MOST LOCKDOWN DAYS began with a frosty 6am running session in the Phoenix Park.
Vikki Wall lived nearby, and she hit The Papal Cross religiously. Like clockwork.
Her online college lectures started at 9am, so she got her training in good and early and built a solid routine.
Much of the groundwork for Meath’s All-Ireland wins in 2020 and 2021 was laid in the early days of the pandemic.
“To be honest, I was actually grateful for that Covid period,” Wall tells a new documentary, Meath Mayhem: Rise of the Royals, which is out now.
“That impacted our team hugely, it was the changing of a lot of players. It was an obsession. It was the only thing that kept me sane. We had our three running sessions and pitch sessions to do during the week on top of gym. I know for a fact I didn’t miss one training session. We had to log everything, I literally didn’t miss one of them.
“It was a case of if I didn’t do it in the morning at six o’clock in the Phoenix Park, I’d be doing it after my college from home. It just became even more of an obsession than it had ever been before, it was the only outlet we had. They were tough sessions, they were grim sessions, but then when we came back, it allowed us to focus so much more on football.”
Asked later what drove her, the Dunboyne star doesn’t hesitate. “The thought of what we could do as a team. I just wanted to be so ready to make such an impact and cause havoc.”
That, she most certainly did.
Wall’s remarkable journey comes into focus in the two-part, two-hour documentary, commissioned by Meath LGFA and produced by Jerome Quinn. It goes hand-in-hand with the Royals’ own turnaround: from the senior doldrums to an intermediate rebuild and back-to-back Brendan Martin Cup lifts.
Her physical and mental transformation in recent years has been striking. It’s something Wall has spoken openly about in the past, lifting the lid on verbal abuse she has been subjected to from the sideline and stands while playing inter-county football.
It’s been a whirlwind few years for the multi-sport star. Now under contract with the IRFU as she chases the Olympic dream with the Ireland Sevens, the 2021 Footballer of the Year also represented North Melbourne in the AFLW last season.
“I probably wouldn’t say it to her face, but she’s obviously someone I’d look up to a huge amount as a player on the pitch, but even more so as a person off pitch,” her parter-in-crime for club and county, Emma Duggan, smiles.
“When I came into the club in 2017, she took me under her wing and since then, she has been nothing but a massive figure in my life.
“It’s been documented at this stage and she’s been very open about the experiences she’s had on the pitch as well, I think that kind of shaped her as a player. I remember the 2020 lockdown in particular was when she drove it on really.
“Obviously we hadn’t seen each other for weeks during Covid, I remember I saw her for the first time and I was blown away. She had gotten herself into unbelievable shape. Even back then compared to where she is now, it’s two different people again.”
Management team members including strength and conditioning coach Eugene Eivers, psychologist Kelley Fay and coach Shane Wall — as well as several other players — chart Wall’s impressive rise and share their unique insight in the documentary.
“Her focus and work-rate with regards to getting her S&C and conditioning [on song] was was hands down unbelievable. It really was,” Eivers recalls.
“She’s an extremely strong and powerful and explosive player. The numbers that I would have for her in the gym are impressive to say the least. Exceptional. Very, very, very talented girl.”
“It’s just pure drive and dedication and hunger,” Fay explains, with Shane Wall labelling his namesake a “physical phenomenon” and “force of nature”.
“There’s certain players that can just put a fear into other teams,” he adds.
“Everyone would have seen it in soccer as well, players like Ryan Giggs. The defence immediately when that type of player gets the ball, there’s just a fear and everyone’s on the backfoot and there’s a buzz in the crowd. That’s happened so many times with Vikki over the years. When she gets the ball, there’s this instant buzz and a fear for defences.”
Alongside her younger sister Sarah, Orlagh Lally was another player to share heartwarming stories about the talismanic figure from her younger years.
“I remember Vikki used to always wear her socks up high, I used to do the exact same so that I could let on to be her!
“When I was brought in, I was like, ‘I can’t believe I’m playing with Vikki Wall.’ I was going home every evening after training, telling Mam and Dad, they’d be like, ‘Yeah, we know, we get it like!’
“She’s very modest and she’ll never realise the influence that she’s had on other people’s lives. She’s amazing. It’s a privilege to be playing alongside her.”
— Meath LGFA (@meathladiesMLGF) December 13, 2023
From the highs, lows and everything in between, there’s so much more incredible insight and behind-the-scenes nuggets from Meath players and management on what it took to reach the pinnacle.
- Meath Mayhem: Rise of the Royals is available to buy in the Meath LGFA online store and in several shops around the county.
