Excitement mounting ahead of Roscommon club's All-Ireland tilt
The Elphin junior ladies' rounders team that will contest next Sunday's All-Ireland final at the Meath GAA Centre of Excellence.
Sunday promises to be a momentous occasion for Elphin Rounders Club as it tries to secure the greatest day in the club’s brief history.
From humble beginnings in October 2023, it’s a sign of the hard work and commitment within the club that it is competing in an All-Ireland Junior Ladies’ final against Inniskeen Grattans of Monaghan at the Meath GAA Centre of Excellence (game begins at 2 p.m.).
Elphin team manager, Pauline Tansey Brady, highlights that there is a growing sense of excitement within the area as locals continue to row in behind the team.
“It is a massive achievement for our club. We are only newly established, and the interest levels have been huge since the rounders has come to Elphin at adult level. Everyone is really excited, and naturally a little nervous, about the whole situation, but everyone is really excited and eager to play the game.
“We are really looking forward to it. I feel we have a good chance if we play to the best of our ability. The girls are extremely dedicated and focused," she noted.
The underage scene has also proven fruitful for Elphin after the U-13 boys’ team won gold at the Community Games last year while the U-13 girls’ team claimed a bronze medal. The Elphin manager feels that those successes have really propelled the sport forward in the area.
“After the U-13 boys’ team won in the Community Games and the girls came third, rounders has really taken off at underage level. We also competed in Féile and won silverware. The underage numbers have grown, and it is great to see.
“After the underage success last year, they were welcomed home with great fanfare. They were escorted into town. They were put up on a trailer and it really created a buzz. The parents understood the concept of rounders a bit more as they were seeing more games.
“Now we are promoting it more for the ladies because they deserve the recognition. They are working really hard and people are talking to them about it. They are proud of themselves, considering they only started last year. People are saying they are going to drive to Meath next weekend and support them. It is lovely to see,” she stated.
Elphin didn’t win a game in last year’s All-Ireland series. This season, they are unbeaten after eight games in the current campaign. It is a remarkable turnaround, and the manager feels that beating Iniskeen Grattans would cap a fairytale run.
“These ladies are so positive. Sometimes you see other teams give out to each other but, as the manager, I am always promoting the fact that nobody intentionally goes out to not catch or hit a ball.
“It is a positive team effort. I think the girls would be in complete shock, because to go from not winning one game last year to winning pretty much every game this year would be a massive thing for them,” she concluded.
ELPHIN: Áine McDermott, Aleksandra Szawernoga, Avril Coyne, Barbora Novobilska, Christine Glancy, Ciara Duignan, Deirdre Darcy, Georgina McDermott, Jackie Neary, Katie Cronin, Kirstin Cronin, Lorraine Beirne, Lorraine O’Connor, Marie McDermott, Marie Neary, Mary T. Madden, Michelle Dockery, Michelle Shiel.
