Ladies Gaelic Football

12 // Ladies Gaelic Football Association INTERMEDIATE ALL IRELAND CLUB FINAL PEIL Winter | Issue No 4 | Volume 14 Siobhán Killeen made the decision to give up Ladies Gaelic Football in 2011. Dublin lost the All-Ireland Minor A Final to Cork and Killeen was left "devastated" by that defeat. At the time, her soccer career was blossoming. She was travelling abroad on a regular basis with the Republic of Ireland team and that seemed a lot more appealing. The Cork loss merely confirmed what she'd been considering deep down. "I kind of knew that was the end of me playing Gaelic," Killeen reflects. "It was just too much. I remember we lost the All-Ireland Final to Cork in minor. I was devastated. I was flying abroad constantly with the Irish team, coming up to Leaving Cert and I couldn't do both." Soccer's gain was very much Ladies Gaelic Football's loss. Killeen did play for "a month or two" with the UCD team in college but that brief return to Ladies Football was merely League fare and some training sessions. She had to step away again due to soccer commitments. In truth, Killeen hadn't played Gaelic Football at a serious level again until March of this year. She was called up to Mick Bohan's Dublin panel, played a half against Kerry in the Lidl League and came on in the semi-final victory over Galway. She didn't feature in the championship but now fully committed to Ladies Football, Killeen has her sights very much set on a starting place in Bohan's team in 2019. Already with an embarrassment of attacking riches to choose from, the addition of a fully-committed and firing Killeen is another a personal tally – the team was exceptional, and that was the best we played. We peaked at the perfect time." And that's immensely satisfying – to peak in an All-Ireland Final and against good opposition. "I don't know," Killeen admits, when we wonder why it all came together at just the right time. "We had confidence in ourselves going into the final and it definitely helped playing in the Division 1 League against the likes of Fox-Cab, Na Fianna and Thomas Davis, playing at a really high standard. "Everything seemed to be going our way and we were confident come Saturday. If we were going to win, it was down to ourselves and if we played well, we would win the game. "We didn't dwell too much on the other team. If you do that, you can put yourself under pressure. We never really gave the other teams too much thought. You'd look into their main players and try to nullify them but it was more about reinforcing our strengths." A wise approach, as it turned out, and Killeen's now looking forward to some hard-earned down time. "It has been a long season. I started back in January with the soccer and it finished on that Saturday. I'll have a little break now, mentally and physically from, and get going from the New Year again. We'll put the heads down and pick up where we left off." Killeen's soccer career provided many highlights, too. Capped by the Republic of Ireland at senior level, Killeen was also a member of the Republic of Ireland U17 squad that finished as runners-up in the 2010 European Championships, and they were quarter-finalists at the World Cup in Trinidad and Tobago. She's an FAI Cup winner with Raheny United and with Shelbourne, Killeen was a treble winner in 2016 as the club captured the WNL Cup, the Women's National League title, and the FAI Cup. Playing Champions League Football was another massive highlight but the season she's had with club and county has "reiterated" Killeen's decision that she made the right choice in returning to Ladies Football. For Siobhán Killeen, there could be much more to come. major fillip for the manager. But a modest Killeen acknowledges the scale of the task that lies ahead of her as she attempts to force her way into the team. After all, captain Sinéad Aherne and Noelle Healy are the last two TG4 Senior Players' Player of the Year winners, Lyndsey Davey was magnificent in 2018, Carla Rowe was the 2018 TG4 All-Ireland Final Player of the Match, Niamh McEvoy was excellent at full-forward and Nicole Owens has emerged as one of Dublin's most consistent and effective players. Killeen says: "It's a huge challenge, to be honest. But it's a great position to be in because they're the players I get to learn from, exceptional footballers, some of the very best in the country, the players that I train with, week in, week out. I'm looking forward to continuing to better myself and the county team is a few levels up from the level I played at last Saturday (All-Ireland club final). I still need to really keep pushing on if I want to do anything at that (inter- county) level." But from the evidence we've seen to date, Killeen is capable of making her mark. Her All-Ireland final goals were taken with the ruthlessness of a born assassin in front of goal. Again, modesty shines through when Killeen reflects upon them. "If you were to look at the goals, there's a lot of great play around that put me into great positions, and that made it very easy. Yeah, I scored five goals but there was some exceptional play. It's not about "It's a huge challenge, to be honest. But it's a great position to be in because they're the players I get to learn from, exceptional footballers...'

• Cover