DEARBHLA Magee would have preferred if her inter-county season had ended last Saturday or even the weekend before, but the central defender is prepared to play on until Christmas if it means that Down secure their place in the senior championship for a fourth season.
“The season is stretching on, but it has to end this weekend,” says Magee a PE teacher in Aquinas Grammar on the Ravenhill Road in Belfast ahead of her county's All-Ireland Senior Championship relegation play-off against Offaly.
“Most other counties know where they sit for next season. Obviously we would love to have that settled before now. It is what it is, and we have to refocus this week and get the job done on Saturday.”
Surely the Down team would have expected to be in a relegation battle when they looked at the make-up of the senior championship groups when they were drawn up at Easter?
“To be honest, no! We saw that we were playing Clare at home in the first game and we saw that as a game that we could win. If that had happened, we would have been safe a fortnight ago.
“So, we didn’t see ourselves as relegation candidates from the start. Maybe after the Clare game, because we knew that Cork and Galway would be very difficult teams, very experienced teams.
“I think that we did very well against Galway, considering we took a tanking from them in Athenry last year. After we lost that game, we went on to Twitter to see who else was in the same position. Offaly we expected to be, but the Dublin v Wexford game went down to the wire.”
The draw that followed saw Down play Wexford last Saturday and, although the result went against them, Magee feels that the extra game will have done them no harm at all.
“We competed well right through. Obviously we are disappointed not to settle the issue there and then, but we didn’t pick up any injuries and a good competitive game is better than any training session.”
Many of Down’s home games in recent times have been played on her home pitch, Liatroim Fontenoys, and that means a really family affair for the Magees. Dearbhla’s father Declan and brother Tiarnach are the club’s groundsmen.
This year her mother Nuala, who wore the red and black for almost two decades winning All-Ireland Junior and Intermediate titles, has joined the county set up.
“Yeah, she has come in to do logistics this year. She keeps me right at times because I wouldn’t be the most organised person, but she never gets in the way. She knows when to give me space.
“Obviously having played inter-county herself, she understands a lot about the atmosphere in the changing rooms.”
Dearbhla has represented Northern Ireland in mountain running through her teens after winning the 1000m event at a school sports’ day.
“I took part in a few international events through my teenage years. Dad was into Hill and Vale running and he took me to East Down AC and I ran for Newcastle AC for a while as well. The standard was very high and I needed to spend a lot more time at it to improve and I just couldn’t afford that time with camogie my preferred sport.”
Dearbhla Magee has appeared in defence in each of the three Irish News Allstar camogie teams to date and she is a strong candidate for a fourth successive award, if not the Player of the Year gong, following huge performances all season in league and championship including the Player of the Match award in the Ulster final win over Antrim.
“We had targeted the Ulster final from early in the year. Antrim beat us last year and we really wanted the title back again. They also beat us in the first round of the league.
“That was a strange game because we played well in the first half, but they won the second half and the match. So, it was really satisfying to bounce back from that and win Ulster.
“There is a lot of responsibility playing in defence. You have to watch your player all the time and then when you are on the ball your delivery is very important. You can’t throw away hard won possession.
“Personally I prefer midfield where I play with the club; you have a freer rein and you can cover a lot more ground there and get up for scores. But when you opt to play a team game, you play the position that most benefits the team. So, if I am good enough to get a jersey on the Down team, I do what has to be done to get the team over the line.”
A big contribution from Magee against Offaly will go a long way to securing another season in the top flight for Down.
