Issue link: http://digitaleditions.uberflip.com/i/1141648
54 | SPRING 2019 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie GUESS WHAT I DO AISHLING O'CONNELL I don't tend to go on holidays until the season is finished so I always have a bank of days that I can use. I never want to miss training though, I always feel that I'd be letting people down. Which club do you play for? I'm from Cordal in West Kerry, a few miles away from Castleisland. I'm stationed in Bandon Co. Cork, whic h is an hour-and-a- half drive away. At the start of last year the travelling over and back home to play with my home club, Scartaglin, became too much so I joined Éire Óg in Cork. Going over to Kerry county training two or three times a week as well meant the miles I was putting up was crazy. The hours we work, it wasn't good for me from a player welfare point of view. I had a great chat with my parents and they advised me to make the move. It took a little while to get the transfer through, and I felt bad leaving my home club but there was no bother from them. They completely understood. The plan in a few years is to get stationed closer to Kerry and I can rejoin 'Scart' that way. It won't be forever. From a Kerry point of view it has been a good move too. I'm going to Kerry training marking the likes of Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh. Then I go to club training and I mark Eimear Scally. I was marking Dublin's Noelle Healy in the game against Mourneabbey, with Ciara O'Sullivan coming up the field. It's a great variety and excellent preparation for playing with Kerry. When did you become a garda? I'm two years out of Templemore since May and I've been stationed in Bandon ever since. I'm delighted with my decision to join the guards. I was captain of this year's Garda College Lynch Cup team and I think we did really well. We got to the final and we lost to DIT there. We did well to get there considering how different we are as a college team. I'd say we only trained together every two weeks. Some of the girls are still in college and then there is the likes of me, who has graduated. Compared to a team like DIT who are training together a few times a week it was a real success to get there. How have you managed to blend the life of a garda with the life of an inter-county footballer? The good thing about being in the guards is that you have a good idea of what your roster is well in advance. You always work six days on and four days off. It's all about getting yourself organised. Thankfully the Kerry coaches are very understanding. There was a Saturday night lately that I had to work 9pm to 7am. We had an in-house challenge game that day. I had to tell them I'd be there, I won't be late, but I could be like a zombie running around the place. My sergeant at work is very helpful too. If I'm stuck they accommodate me and my colleagues in the station always give me a dig out and swap shifts if I need it. It's all about communication both ways and thankfully it works for all of us. inter-county footballer I don't tend to go on holidays until the season is finished so I always have a bank of days that I can use. I never want to miss training though, I always feel that I'd be letting people down. They'd understand that I'm travelling a distance, but you never want to give the managers an excuse to leave you off. Are you confident ahead of the TG4 championship? We were very disappointed with our league final and losing to Waterford again the week after in the Munster championship. You can't take it from Waterford though: they got the goals in the league final and got over the line against us the next day too, although we improved a lot the second day. The All-Ireland Series will be good though. We're looking forward to playing Westmeath and the Connacht winners and hopefully we can win our two games and kick on in the championship. We're looking forward to it at this stage. Would you recommend as a garda for budding GAA players? I love my job and I love playing my football too. Sometimes you have to deal with tough incidents, but if I wasn't playing football I'd have to go home after a tough day thinking about things. Football is a great release from that, having the craic with the girls. The fitness from playing Ladies Football comes in handy as a garda too. I'm expected to be quick off the mark but there's a few of my colleagues that are well able to hop a few fences too! Having that strength and fitness gives you the confidence to apprehend someone. The teamwork in the guards is so similar to football. You are constantly working with the same group of people and no one knows what going on inside the camp! You do it all as a team. Surely it's not all smooth sailing? There has been times when I have had to go to court or I have had to stay at an incident, but by and large things work out. As an