Meagher eyeing up Croke Park after taking year out

By Niall McIntyre

Watching last year’s All-Ireland junior camogie final gave Sinead Meagher a spark to get back in this year.

Meagher took the year out in 2023 due to her work commitments as a member of An Garda Siochána but seeing Tipperary take on Clare in Croke Park was all she needed to recommit for the quest to go a step further and win the All-Ireland.

“It gave me the inkling that I wanted to get back to get an opportunity like that,” she revealed.

“I remember turning on RTÉ and seeing the girls out on the field, and I was just thinking, that’s what I’m missing out on.

“I said when they come back in December, if I’m lucky enough to be asked in, I said I’d 100% be jumping at the opportunity, I wouldn’t let that pass again.”

It’s almost a year on from that loss to Clare and now another opportunity beckons for the Tipperary junior camogie team, with an All-Ireland semi-final coming up this Saturday against Armagh.

Meagher is one of many additions to a team that is almost unrecognisable from last year, with a new management and with just ‘three or four’ survivors.

Tipperary haven’t put a foot wrong all season, cruising through the group stages with a 100% record and, if that wasn’t enough, winning the Munster intermediate championship to boot.

“Winning the Munster intermediate this year was huge,” Meagher admitted.

“We had to beat Cork and Kerry to win that. We’re a junior team so once we won that, we said to ourselves ‘we can go all the way.’”

The group stages took them from Aughrim in Wicklow to Garvaghey in Tyrone and Meagher says away trips like those have brought the team closer together.

“Since coming in in December, the team has grown so close together,” added the Kiladangan native.

“Those away trips are great for bonding a team, and you can see that coming through then when you’re playing on the field, there’s a togetherness there which is fantastic.

“The goal was to take the direct route to the semi-finals. We wanted to win every match, and we did that.”

The prolific forward says a lot of credit goes to the management team, led by former minor and senior manager Bill Mullaney who she says gives everything for Tipp camogie.

“I owe a lot to Bill,” Meagher said.

“He’s brought me on as a player and developed me in a lot of ways. He’s just a fantastic man. He has the best interests of Tipp camogie at heart. I don’t think he gives himself a break. He’s always on the road either going to the Ragg or going to Dr Morris. All the players buy into what Bill does, because we can all see he loves it.

“This year, I’m hoping we can do it for him and the rest of the management as well. They’re absolutely fantastic.”

A former World Handball champion, Meagher opted out this year to focus solely on camogie. She says the skills learned in handball alleys stand her in great stead on the camogie field.

“Only for the handball, it’s such a great help. It’s great for the hand-eye coordination. I only took it up really to better my camogie skills, for catching and hand-passing and things like that. Little did I think I’d be playing at such a high level,” she said.

Meagher has never played in Croke Park before and says it would be like a dream come through.

She added: “It would be unbelievable (to reach the final in Croke Park). Not just for me but my family as well, to give them the day out would be great. They go to all my matches and it’s the same for all of the other girls as well.”

First, they’ve a job to do in Ashbourne.