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Interview MATCH Daire Walsh spoke to Dublin's Orlagh Nolan after her All-Ireland win D e l i g h t e d w i t h L i f e ! W hile she was excelling for Dublin in the TG4 All- Ireland Senior Football Championship during the summer just gone, a number of Orlagh Nolan's former team-mates in a different sport were making history on the far side of the world. A gifted soccer player who played for UCD Waves in the 2017 FAI Women's Cup final at the Aviva Stadium, Nolan also represented the Republic of Ireland at U19 level. Across her five caps at this grade, she featured alongside Katie McCabe, Chloe Mustaki, Courtney Brosnan and Denise O'Sullivan – all of whom were part of the Ireland senior squad for their groundbreaking debut at the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Another player who Nolan counted as an international colleague during this period was none other than Amy O'Connor, Cork's hat-trick hero in their magnificent All- Ireland senior camogie championship decider success over Waterford at Croke Park on August 6. Nolan replicated O'Connor in climbing the steps of the Hogan Stand seven days later as Dublin defeated Kerry on a scoreline of 0-18 to 1-10 to claim the Brendan Martin Cup. Much like her Leeside counterpart, Nolan feels no regrets over leaving soccer on the back burner – despite Ireland's presence on the global stage earlier this year. "That's long ago. Soccer would have been my game growing up and you can take stuff from that, but I'm exactly where I need to be at the minute. I'm loving Gaelic at the minute. I'm with a great group," Nolan remarked in the aftermath of the Jackies' triumph over the Kingdom. "There's 50 people in this group and there's not a single person that you don't go in and aren't delighted to see every day. You have a smile on your face and there's 50 people that I'm happy to go training with every day." After opting to devote her time to Gaelic football in 2018, Nolan was called up to the Dublin panel the following year and was an unused substitute for their All-Ireland SFC final win over Galway that September. Fast forward to December 2020 and she appeared on the bench as the Jackies claimed the Brendan Martin Cup for a fourth consecutive season with a showpiece victory against Cork that took place in an empty Croke Park due to the Covid-19 pandemic. By 2021, Nolan had established herself as a regular starter at left half-back under Mick Bohan's stewardship. While she suffered defeat to provincial rivals Meath in a championship showpiece two years ago, that particular campaign ended with her earning a first TG4 All-Star. Although she had settled in nicely to the half-back line, the 2023 inter-county season saw Nolan being handed a new position at centre-forward with the likes of Noelle Healy, Niamh McEvoy and Lyndsey Davey having moved into retirement in recent years. This proved to be a shrewd decision by Bohan as the Ballinteer St. John's woman served as a perfect link 46 | AUTUMN 2023 | www.ladiesgaelic.ie