'It will put some in the shop window'

Galway U-20 ladies camp savour All-Ireland final success

By Darren Kelly

AFTER multiple player of the season performances and a return of 5-37 across five championship games, St. Fursey’s forward Alisha O'Malley was eager to play down her own personal contribution as Galway were crowned All-Ireland U-20 football champions. The Headford native’s goals in the opening 10 minutes laid the platform for the girls in maroon to make history.

“It was fluky enough,” laughed O’Malley when asked about her first goal on two minutes. “I was actually going for a point but luckily enough, it dropped in. The goalie [Ellie McGarvey] didn’t get her hands to it.

“I think that’s really what we needed today. We’ve been starting games and then chasing them as they go on. So, I think to start off on a front foot was definitely what we needed today and push on from that.”

“The ball in was excellent,” added the 2025 minor captain when talking about her teammates who helped to set up her 2-8 total. “I can’t complain about that and there was a lot of space. The pitch was very wide. Once we got it, it's nine times out of 10 going to be a score hopefully.

“We needed to keep the scoreboard ticking [in the second half] because we were three goals up which was solid enough. Just to keep the points ticking over after that. We weren’t too worried about anything else.

“I thought I could have put more power behind it,” smiled O’Malley when asked about her first half penalty miss. “Look, she (McGarvey) saved it. What could I do? At least we didn’t let that stop us. We pushed on and we kept tipping over the points. I was happy enough.”

“Alisha was definitely player of the match,” acknowledged manager Kevin Joyce. “It was all about just work-rate, work-rate [from the whole team]. People talk about tactics board and everything, it’s all about work-rate and energy at the end of the day.

“We knew that performance was in them, just to get it out of them. We knew we had some great footballers there, there’s no doubt about that. Just to get the energy levels into them to go on and believe in themselves that they could do it, and they did.”

“We did an awful lot of soul searching after the Dublin game because we knew, both management and players, this performance was there,” continued the Oughterard club man when asked about how they picked themselves up following a defeat that left them wondering if they would reach the final.

“Credit to the girls, they just worked for each other. We spoke in the dressing-room, it wasn’t about the result, that we had to bring our best performance."

Galway’s future was uncertain until the Metropolitans slipped up in their last fixture against Meath. Their manager had some work to do to bring his full unit back together.

“Aoife Nash was over in Chicago on a J1. She spoke to me two weeks ago, ‘Will I come back?’ I said I’d like you to come back if you can. And the next message I got from her was that flights were booked and ‘I’ll be at training on Wednesday'."

“Sarah Hession was actually in Vancouver and she just flew in last night to be here for the weekend for the girls. I told her beforehand that you’re gone for the last six weeks, you’re probably not going to get a look in. She said, ‘No, I just want to be there for the girls.”

“They brought joy back to themselves in the way they play football,” added Joyce about the new U-20 structure and how it helped his players. “They maybe weren’t ready for senior and the intensity of senior.

“It will put some in the shop window for Dan [Moynihan, senior manager]. And hopefully next year, he’ll be looking for one or two of these girls to go up with him.

“The support was great. The energy you get from a crowd and when people support you, it drives you on. Everything helps you put in a good performance.”