Ladies Gaelic Football

Interview MATCH between defence and attack. Over the course of the year, she also contributed a healthy tally of 5-9 – including a point in the early stages of the All-Ireland decider. So strong was her form in 2023, that she was in contention for a second All-Star – along with 11 other Dublin players – at the TG4 awards banquet at The Bonnington Dublin Hotel on November 18, and Orlagh was thrilled to be selected on the 2023 All-Star Team. "I just really like being in that middle-third. I just like to get on the ball and play head up. See what's on. Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn't. It's just trying to pick out the right option at the right time. You can do that at wing-back or you can do it up front. I just try to do it all the time," Nolan said of her transition to the Dublin attack. Having scored a hat-trick of goals on her previous outing at Parnell Park against Waterford in Division 1 of the Lidl National Football League, Nolan also rattled the net in their All-Ireland SFC Group 3 clash with Kerry on June 17. However, Dublin came out on the wrong side of a 2-8 to 1-9 scoreline on this day and Nolan also featured when the Jackies were on the receiving end of an 11-point reversal (3-15 to 1-10) to the Kingdom in a top- tier league encounter at Austin Stack Park on February 18. Even though a new-look Dublin squad have evolved significantly since these games, it is clear they could ill- there and we've done that so far." Whilst Nolan operated to telling effect on the '40', former Ireland international rugby star Hannah Tyrrell had the game of her life on Dublin's inside line. Of the 11 points that the Leinster champions recorded in the opening period of the SFC showpiece, eight of them came from the boot of the Na Fianna attacker. When Tyrrell rejoined the Dublin set-up in 2021 after a seven-year hiatus, Nolan already had a brace of All- Ireland titles to her name. After a couple of seasons that ended in disappointment – a quarter-final defeat to Donegal in 2022 followed the showpiece loss to Meath a year earlier – she finally added her name to the list of All-Ireland winning ladies footballers in the capital. "She has been massive. She just brings so much experience, so much calmness. She just knows what to say and what to do. When the shot is on, she'll take it. They just seemed to be on for her all today. Delighted that she took them all," Nolan acknowledged in relation to Tyrrell. Of course, the inevitable question that follows when a footballer has just added to their previous All- Ireland successes is how the current triumph compares to those that have gone before. Though Nolan finds it difficult to pick one from the three she has won so far, there is little doubt that the 2023 victory holds a special place in her heart. "IT'S HARD TO DESCRIBE IT. EACH ONE IS IMPORTANT, BUT RIGHT NOW THIS IS THE ONE THAT YOU'RE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT AND I'M JUST DELIGHTED WITH IT" afford to let Kerry build up a head of steam in their third meeting of the year. Instead, it was Dublin who hit the ground running and had developed a comfortable 0-11 to 0-4 lead by the midway point in the action. A Louise Ní Mhuircheartaigh goal on 55 minutes kept them on their toes in the closing moments, but the Jackies had done more than enough by then to merit their eventual victory. "We knew that we were going to have to come out and produce in the first half. We've seen them in the last two games, they got a great run at the start. Even back in Parnell Park, they scored 1-4 in the first five minutes and that really put us on the back-foot. "We knew if we went out and kind of got the scoreboard ticking over that we'd have them chasing us. That's exactly where we wanted them. Delighted that we could go out and put that performance in the first half. "I think when we went down to Tralee, we were a different outfit. We were still learning. We're still learning now. I think every game we've taken it game-by-game. If you put them all on top of each other, we've taken so much out of every single game. It's just building on from www.ladiesgaelic.ie | AUTUMN 2023 | 47

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