Mullinahone back for more after junior final heartbreak

Beaten in last February's currentaccount.ie junior decider by Dublin's St Jude's, the Tipperary club are back in a national decider at the intermediate level

BACK FOR MORE: Mullinahone captain Jennifer Brett. The Intermediate and Senior Finals will be played at Croke Park on Saturday, December 10, with the Junior Final to be played at Kilmallock GAA, Limerick, on Sunday December 11. Pic: Eóin Noonan/Sportsfile

They could end up as a quiz question yet, the team that lost an All-Ireland junior football final but still finished the year as intermediate champions.

It's been a curious and exciting few months for the Mullinahone ladies who will wrap up their season at Croke Park on Saturday afternoon.

Beaten in last February's currentaccount.ie junior decider by Dublin's St Jude's, the Tipperary club have impressively navigated their way back to a national decider at the intermediate level.

Tapping into the spirit of the Meath ladies who memorably won intermediate and senior All-Ireland titles in consecutive years, Jennifer Brett is hopeful that Mullinahone can complete their own unique double this weekend.

"To reach two All-Ireland finals in the same year is pretty major," said the Mullinahone captain. "It's a great achievement. Getting to intermediate initially was the big goal and we did that last season. We were playing at junior for a while so we wanted to get out of there - and now we're senior!"

Truth be told, Mullinahone are a quizmaster's dream. They also have a player in Denise Gaule, the Kilkenny camogie star, who could follow up an All-Ireland camogie title at Croke Park in August with a currentaccount.ie All-Ireland ladies intermediate club football win on the same pitch only months later.

Gaule's camogie club is Windgap, just down the road and, intriguingly, across the Tipp/Kilkenny border.

"There are a few girls in the same boat, Windgap would be close to us so there's a few girls that play camogie there but they wouldn't have a football team so they come over to Mullinahone," explained Brett, a final year Biomedical Engineering student. "We have some playing camogie for Cashel as well."

Two-time Tipperary hurling All-Star, and new Dublin camogie manager, Paul Kelly was in charge of Mullinahone for last season's junior run. He handed the reins over to Mary O'Shea who has enjoyed similar gains in the intermediate ranks.

Whilst the Croke Park experience will be nothing new for the vastly decorated Gaule - she scored the winning point in the All-Ireland camogie final - it will be a unique occasion for most.

It is the first time that the ladies club football finals will be staged there with the intermediate decider, between Mullinahone and Longford Slashers, being played before the senior showpiece on Saturday.

"It's amazing, it's literally what dreams are made of, we're all really excited to get out there," said Brett. "We never thought in our wildest dreams that we'd be playing in Croke Park. Hopefully it will have a positive impact, that it won't overwhelm us too much on the day. Hopefully we can use it to drive ourselves forward."

The big pitch could suit Mullinahone's style. Where possible, they like to get it out wide and use the flanks.

"A good wide pitch, yeah," nodded Brett. "Look, you probably don't know until you get out there."

The junior final earlier this year was in Baltinglass. Brett still remembers the devastation after the 1-8 to 3-9 defeat. Slowly but surely they built things up again, plotting a course through Tipp and then taking out Monagea of Limerick to claim the Munster title. They endured a tense All-Ireland semi-final encounter with Derrygonnelly Harps of Fermanagh, eventually proceeding after extra-time. Lorraine O'Shea's late, late goal ultimately did the trick.

"That just pushed us over the line," recalled Brett. "I think we got another point afterwards. We won by two in the end anyway. In a game like that, you just have to put the score to the back of your head and keep going, that's exactly what we did. We kept fighting and that's what got us over the line."

To get her hands on the cup on Saturday, on the steps of the Hogan Stand, one last win is required. Over the Longford and Leinster champions.

"We'll just go in there with the right mindset and hopefully we'll be able to pull it out of the bag."