All-Ireland Premier Junior camogie championship final
“I’M THE Ballymacnab one. Ginge. With the ginger hair.”
All through her teenage years with Armagh and in school, there were two Eimear Smyths. Now there is just the one on the Armagh team and she is used to identifying which of the two she is.
“The both of us were in the same year group in the high school (St Patrick’s Keady) and there were always mix-ups. Both of us played camogie in school and in our final year, we were both in the half-back line that won the Ulster senior. So there was plenty of confusion in match reports.
“We spell our name the same. The only thing to differentiate us was the club name. The other Eimear is from Madden.”
Both players progressed through the underage ranks and both played alongside each other in recent years with Armagh seniors, Eimear from Ballymacnab the first to make her senior debut.
“Yeah, I came into the Armagh panel in 2016 and we got through to the All-Ireland final. I was a sub and didn’t play in Croke Park. But when you get to Croke Park in your first year playing for the seniors, you think you will get back there quite soon.”
Carlow beat the best the Orchard county could throw at them in 2016, but this is the first time the team have been back in Croke Park as they prepare for face Wexford in Sunday's All-Ireland Premier Junior Championship.
“We really expected to be back the next year or two, but it kinda fell apart for us. Some of the older more experienced players dropped out, some went travelling.
“We were left with a young group and when results started to go against us, the heads dropped and you weren’t getting the numbers you needed at training, players were getting more enjoyment out of playing for the club,” says the physiotherapist in Craigavon Hospital.
“It has taken a while to get things back on the road. In a way Covid has helped.
“With the club season all finished and wrapped up before the All-Ireland inter-county games last year, there was no excuse for not committing to the team. Our numbers were definitely up, but even then it took us a while to build up a bit of momentum.”
Smyth carried a calf injury into the championship last year and felt she wasn’t able to play at full pace.
“Coming back from any injury it takes time to build up confidence, but the team as a whole had been lacking in confidence and you could see that change the further we went in the competitions last year.”
They eventually won the Premier Junior title in December in Kingspan Breffni with a 0-19 to 3-7 win over Cavan.
“It was a strange feeling in Cavan that day. For a start it was Cavan, not Croke Park, there were no spectators, no atmosphere and just the team. Really strange!
“We knew ourselves that we were not quite ready for Intermediate yet. At that stage we hadn’t even a manager. The two lads who took us had only stepped in on a temporary basis.”
They found a manager at the start of this campaign – Mattie Lennon who had already taken charge of inter-county hurling teams for Armagh, Monaghan and Tyrone.
“Like quite a few of the others in the panel, I knew of Mattie, but didn’t know him. We knew his background. We didn’t know what to expect and I would say we were really nervous at that first training session.”
In fact Lennon couldn’t get a panel together until the Covid restrictions lifted in April and he only had a couple of weeks until the start of the National League.
“It took him a while seeing what we were like and then starting to make his presence felt. He has made a big impact with us. He is very committed and has brought in a good support team around him.
“Mattie is very much into player welfare and working on getting players focussing on the team. Some of us in the past might have been hungry to get on the score-board and took on the wrong shot. Now we are all about finding the player in the best position for the team to get a score.
“I think we all are taking on a lot more responsibility. Rachel Merry picked up a bad injury at training a few weeks ago. She is one of our longer-serving players. In a couple of the games recently, something maybe didn’t go right from me and then I would look over at Rachel on the sideline and that would be enough to lift me immediately and get me re-focused.
“The league and championship has been a lot more competitive this year and we have had to fight for a result in a lot of games.”
Smyth’s goal in the third quarter of the semi-final was the score that broke Clare resistance and took Armagh back to Croke Park. She is determined not to let the occasion pass her by.
“We are back in a final in Croke Park. We have to win. Who knows when we will get back again?”
