Lennon hoping to prescribe winning formula

The normal protocol when there’s an emergency is to head for A&E, rather than your local chemist.

The emergency facing Clann na nGael’s senior ladies in 2024 was a little different, however. They had come through the group stages of the championship but at one stage conceded 17 goals in four games, and there was no need for any wide array of diagnostic tests to ascertain the need for some sort of prescription to address that weakness.

Thankfully for the 2021 and 2022 county champions, the remedy was close at hand. Éadaoin Lennon’s work as a pharmacist had brought her back to Athlone from Dublin and a few of her former colleagues had their script memorised when they went in to recruit her back to the senior team.

“I was in Dublin, I was travelling a lot, I think I did two or three six-week stints abroad. I couldn't commit and there was no point in letting on that I was going to be back,” said Lennon, before very clearly stressing that she didn’t opt back in, so much as feel the lasso tighten around her midriff.

“I don't think they were going to let me away when I came back. The girls brought me out of retirement before our semi-final in the championship last year. When Ruth Finlass and Jenny Higgins — or Jenny Shine, I should call her now — when they come knocking on your door, you don't say no to them.” 

Having demonstrated to everyone else in Johnstown that her arm was twistable, Lennon subsequently came into the coaches’ sights at the start of 2025 for a different role. Her quietly-spoken nature led Lennon herself to believe that she should be towards the back of the queue for captaincy, but Denis Gavin and Joe Fallon felt differently, and they wanted the 25-year-old to take over the mantle of leadership for the year.

“I had never captained a team before. Well, I captained an U-12 soccer team once for a final and we lost, so I said that was me done being a captain,” she recalled with a wry smile.

“Joe and Denis came to me and asked me would I do it? I thought there was no way because there are so many leaders on our team. I wouldn't have been an obvious choice. But I accepted it and I'm trying my best for the girls. Any one of them could have been captains. It’s not that deep, but I'll do my best for the girls that are playing and not playing,” she assured.

Between the captaincy and the fact that she’s been part of the grind since the start of the year, a county final win this coming Saturday will feel very differently to Lennon than their win over St. Brigid’s last autumn.

“When the final whistle went down in Ballyleague last year, there were a fair few grown men and women crying after the final whistle,” she recalled.

“The relief that came with it, I was just happy to be a part of it and to have helped. But obviously it's going to be that bit sweeter when you're there all the time.

“You come in midstream, people have expectations of you when you come in at that stage, and you start. I didn't take it for granted that people had been working all year with management, figuring out tactics and doing all the stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

“Players and management were working all year, so when you waltz in with a few weeks to go you're under a bit of pressure. Also, you don't have that work behind you to motivate you that bit more, to make it feel like you’ve invested so much of your time and yourself into it," she explained.

Ironically, her starting position for this Saturday’s final is not completely nailed down. A shoulder injury that ruled her out of the club’s semi-final win over St. Dominic’s is expected to clear up in time for her to be fit and ready to go, but in her absence, Amy Quinn stepped in to deputise between the posts in what was an outstanding team performance — not that Lennon expected any different.

“I have full faith in those girls. You could ask any of them to step up any day of the week, and they would. There's a great bond in there, so we do it for each other.

“The club was a bit rattled by a death (last) Sunday, it kind of puts everything into perspective. Football is a privilege, to be able to play it and to be able to play it well and to be able to play it with this calibre of girls is an honour. Then when you win the way we won on a night like tonight (last Tuesday) after everything we've been through for the last two weeks it means that bit more.

“If our team can do anything, it's face adversity. We've been doing it all year for the last few years and we always manage to just pull through. The bond we have, like I said already, is unlike any other that I know of anyway.” 

Facing down adversity is a nice segue into the 2024 final against St. Brigid’s, and the remarkable turnaround that saw a game where St. Brigid’s led by 2-5 to 1-1 at half-time turn into a 5-11 to 2-7 win for Clann.

“Nothing drastic was said, but we all looked at each other and were like, what's going on? We just managed to rally and we just worked hard. That game would be in the back of our mind, the round robin game was fairly similar to the final last year but we didn't come away with a result this time, so no doubt St. Brigid’s are learning too. There'll be a lot of work put in between now and Saturday and hopefully we'll be able to pull it off again.” 

Does that leave them at a disadvantage, that St. Brigid’s arguably had more lessons to take from last year’s final?

“You don't go through a war like that without taking notes from it, you do learn something from every game and that's intentional.” 

Showing all the reflexes and instinct that have made her such a valuable part of the team as the last one standing, she seizes the chance to point out that it’s not as if St. Brigid’s will have a monopoly on hurt or hunger this weekend.

“We've been in quite a few finals now at this stage. My first was in 2015, I came on as a sub at the age of 15 against Strokestown, I think the goalkeeper (Yvonne Dolan) got injured, so it's been a long ten years. I've had seven since I've been playing, but more were lost than more were won. so that doesn't dampen our determination at all,” she concluded.