Aoife Dillane on winning mind games to earn All-Ireland shot with Kingdom

MIND GAMES: Kerry's Aoife Dillane celebrates scoring a goal. Picture: ©INPHO/Leah Scholes

Aoife Dillane made two phone calls the week after Kerry’s League final defeat to Armagh last April. The first was to team psychologist Claire Thornton. The second was to joint-manager Darragh Long. The calls were made to restart an inter-county career stuck in reverse.

Dillane didn’t play a single minute of the league final loss. No surprise there. Across Kerry’s three previous league outings, the 22-year-old had seen two minutes of action. She wasn’t even in the suburbs of the Kerry team.