospect of masterminding another attack for 2023, he concluded: “Ah, I don’t know about that now. We’ll get Christmas over first.”
