Clare’s family club set on a national course

ELEANOR Walsh was joint-manager when Scariff-Ogonnelloe first contested an All-Ireland Club Final in 2013, writes Eoin Brennan, and along with Mike Rodgers, the Waterford native helped guide her adopted club to the brink of national success, only to be halted at the final hurdle by Carlow’s Myshall.

She’s being one of their driving forces behind building strong, durable foundations for the East Clare Club ever since including several managerial and administrative roles.

In fact, she was chairperson during that momentous 2019 season of highs that saw Scariff-Ogonnelloe garner historic county and provincial senior crowns.

Eleanor is back on the line in the All-Ireland series, as both a mentor and supportive mother as her daughter Abby is one of a strong injection of teenage debutants that have established themselves on Scariff-Ogonnelloe’s flagship side.

With her selector role primarily to scope out the opposition, it’s enough of a remove to allow Abby express herself fully, something that she along with fellow newcomers such as Labhaoise O’Donnell, Lorraine Grady and Bonnie Wiley Murphy have accomplished with aplomb to give Scariff-Ogonnelloe a new lease of life.

“I think at the end of the Munster Final, there’s a photo of ten players who were on the 2020 minor team so for that amount of players to be involved at senior is just phenomenal,” begins Eleanor.

“The older girls have frequently said that the younger ones are pressing them hard for places and that can only be a good thing to keep the standards high.”

“With a new management coming in, they stipulated from the start that no-one was guaranteed a place, no matter how long you’ve been playing. So that attitude also pushed everyone on and also in a funny way pulled them all together because they’ve got the sense that they all need each other.”

Abby, a fifth Year student, seems to take it all in her stride though, an ideal characteristic in pressurised matches throughout Clare, Munster and now the national stage.

“I think it’s a testament to the trainers we’ve had up along, my mom included, that my age group just has so much talent and has been cultivated really well. So for five or six of those to break onto the senior team together seemed really natural in a way and it all takes the pressure off us because you’re still training with your friends and having fun.”

Abby epitomised those ice cool nerves when firing the crucial equaliser to send the county final with Truagh-Clonlara to a replay back in November, a moment that will go down as pivotal if Scariff-Ogonnelloe can go all the way to Croke Park this year.

“I’m absolutely thrilled for her and as a family we’re so proud of her,” exclaims Eleanor.

“She spends a lot of time out pucking a ball and a lot of time doing gym work etc. We probably spend a lot of time watching matches together and talking about different teams and players and it’s a passion that we both have and I think bonds us together.”

And Abby’s perspective on having her mother as both a mentor for club and county [Eleanor is the Clare Minor Manager]?

“We might spend slightly too much time together but she’s a good coach and looking at it unobjectively, it’s great to get that advice that you could get that touch better or could have passed the ball in that instance.

“It can be challenging sometimes, camogie never ends really but clubs are all about family and bringing people together so it’s kind of fitting to have some relations on the team.”

‘Inspired’ by her team-mates heroic exploits in 2019, 17-year-old Abby is now the one doing the inspiring but the Walshs face their toughest test to date this Sunday when pitting their wits against recently crowned 2021 All-Ireland Champions Oulart-the-Ballagh.

“To be honest, we set out to reach Croke Park and we’re still on that journey so it isn’t a case of being in bonus territory, it’s exactly where we wanted to be,” says Eleanor.

“Playing in an All-Ireland Semi-Final shouldn’t be almost something you’re afraid to mention. It’s the match on Sunday and it will lead us to Croke Park, it’s as simple as that.

“Just recently I was bringing Labhaoise [O’Donnell] and Abby to county training and I reminded them that they’ve already walked on Croke Park with the county team when they were Under 14.

“Granted, they only walked out in the parade representing their county but they’ve stood on that sod and looked up around at the stands.

“Hopefully it’s something we’ll all be doing it in three weeks’ time.”