THE SLAUGHTNEIL CAMOGIE players got a sense of how much their success has impacted on the club recently.
A meet and greet was organised for the younger members of the club last week, where they could interact with members of the senior panel ahead of their All-Ireland final against St Martin’s this Sunday at Croke Park.
The club held similar functions like this in the past, but the children in Slaughtneil were the focus at this event.
It was an important occasion for the camogie players as well to inspire the next generation of players who might one day go on to emulate the present team’s All-Ireland triumphs.
As joint-captain Siobhán Bradley puts it, ‘you hope success will breed success and they can look up at us as role models.’
Bradley’s teammate — and co-captain — Gráinne O’Kane works locally as a youth officer and is familiar with many of the children who attended the meet and greet.
She casts her mind back to when she was young and the Kilkenny hurlers were the star players she idolised.
But now she’s now part of a team that has brought All-Ireland winning heroes to Slaughtneil’s front door.
“All the wee’uns there buzzing for it and they probably don’t even understand how big a deal it is,” she says, smiling at how the children have responded to their success.
“It’s lovely to see them come up asking who’s training? I know when I was growing up, I would have been looking at the Kilkenny hurlers and thinking ‘they’re my role models and who I want to be like.’
Having the younger girls come up and asking ‘who’s playing well?’ It’s great for the girls to have girls to look up to now too.
“The wee ones had a chance to ask questions to specific players. It was nice and it kind of brings it back to home.
“It’s lovely for them and they probably think this is going to be it forever and the way it is. They’ll get a rude awakening some day,” she laughs.
Camogie has always been the only GAA sport for girls in Slaughtneil.
Some of the younger players have taken up football in the last few years by joining up with one of their neighbouring clubs, who are also a rival of their men’s football team.
There’s a close connection between the football and camogie teams in Slaughtneil. In fact, two players got married recently.
The wedding of Paul and Siobhán Bradley was in December but the pair have put their honeymoon plans on ice while their on-pitch commitments take priority.
With both partners having such hectic schedules with the club, there’s a mutual understanding about the level of dedication that’s required from them.
“He does help me a lot in regards to my game, helping me get prepared,” says the camogie star, who is still adjusting to the Bradley name having previously been Siobhán McKaigue.
“He just gets everything about the game and vice-versa. It’s a good mix.”
While the men’s football team is thriving at the moment, there are no immediate plans to bring the game in for the female members of the club.
At least not while camogie is bringing them so much success.
They have two All-Ireland crowns in their cabinet so far, and are the kingpins of Derry camogie. But Slaughtneil weren’t always contenders in this code.
Prior to clinching their first senior county crown in 2012, there were plenty of miserable and perhaps humiliating days on the pitch for them.
Those painful memories are what keep them humble.
“A lot of the girls who are around the same age group have been through many Derry county finals and got slaughtered in them,” Bradley adds.
“And really we took a lot from them, able to reflect on them and how we played as a team, reflect on nerves, confidence. I suppose the mentality side of it and we were able to channel that a bit better through the years.
“Thankfully we’ve gained more and more confidence in ourselves and our camogie has definitely improved alongside with management of course.
“From over the years of losing so much, that’s really made us the team we are today.”
While O’Kane has managed to find a job locally, Bradley is based in Belfast where she works as a nurse.
Balancing her work and camogie commitments involve regular commutes of just over an hour between the two places, which can sometimes be difficult for her.
The long hours that come with her job combined with the physical demands of representing Slaughtneil presents a significant challenge for Bradley, but that’s exactly how she wants to live her life.
I love my job and love camogie just as equally but don’t get me wrong, on the long days of 13-hour shifts and travelling to Belfast, it can be tough.
“But I’m just delighted to be in the place that we are in now. I wouldn’t change anything for the world.
“Work-life balance is a challenge at times but I’m so fortunate as well to have excellent managers in the hospital that help me facilitate training around work and it’s grand.
“I would work three long days a week, sometimes four to balance out my hours but it could be anything. My training days are Wednesday, Friday and Sunday so I work round those days.
There’s a lot of other people that would want to be in our position. So, we’re just so grateful to be here. We’ve earned it but we’re so grateful to be here at the same time.”
Bradley’s profession is undoubtedly a difficult one and nurses in the south of Ireland recently went on strike over a dispute about pay and staff shortages.
Bradley says there are no worries about any impending strike action among nurses in the north, but she’s aware of the difficult situation that unfolded for nurses in the Republic.
“It’s tough times for nurses and all healthcare professionals,” she says.
“The demands of the job are massive. There is so much stress with the job but we’re not at the stage where we’re having to strike up north so it’s very difficult for all nurses in the south.”
Chasing a third All-Ireland title in-a-row is not something Slaughtneil envisaged when they first started out on this journey.
The club is enjoying a remarkable period at the moment, with their football, hurling and camogie teams all excelling in their codes.
But according to O’Kane, there’s no major secret behind their triumphs. Having good management structures in place and a committed group of players who reached the senior grade at a similar time appear to be key pillars of their set-up.
It also helps that GAA is the only show in town when it comes to sport, and the club doesn’t have to compete with other teams to retain talented players.
All-Ireland final day is new territory for most of the St Martin’s players, apart from perhaps Mags D’Arcy and Noeleen Lambert, who previously won four All-Irelands with the Wexford camogie team.
Slaughtneil have been lucky enough to experience days like this before.
The children who attended that recent meet and greet are surrounded by success at the moment and could be forgiven for thinking that trips to Croke Park will become an annual event.
But the players know that the glory days could disappear at any moment, particularly when those heavy defeats aren’t that far in the past.
“It’s great,” says a humbled O’Kane.
“If you asked us three years ago that we would be in this position, we wouldn’t have believed you so a fantastic run now. It’s four years ago really that we started.
“We had a great management team that came in four years ago.
“They brought a lot of structure and confidence to the team. Not in a superstitious way, it was down to hard work and gym work started. There was a lot of focus on getting the basics right.
We wouldn’t have thought we’d get out of Ulster three years ago, it was a huge achievement for us, never mind going on and winning two more All-Irelands. So it’s fantastic.
“It’s every player’s dream to play in Croke Park so it is an amazing achievement. People say you’ll not appreciate it until you’re old and retired so it’s class.”
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