Galway captain Geraghty follows in famous footsteps

Tuam Cortoon defender emulates Annette Clarke

By Kevin Egan

WHEN the hooter sounded and it was confirmed that Galway’s 22-year wait for an All-Ireland senior title was at an end, there were thousands of supporters all around Croke Park that wanted to congratulate their heroes in person and celebrate with them.

The old days of ‘Plan B’ are long gone however, and when Mayo supporters didn’t rush the famous turf in the aftermath of their incredible win a little over a week ago, it was unlikely that any other group of fans would be able to break the line.

Of course, there are some people whose standing in Gaelic games is such that they will be helped when they try to find their way around a few of the usual rules of the stadium, and when you’ve captained your team to win an All-Ireland, as Annette Clarke did all the way back in 2004, people will go out of their way to ensure that you get to shake the hand and hug the next Galway player to lift the Brendan Martin Cup after you.

“Annette was the last Galway person to lift this trophy, I was chatting to her there after the game, she would have coached me all the way up along as well, so it’s a special feeling to share this achievement with her,” beamed a jubilant Kate Geraghty after the game.

The Tuam Cortoon player had just earned TG4’s Laoch na hImeartha award as well, though on that front, she was happy to share out the plaudits for holding Kerry to a mere 12 points, a world away from the 22-point average that Kerry maintained across their four All-Ireland championship games prior to Sunday’s final.

“I suppose people probably doubted us, but we knew ourselves and we believed in ourselves. We have great man-markers and we played a sort of a sweeper system there, having Siobhán (Divilly) dropping back. It worked out for us today."

“You never know what way a game is going to go,” said the Galway captain.

“To be honest, I said before the game, whether we won by ten points or whether we scraped it, like we did today, as long as we won, I didn't care how we won it."

Yet it could easily have gone a different way, such was the drama in the closing minutes, culminating in the Kerry ‘goal’ that was ruled out for a square ball infringement.

“I suppose I'll have to watch it back now. I don't know who touched it or what happened but yeah, when she (the ref) brought it out for the two-pointer I suppose it could have gone any way. I'm so glad it happened the way it did, and that it wasn't an ending like last year,” said a relieved Geraghty.

“It was just nerve-wracking watching that free, I was just hoping that it didn’t go over, I was fearing the worst,” she admitted.

“We worked so hard throughout the year, every player has made such an effort with coming back from injuries and getting ready for this final, but we finally got there.

“Now that we have, I don’t want to ever get rid of the cup!”