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10 | SUMMER 2021 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie INTERVIEW What makes her performances in the last few weeks all the more remarkable is the fact that she had played so little Ladies football since stepping away from the panel seven years ago. An extended hiatus for women's rugby for large stretches of 2020 opened the door for a return to the local scene in Dublin last summer and this subsequently put her back on the inter-county radar. "Last year I got an opportunity to join Na Fianna after a six-year absence and it was great to just be able to play a bit of club football. Something very different to rugby and my dream was always to go back to the Dublin team at some stage. Little did I know it would be this soon!" As surprising as it may seem, the Lidl NFL Division One final saw Tyrrell lining out in Croke Park for the very first time. This belated bow coincided with the return of fans to Jones' Road for a Ladies football fixture, for the first time since a round robin league clash between the same two counties in February last year. Those in attendance were treated to a gripping spectacle that whets the appetite for a potential rematch later on in the summer. "It's an unbelievable stadium, it's absolutely massive. For me, the biggest thing is having the crowd back. Being able to go over to friends and family, who support you from the sidelines year on year. To have them there on the day we're winning a bit of silverware, it's unbelievable. It gives you that extra boost," Tyrrell acknowledged. "It was a really tough match. Cork always give us a really good run and today was no different. I think it was really tit-for-tat in the first half, but it was great to be able to really pull the trigger, particularly in the second half and pull away a little bit. "We know Cork are an incredible outfit and they're going to go far [in the championship]. If we meet them along the way, it's sure to be a great battle. For us, obviously we hope that it's at the end, but there are a lot of games to play before then." An All-Ireland champion with Dublin at the Under-16, Under-18 and Senior 'B' grades, Tyrrell will now be hoping to complete the set of national titles by getting her hands on the Brendan Martin Cup. There is a long way to go before that can become a reality, however, and experience has taught Tyrrell not to look beyond their All-Ireland Senior Championship Group C opener against Tyrone. "I came for the big one here and we've a big journey ahead of us. A lot of games to win to get to there. I'm excited to see where it takes us. Isn't that every inter-county player's dream, to get back here in early September? There's a process to get through first and we can't be looking at the end result. "We've a lot of games to get to beforehand and we can't look beyond our first championship game. That's all we're focusing on from now on. For me, I'm used to this week-on-week from the rugby. It's something that I'm looking forward to. Everybody wants to be playing matches and this is what we want all year in the middle of summer. Bring it on," Tyrrell added. Top Left: Hannah Tyrrell of Dublin is pictured with The Croke Park/LGFA Player of the Month award for May. This image: Hannah Tyrrell of Dublin celebrates with the cup the Lidl Ladies Football National League Division 1 Final match between Cork and Dublin at Croke Park in Dublin.