Megan never hit the panic button in final frantic minutes as Ballinamore claim Connacht title

Megan McGovern may well have been the calmest person on the Markievicz Park pitch during the closing stages of Saturday’s dramatic Connacht LGFA Intermediate Club Final, commenting “for some reason, I was never actually worried” despite Balllinamore Sean O’Heslins’ history of heartbreak in finals over the past few years.

Asked what it was like during the final frantic 15 minutes of a game the Leitrim champions won 1-10 to 1-9 against Sligo’s Eoghan Rua, Megan said “For some reason I was never actually worried, I knew we were on top the whole time and you just look at the likes of Sarah McLoughlin, she has so much experience, Roisin as well. 

All of our backs were so solid the whole time, we were definitely solid enough - I don’t know why we didn’t hit the panic button, we were in that position so many times so we just kept it nice and calm.”

Cool heads paid off for Grainne and Ballinamore Sean O'Heslins

Coming out the right side of a tight game hasn’t always been in O’Heslins’ favour as Megan highlighted how Ballinamore’s goal came at just the right time: “Usually we’re always on the wrong side of things when it comes to the last few minutes so to actually grind out the win, we all stayed really steady and getting that goal at the right time.”

Who actually got the goal? “Sarah would definitely take that and Roisin would probably give it to her too - I don’t know who you would give it to,” said a laughing Megan.

The Ballinamore midfielder admitted that it didn’t look good for them at halftime: “They were all over us and only for their wides, we were so lucky. We didn’t play at all in the first half. When we went into the dressing room, our manager said to us that if we lifted it 20%, we were only two points down.”

Ballinamore’s win was all the more remarkable given it was achieved without Leitrim star Laura O’Dowd and Megan’s sister Emma, prompting her to remark “Hopefully the girls might fly home for the All-Ireland Semi-Final! That would be lovely if it was a home game.

Winning with your club is just another level says Ballinamore's All-Star Sarah McLoughlin

“We’ve lost so many people this year but there were other girls coming in. Lucy Murphy is only 16, Deborah McGourty came in for Katie’s position but that is why we have a panel of players, we’re so lucky to have them all. Even if we had them today, you wonder how much we’d have beaten them by but we got the win.”