Laois Camogie’s return to the summit of the Premier Junior grade was sealed in thrilling fashion on Sunday, as a determined second-half push swept them past Armagh in the All-Ireland final at Croke Park.
The victory secured the Kay Mills Cup and sparked unforgettable celebrations among players, management, and supporters.
In the jubilant aftermath, three central figures in the squad, sharpshooter Aimee Collier, captain Clodagh Tynan, and seasoned campaigner Sarah Creagh, reflected on the pride, emotion, and relief of finally getting over the line.
For Collier, the sound of the final whistle was the breaking point of years of effort and near misses.
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet. All I did was cry after the final whistle. Kevin (Galvin) was like, why are you crying? It’s so emotional. I think we all just can’t believe we’ve finally gotten over the line. We’ve worked so hard for the last two years, and it’s been coming. When I saw we were up by a point in those last few minutes, I was like, right, it’s crunch time now. We have to do now what we said we were going to do all year and push on. So I’m just absolutely delighted,” Collier said.
The Laois forward admitted that those closing minutes brought both reassurance and the need to stay focused until the job was done.
“In other teams I’ve been on, we’ve been up by a good few points and we’ve lost. So I just knew, right, keep the head, simple things. Even when some of the girls were getting the ball in the middle of the field, I was like, just hit it wide, get it out of play. No, but obviously you have to keep the head. It was nice to see that we were probably going to be champions. But, you know, you have to keep the head too, just in case,” Collier said.
Tynan, who led the team out and lifted the trophy, spoke of the privilege of captaining this group, though she admitted the post-match duties added to the nerves.
“It’s an honour to get to represent the girls. Obviously, trying to keep it together for the last few minutes of the match. When the time was up, I started getting a bit nervous that I actually had to read the speech. It’s a great honour and thank God, that’s what we worked for all year. So it was a tasty one now,” Tynan said.
READ ALSO: Second-half surge delivers All-Ireland Premier Junior title for Laois Camogie against Armagh
For Creagh, one of the most experienced players in the squad, this was a long-awaited second All-Ireland at this grade, her first coming back in 2015. She explained why this one held even greater meaning.
“I’m still knocking around; they can’t get rid of me, but I’m still here anyway. I think it gets even sweeter as you get older and you appreciate it more. You do it for your family and friends and for the girls that you’re playing with, it means a lot more. I was only still in school when we won the first one, so I think I nearly took it for granted that year that it was going to happen every year, but it wasn’t that simple. Ten years later, we finally got back up. I think we are an Intermediate team. We were always competitive at Intermediate. We’re absolutely delighted to be back up there and hopefully we’ll do well next year now that we’ve won and came out of Junior,” Creagh said.
That sense of satisfaction was magnified by the hurt of last year’s defeat to Tipperary, which Creagh said had been a constant motivator throughout the campaign.
“A fierce amount. We made a promise at half-time, before the match, the last few weeks that we weren’t going to feel that again, come back into a losing dressing room, home on the bus, it’s too painful. We said we’d do absolutely anything we could to come back to a winning dressing room here today and give our friends, family and everyone in Laois some joy. We’re absolutely thrilled now,” Creagh ended.
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