No regrets for Laura as Croke Park experience more than makes up for abandoned holiday

Play in Croke Park or head to Australia? What choice would you make if you were handed this choice? For Laura O’Dowd, it was no choice at all as a long planned trip to Oz was cancelled as the Leitrim star returned for Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins’ adventure in Croke Park.

That Saturday’s CurrentAccount.ie LGFA All-Ireland Intermediate Club Final didn’t end with the fairytale ending for Ballinamore matters not to Laura who missed the Connacht Final victory over Eoghan Rua as she was off in Vietnam on a long planned holiday.

Speaking of that Provincial decider, Laura admitted that she took a chance, believing her teammates could do the job without her: “It was very tough because I had literally only left a week before that but it was very hard, I think I was in Vietnam at that stage and it was very hard to turn around a week later and fly back a few days.

Ruthless Glanmire end Ballinamore Sean O'Heslins All-Ireland dream

BALLINAMORE SEAN O'HESLINS GLANMIRE

“So I made the decision that I was going to leave the Connacht Final. But as soon as the girls won, I knew there was no way I was not coming back - I cut the holiday short, I had to leave Australia off the holiday plans but it was completely worth it to be here today.”

Saturday was also a very special day for the O’Dowd family with Laura and her sister Ciara joining their younger sibling Eilish in playing in Croke Park this year, Eilish winning the Brendan Martin Cup with the Dubs last August: “It is a huge achievement for the three of us. For Eilish to get the win, brilliant and it is a shame that myself and Ciara couldn’t get the win today.

“But for the whole O’Dowd family, we had a huge number of them come today to support us and just the build up to it today was so, so exciting. They are so proud of us as well.”

Defeat was hard to take but Laura was the first to pay tribute to opponents Glanmire for what they produced on the day: “Getting to this point was an achievement in ourselves. We did our crest and our club, we did everybody and ourselves so proud. 

“It was always going to be a huge, huge task for us to step up and win today, Glanmire are a fantastic team and they showed that today. Unfortunately, we just didn’t get the scores when we needed them but I’m just so proud of every single girl on that pitch today, and the girls who came on, they were fantastic. It is a very proud day for Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins.”

Admitting that she found it hard to find room to roam as the Cork side doubled teamed both her and Roisin McHugh, Laura agreed that Glanmire has prepared well for the Ballinamore challenge: “They clearly did their homework on us. Roisin was a huge, huge player for us in the semi-final, she racked up most of our scores. 

“They had their homework done, they had her well marked but she still did fantastic but when we needed to try and drive through that sector, they just had it clogged up and it didn’t work for us on this occasion. But it is all a learning curve for us and just to say that we were out there in Croke Park, doing the club proud, that is all we can ask for.”

In spite of the loss, 2023 will go down as a fantastic year for Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins ladies: “A fantastic year. Since we came up to Senior, we’ve been there, we’ve been making finals but we’ve never got across that line so when we got across the line this year in the Senior B, we knew we had nothing to lose in the Connachts.

“We just kept fighting and fighting and I think our best football has come out in these last few weeks so hopefully that means we have good things to come in 2024.”

Looking back on the entire year, the victory over Steelstown and it’s dramatic nature will live long in Laura’s memory: “It was an unbelievable year from start to finish but particularly that finish was just unreal, it showed our resilience, how we fought to the end. 

Breen points to early Glanmire goal as blow to Ballinamore's All-Ireland Final dream

“Ciara got the tackle in, dispossessed the goalie, we just pressed, pressed, pressed and Aoibheann finished it. Even today, we look back on that video and it was such a proud moment for us and we’ll always be able to look back on that video and just see how well we do for next year.”

Mention of next year naturally leads to a query of what it will be like to be a marked team in next year’s championship: “It is back to the county next year and we’ll all be fighting for the title but hopefully this year will make us that little bit stronger and wiser going into the League and Championship.”