Ladies Gaelic Football

TG4 LGFA www.ladiesgaelic.ie | AUTUMN 2023 | 27 Images clockwise previous page: 1 Róisín Byrne of Kildare is presented with her TG4 Intermediate Team of the Championship award by Uachtarán Cumann Peil Gael na mBan, Mícheál Naughton, right, and TG4 Head of Sport Rónán Ó Coisdealbha. 2 Róisín Byrne of Kildare during the 2023 TG4 All-Ireland Ladies Intermediate Football Championship Final match between Clare and Kildare at Croke Park in Dublin. 3 Róisín Byrne of Kildare with her TG4 Intermediate Players Player of the Year award. 4 Róisín Byrne of Kildare during the 2023 TG4 All- Ireland Ladies Intermediate Football Championship Final match. get a nomination and then when he [RTE's Marty Morrissey] called out that I'd won it, honestly I don't think I've ever done a worse interview in my life!," Byrne explained. "I didn't know what to say, my hands were shaking! I was so, so happy, but it hasn't really sunk in yet. I think it'll be a couple of weeks before it actually sinks in, but I'm absolutely thrilled. Even the All-Ireland final when we finished with Kildare, it was like 'right, we've a wedding to get ready for!' It's unreal. I'm just glad it didn't clash." First introduced back in 2011, the Players' Player of the Year awards presents inter-county ladies footballers with an opportunity to be recognised by their peers within the game. Her former Kildare colleague Aisling Holton previously won the intermediate gong back in 2016 and Byrne acknowledged it is extra special that the players are the ones who selected her for this honour. "To be honest, that didn't really hit home with me until after. When I was thinking 'what better honour can you have than people you're playing against, your peers, people that you'd look up to, voting for you?' "Honestly, it is very emotional to think that and that was something that came into my head on the way home the following day. 'Oh my God, the girls actually gave me this award'. It really does make it all that much sweeter." After two bouts of surgery on her anterior cruciate ligament effectively ruled her out of inter-county action for more than 18 months, Byrne was determined to make the very most of the 2023 season. She certainly managed to do that with the Sarsfields attacker having already left an indelible mark on the LGFA scene before the Lilywhites' All- Ireland IFC campaign got underway with a Group 1 game away to Leitrim on June 11. Byrne amassed a superb tally of 4-31 to help Kildare qualify for the Lidl National Football League Division 3 decider against Clare at Parnell Park and she then proceeded to register an outstanding haul of 10 points in their thrilling extra-time victory over the Banner County. In between their league and championship campaigns – both of which ended with 2-11 to 2-10 successes over Clare – Kildare also claimed the TG4 Leinster Intermediate Football Championship crown with Byrne contributing 1-7 in a showpiece triumph at the expense of Wexford. She played 17 games in total for the Lilies throughout 2023 and while there were times that Byrne had to manage her training load, she ultimately found a way to get back playing at the top level on a consistent basis. "I was very, very lucky. The management were brilliant. If we had a heavy match at the weekend and my knee had a tendency to swell a little bit just with the nature of the way my knee is now, they were brilliant for saying 'right, well tonight you're not training on the pitch, you'll do a bike session'. "There was never a 'oh, are you sure you're not able to train?' They were always very cautious, which was fantastic because it made me feel more comfortable and more confident playing then. Because I knew 'look, if I go out here today and it's really not in a good way on Monday, I'm not going to be forced to get onto a pitch or anything like that'. It was brilliant. "We had a ton of matches this year, but footballers want to play football. I'd be taking a match over a training session any day. It was brilliant. I feel like I've missed enough with the injuries. As much football as I can get, I'm going to grab it with both hands." By being shortlisted for a TG4 All-Star, Byrne found herself amongst some of the finest ladies footballers in the country at the moment. Kildare's achievements this year ensure that she and her team-mates will get a chance to lock horns with most of them in 2024 and Byrne is adamant the Lilies are more than capable of holding their own in the top-tier. "I think it's a huge challenge for us, but I really honestly think Kildare are ready for it. I just think we need to hold our own at senior for the next couple of years, because the work that has been put into the underage in Kildare is absolutely phenomenal. We're really successful with the underage," Byrne added. "The older girls know that our goal is, when we retire, to leave Kildare in the best possible hands to be left in. If we can just hold our own until those younger ones get a little bit older, I think we can really do some damage in the next few years."

• Cover