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14 | AUTUMN 2019 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie look in much," said Rutledge. "I started a few of the League games this year but I wasn't getting as much game time as I would have hoped either. Then I spoke with Mick Bohan and we came up with a plan. He was saying a change might work. "The tempo and pace in training is so good that it is actually a good place to try out new positions. So I gave the backs a go, wing back and corner back. I loved it, it has brought out a different spark in me. "But I had to learn a lot about tackling. My tackling was quite weak. I was able to get forward and attack from the backs which always helped. But I worked a lot with the defence coaches on my footwork. "The coaches said the aggression was there, it was fine, I just had to work on my footwork. I was getting turned by different players. I just had to work hard in training. "I was marking some of the best forwards in the game to try and improve my skills and it came through." Rutledge began her footballing career with Kilmacud Crokes and at primary school in Gaelscoil Thaobh na Coille, where she starred in Cumann na mBunscol. She was a driving force for Coláiste Íosagáin, where she won a Senior B All-Ireland in 2011, before she was Junior A captain in 2012 and won a Senior A All-Ireland two years later. She went to DCU and now works in the Hedge Fund Services Department of JP Morgan as an accountant. But football has always been her first love and she was thrilled to finally get on the field in the senior decider, having already featured for Dublin throughout the underage ranks. In one of her previous clashes with Galway at U-21 level, the final scoreline was 0-2 to 0-2. But nothing could have prepared her for the battle on 15 September 2019. "We have played against the Ward sisters, Olivia Divilly and a few others," said Rutledge. "They would have beaten us at minor, the whole way up. A lot of the Dublin girls would have always had Cork in the back of their heads but for us Galway was the team that we wanted to beat." It was 1-0 to 0-1 at half-time in front of a record attendance of 56,114 on the big day. But after a stellar defensive display from the team, Dublin went through the gears in the closing stages to secure a 2-3 to 0-4 success. "It was just so different in Croke Park, even walking out in the parade and the ceremony bit. It was something I had never done before. You could easily get drawn away into it. But once the ball gets thrown up it's just a normal match in a much bigger stadium," said Rutledge. "You don't really get to fully appreciate it until the 60th minute "The coaches said the aggression was there, it was fine, I just had to work on my footwork. I was getting turned by different players. I just had to work hard in training". FEATURE INTERVIEW