GREEN, orange, red… The colour of the jersey can change daily but the standard of Caroline O’Hanlon’s performances remains at the same high level.
Today she’ll play for Northern Ireland’s netballers against Scotland in Glasgow, tomorrow it’s the Ulster final for Armagh against Donegal and if there was a club game on Sunday, O’Hanlon would probably line out for Carrickcruppen too.
For 21 years the doctor from south Armagh has been playing at elite level and, at the age of 38, it’s putting it mildly to say that she’s still going strong.
Yes, she puts a lot into her hectic schedule but she gets a lot back out.
“It’s not easy but I love what I do and I get a lot back from what I do,” says the Armagh midfielder.
“That makes the decision easier – if I wasn’t enjoying it, I wouldn’t be doing it; it’s as simple as that.
“I think I’m in a very privileged position to have the opportunities that I’ve had and I think I’d probably have regretted it if I’d turned some of them down rather than putting in a bit of effort to do them.
“Each year you kind of reflect and see do you still have the energy, do you still have the motivation? What do you see in the group that’s there – do you see potential? You take it from there.
“Over the last year and-a-half it wasn’t a very difficult decision because there wasn’t a whole lot else to do but I suppose I’ll have to reflect for next year.”
Could someone starting out now still be playing in 21 years’ time? 2042 seems like an awful long way away but O’Hanlon argues that it is actually easier for players nowadays than when she started out.
“There’s a lot more support in place now,” she says.
“When I started off you were trying to do gym work but you were doing it yourself, you were making it up as you went along. You were trying to do fitness yourself whereas now there’s a lot of support in place.
“Everything is at your fingertips now and if you need something it’s available. If you need a psychologist, a specialist coach, a technical coach, a running coach, a sprinting coach, a shooting coach… You have it all whereas when I was starting out you were doing a lot of that stuff but you were in charge and you led it.”
She’s still leading the way for Armagh. O’Hanlon bagged one of her county’s four goals against Monaghan as Armagh began the defence of their Ulster title and added a point in the semi-final when the Orchardwomen overran Tyrone. Donegal, who opted out of last year’s Ulster Championship having won the previous three, will be a hard nut to crack tomorrow.
Injury had ruled her out of Armagh’s All-Ireland quarter-final loss to Meath but she says she’s feeling good again, back training and taking it “a training session at a time”.
She says her coaches will decide how much game-time she gets this weekend but if it was up to her you suspect she’d play every possible minute.
“I’m training and it’s going to be a case of how much I am up to match fitness and pace I am,” she says.
“It’ll be their call on the day as to how involved I am. I’m just doing my best to be available and it’ll be their call on the day as to whether I’m looking sharp and confident.”
She radiates an air of steely confidence that has been forged by the amount of work she does behind the scenes and, although she might sit out a spell of today’s netball friendly in Glasgow, it’ll be a surprise if she doesn’t start against Donegal tomorrow.
Throughout her county career, O’Hanlon has been a regular for her club Carrickcruppen. It’s a rarity in the men’s game these days but the three-time Allstar sees the enormous benefits that county players bring to the club set-up.
“We’ve had very little opportunity with the club this year,” she says.
“I’ve only played one game because of the county rules and Covid and the cross-over in the condensed season.
“It has been very difficult and a lot of the clubs this year have had to play nearly all their games without their county players. With us having a game every week with the county, it just wasn’t feasible.
“It’s disappointing because in ladies’ football in particular we know that the clubs benefit from having county players at training. They set the standard and the other girls, younger girls in particular, will learn a lot from training with those players.
“So it’s not ideal and I think last year showed the benefit of having separate club and county seasons where everybody got a good run at the club. Even for peripheral players on county panels, it’s very hard training all year and then not getting game-time with the county. Sometimes that has a big impact on players’ confidence they forget that at club level they are excellent player, the best at their club.
“They forget that because they’re never getting on and their confidence takes a big hit. Last year you could see the benefit of girls playing a full club season and coming into the county set-up full of confidence and at top fitness levels as well.
“You see players dropping off county panels having taken that difficult decision. It’s just unfortunate the way the calendars work out that we can’t facilitate both.”
After tomorrow’s Ulster final she’ll be able to concentrate on the club but she’ll have an eye on events at Croke Park on September 5 when five in-a-row chasing Dublin take on Meath in the Ladies’ All-Ireland final. Before this current period of Dublin dominance, Cork recorded a six in-a-row and no other county has won the ladies’ All-Ireland since 2004.
After Mayo broke Dublin’s Sam Maguire stranglehold last weekend, it’s no surprise that O’Hanlon agrees that a win for the Royals would be good for the ladies’ game.
“Last year Meath weren’t even in the senior championship so (their progress) gives a lot of hope,” she said.
“They’re not a flash-in-the-pan, they have done a lot of work behind the scenes and their county board and their coaching at underage level has contributed to this.
“They have been on a journey for four or five years and other counties should be looking at them and taking lessons from them. Whenever Cork and in particular Dublin win, people think: ‘It’s because they have so much money, it’s because they have such a big population’ and they’re untouchable because of those factors. But actually, when you put in the work and you put the structures in at underage level, anybody can be competitive and for men and women those lessons have to be learned. Counties like Mayo and Meath are breaking that barrier a bit.”
