ANTRIM captain Cathy Carey is the first to admit she has been around inter-county scene for longer than she cares to imagine.
She has been playing in the Antrim colours for the best part of two decades, so as the years go by, you would be forgiven for thinking that surely the Saffrons star must be contemplating hanging up the boots. But not Carey and after last year’s All-Ireland Junior Championship Final defeat to Wicklow, the thought of calling time on her inter-county career was never considered.
The drive to get to this year’s final has been at the forefront of Carey’s mind for this season and while the history books will read that the losing team from the previous year’s final will, for the most part, get back to Croke Park for another chance, it is not always a given and the 32-year-old knows that.
“We made no bones about it, it was one of our aims this year, to get back to the final, but is never a given,” she said.
“There are a number of teams in the junior championship that are very close in terms of standard and one sloppy result can put you on the back foot. Thankfully we got the wins over Limerick and New York and then followed that up with the semi-final win over Carlow to get back to where we want to be. Now it’s about going one step further than last year and winning it.”
Carey says they learned a lot from the loss to Wicklow and how they are even in a better position to deal with the build-up to Sunday’s final.
“We learned a lot from last year. Reaching the final was a massive deal as it was our first in a few years so there was a lot of hype that came along with that. This year in the build up to the final, it has been a lot calmer.”
They face Ulster counterparts Fermanagh on Sunday morning (11.45pm) in the first of a triple header at Croke Park as Ladies All-Ireland Finals Day brings the curtain down on the inter-county season.
It will be Carey’s fifth All-Ireland junior final of which she has won two - 2009 and 2012 and lost two - 2017 and 2019.
“Hopefully with two wins and two losses, I can tip the scales in favour of the wins after Sunday,” she said.
It’s not just about the winning silverware though - that is just the first step - it then becomes about building and developing as an intermediate team and to become good and strong enough to stay there and try and compete for intermediate honours both at a provincial and national level and that is why she is still playing, and in as good a from as ever, after all these years.
“To be honest it never entered my head not be around for this year. I certainly wouldn’t have liked to have walked away after ending last year with a loss so I was always going to be playing this year. Even if we had won last year, I still would be around as I want to play at intermediate level and do as much as I can to take Antrim to a better place and see us compete there and aim to reach the top.
“Teams move up and down from junior to intermediate and hopefully the extra year we had here, should we win, will help us be more competitive at the next level. It’s okay putting in the work for a year to get you that All-Ireland title but the work doesn’t stop there, it needs to step up another level if you want to compete there and challenge yourselves. I don’t want to win this year and then find ourselves back down in junior after just one year at intermediate.”
Even five All-Ireland final appearances in, Carey admits she has allowed herself to think ‘what if’ and argues you’ll wouldn’t be human if you didn’t as she looks forward to Sunday’s game especially as captain of her county.
“I can’t lie and say I haven’t thought about winning and what it would be like. You dream of things like that from you are no age and now that it is in reach it’s natural that you do think ‘what if’.
“It would be unreal to win it and to be captain and lead your team up the steps would be something else. But there is a lot of football to be played before that. We believe we have the ability and the talent to do it. If you get to this stage and don’t believe you can win it then you are in the wrong place. It will take a lot of hard work and things need to go right on the day.
“But if you ask someone from Fermanagh the same question, they will say the same thing as me - they believe they can win it. It’s all on they day and it’s very achievable for both teams but I hope we can come out on the right end of it.”
