McGrath and Drom aiming for more

By Thomas Conway

These past ten months cannot have been easy for Eimear McGrath. The Drom & Inch attacker is known for her uncanny accuracy and awesome consistency, but last January, on a cold and crisp afternoon in Mallow, the Drom sharpshooter missed a relatively straightforward free to level the game and force Scariff-Ogonelloe to extra-time in the Munster final.

Observers were shocked. How could such a brilliant placed-ball specialist falter at such a crucial moment? How could a player who always delivers fail to deliver when the need was greatest? The answer was simple. Eimear McGrath is human. She feels pressure like everyone else, and on that occasion, it got the better of her. It didn’t last Saturday in The Ragg.

The Tipperary senior panellist produced a match-winning performance, definitively silencing her critics and extinguishing some of the burning psychological pain which was inflicted in Mallow that day. Of course, she will want to go a step further and claim the Munster title that could have been Drom’s last year, but for now, the imposing forward is revelling in the joys of a fourth consecutive county title.

Speaking in the aftermath of Drom’s victory, she conceded that her side were less than impressive for much of the first-half, but she also revealed that there was little panic-stricken emotion in the Drom dressing-room at half-time. Pat Ryan and his players remained cool as cucumbers. They took a collective step back, assessed the situation, and pressed the refresh button. They knew they had it in them. It was just a matter of rediscovering their spark.

“I suppose we were probably a bit disappointed at half-time, but in all fairness, there was a strong wind there,” she said.

“At the same time, we knew we hadn’t played to our ability, we knew there was more in us. So, we kind of just refocused at half-time, we said what needed to be said, nothing too drastic or anything, but we just tried to res-set our minds. And we knew that if we stuck with it for long enough and performed to the level that we know we can perform, that we’d definitely have enough to win it.”

McGrath finished Saturday’s final with a haul of 1-7, including a crucial 51st minute goal which ultimately set Drom on a path to victory. The goal itself was as crafty as it was dramatic. McGrath crept in behind the Clonoulty cover and contrived to get her hurley on the end of a long-distance delivery from captain Mairéad Eviston. She flicked her wrists and the ball sailed up and over the onrushing Theresa White. There was a collective inhale of breath from the crowd, as the sliotar hovered in the air for an inordinate amount of time. It eventually dropped into the net, sending the Drom supporters into raptures.

McGrath admits that she doesn’t really know how she managed it, nor does she really care. However, she felt that Drom’s second-half display was supercharged by Niamh Treacy’s sublime individual goal just after the interval. Drom’s ability to strike at critical moments ultimately proved decisive, according to their marquee forward.

“I don’t know how enjoyable it was, but maybe there was that sense from looking at us!” he added.

“But when it did start to happen for us, I think we really started to play. Niamh Treacy got a great goal after half-time, and I think that gave us a real platform to push on. And then we kind of just never really looked back. We started to play well, and I suppose it’s easy to enjoy yourself when you’re playing well. But we pushed on at the vital times, that’s what made the difference.”

For now, McGrath is focused on enjoying the fruits of Drom’s most recent success, but make no mistake, both her and her teammates will be thinking about the prospect of landing a second Munster title in four years. The weekend before last, Scariff-Ogonelloe emerged as Clare county champions for the second year running. Another showdown with the East Clare outfit could be on the cards. You get the sense that McGrath and Drom would relish it.