Ladies Gaelic Football

18 | WINTER 2019 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie wake up as an All-Ireland champions again. There is no feeling that beats that." After a few days of joyous celebration, Fitzgerald had a quick return to the real world as her Christmas exams approached. As a first year student in WIT, she recently took on further studies in Cork's Griffith College. Her three-year accountancy studies are part of her job with agricultural finance company IFAC, and it has kept her busy. "The first exam went as well as could be expected after the last week," she joked. "They are tough enough, they can take a lot of time and effort. The exams will be continuous for the next two years or so. It'll be pretty busy." One of the positive sides of being back in Cork is that Fitzgerald has been able to give more of her time to football this year. As a first year student in WIT she was invited on to the Cork senior squad under the management of Eamonn Ryan, but the pressures of training, studying and travelling took their toll. If she gets another chance at county level, she says she'd take it. "I had one year in with the seniors but it was when I had just gone down to college. Between everything I decided that I couldn't do it for a while. I couldn't keep up the mileage. You'd be coming home once for a week for Mourneabbey and trying to train with Cork as well, I decided to focus on Mourneabbey at that stage. "I think it could be (something I'd like to try again) because I see so many of the Mourneabbey girls togging out for Cork and having the big days out. Mourneabbey is pretty much like a county team itself. We train so hard and put everything into it. I don't know how the girls do it sometimes, but if ever there was an opportunity I think I'd go for it again." Fitzgerald is a native of Mourneabbey's neighbouring parish of Ballyclough, but started to play football with Mourneabbey at a young age and continued through the grades into the senior team. She played in her first club All-Ireland final in 2014 when Termon defeated Mourneabbey, was there again in 2015 and 2017 when Donaghmoyne and Carnacon inflicted more pain on the Cork side. Along the way, too, Fitzgerald lost the 2014 All-Ireland Minor Final and the 2015 All-Ireland U-21 Final with Cork, so each piece of silverware is treasured. The influence of coach Shane Ronayne is key too, she says. "To have Mourneabbey there, just to put your sole focus into that, we are very very lucky here. I know the Cork girls were disappointed to drop out in this year's All-Ireland semi-final, but they were lucky to have Mourneabbey there to keep them going for the rest of the year. "When football is one of your big passions and one of your main focuses in your life, it is tough when it's over for the season. So to have a team like Mourneabbey on our doorstep, we know how fortunate we are to have these opportunities. "I think we are a good crowd for not letting the buzz die down. We will probably still be celebrating when we start training again next year. It does take a lot of hard work so we'll enjoy the win for the next few months. "When training does start again, Shane will be very quick to remind us what we have to do to get that feeling back again at the end of the year. His methods of training, he is a bit of a mad man, but he is so progressive and so good at what he does that everyone has so much respect for him. He is one of the best in the business in the country." Top right: Laura Fitzgerald of Mourneabbey celebrates. Bottom Left. Laura Fitzgerald of Mourneabbey receives the Player of the Match award from Liam McDonagh, LGFA Vice-President

• Cover