Shanagher shining among ‘band of sisters’
Roscommon players Lauren Shanagher, Ella Thompson, and Megan McKeon looking forward to making their maiden appearance in Croke Park on Sunday next. Picture: Gerard O'Loughlin
It was a sombre dressing room.
At roughly 3.45 p.m. on Sunday, May 3rd, Roscommon’s intermediate ladies’ footballers sat in silence inside Páirc Seán MacDiarmada as they were left to reflect on the 22-point hammering dished out to them by Leitrim.
Outthought, outfought and ultimately outgunned, it was a dark afternoon for Finbar Egan’s side and their proud Roscommon LGFA community.
Lauren Shanagher freely admits that the dressing room was laden with disappointment, but she insists that the bond within the group helped them respond in imperious fashion since that fateful afternoon.
“I suppose nobody wanted to talk or anything. We were all just disappointed, but we gathered ourselves again that Tuesday and talked about it and got ourselves back on track from there.
“I suppose a lot of people probably thought, ‘oh, that was us done for the year’. A good few people were saying we're heading for relegation, but look at us now, we're going to Croke Park.
“Definitely being a smaller panel has us a lot closer. As one of the trainers, Lloyd (Kelly), calls us, we're a band of sisters. Forget about the outside world, we're all sisters for the next few weeks. So yeah, we've definitely got a close bond,” she noted.
Shanagher certainly can’t reflect on a lack of games played in the past year. The Northern Harps forward helped her club gain promotion to the intermediate ranks while also playing a pivotal role in the Elphin/Ballinameen-based side progressing through to the Connacht Junior Club final last November.
For a club only formed six and a half years ago, Northern Harps continues to make remarkable strides, with Shanagher and Ciara Cunningham set to represent the club in Croke Park.
Meanwhile, Shauna McGrath captained the minor team in their All-Ireland final last Saturday. Anna Carty was also part of the squad that helped Roscommon reach their first Minor A final since 1991. Seeing the work being done to develop players within the club leaves Shanagher filled with pride.
“It's just class to see Shauna (McGrath) as the minor captain and Anna Carty on the panel as well. We have a few girls coming up on the U-14s. We had five players on that. So even seeing that and myself and Ciara in here, it's just class.
“This is our sixth year as a club, and we are up to intermediate now and pushing on. So, you would be thinking we would have a good team now in a couple of years' time for pushing up to senior,” she noted.
Helping a Roscommon adult team be represented in Croke Park for the first time in 25 years is a huge honour for Shanagher. Her mind immediately thinks of the squad’s experienced players who finally get the opportunity to line out on the biggest day in the LGFA calendar.
However, she knows there is little room for sentiment if Roscommon are to lift the Mary Quinn Memorial Cup.
"A lot of girls have worked really hard the last 10 to 15 years to get there, and they're still playing, so it's great to be in an All-Ireland final. There are a lot of new girls as well, even in the last five, six years, so it's great that we’ve finally got there.
“I suppose with Croke Park, we've never been there before. Nobody on the team has been there playing football. I was actually up at the hurling (All-Ireland final) and even just looking around, it is huge. It will be a big, big difference to what we're used to, but I suppose we'll just have to block all that out and just focus on the game.
“It would honestly just be a dream come true. Getting to Croke Park is a dream, but to win it would just be the biggest dream ever.
"All the little kids do be always on about going to Croke Park. I was probably on about it myself when I was eight or nine, but to actually go in there and have a chance of winning an All-Ireland final is just class,” she concluded.
