‘The girls have been outstanding’ — Haughey
St. Dominic's captain Niamh Watson with her Brídíní Óga counterpart, Torie Edgar, and referee Simon Redmond during the coin toss ahead of last Saturday's All-Ireland junior club camogie final at Donaghmore Ashbourne GAA grounds. Picture: INPHO/Leah Scholes
The pain is etched across John Haughey’s face. A feeling of so close and yet so far.
Emotion trickles through the St. Dominic’s manager’s voice as he tries to find the words to describe a heroic performance defined by the players’ core values. But, on this day, heart and resilience weren’t enough to get over the line.
“I have massive respect for the girls. They gave it absolutely everything.
“We’ll have to live with it (the result). But we’ll have to dust ourselves down and try and see what we can do,” he outlined.
St. Dominic’s edged the possession stakes, especially with the wind behind them in the second half. In the end, however, the margins between success and failure were wafer thin.
“We had enough possession but they’re a good, strong, physical side. We found it hard to get frees but our girls dug deep, and you can’t ask for much more.
“The girls have been outstanding all year. This will hurt because we know that we could be going down the road with the All-Ireland title.
“It is a comfort to know that we can compete at this level. We belong here. We beat St. Peter’s by 15 points in an All-Ireland semi-final. Then we came here, and there are one or two frees, or one or two mistakes, that swing the game one way or the other.
"The girls showed tremendous character in the second half to dig deep and keep going, and get it back to within a puck of the ball for much of the half. I couldn’t speak highly enough of the girls — they’re just outstanding,” he explained.
But while Dominic’s now know that they’re in the shake-up for All-Ireland honours, Haughey wasn’t inclined to put the cart before the horse. The bread and butter of the local championship where every side fancy their chances will ensure that priority will be given to matters closer to home in 2026.
“It's very tough to get out of Roscommon. We’ve been in seven finals in a row, and we’ve only won three of them. We’ve never gone back-to-back.
“Everyone knows each other inside out in the county. But we’ll get back on the horse, we’re a proud club. Today will be a sore point over the Christmas, but I’ve no doubt about the character and resilience of these girls.
“They will be back. They love their camogie. They love that bit of toughness. Some of them will go back to their colleges, others will go back to the county. At the moment, it seems as if we’re as far away as we ever were but we’ll gather ourselves next year and see where we go. We know that we can compete — that’s a good starting point,” he highlighted.
With a group of ambitious players embracing both ladies’ football and camogie, Haughey was mindful that some of his players had endured a long, hard season.
“We try and manage it as best we can. There is very good co-operation between the two codes because it’s essentially the same group of girls.
“Some of these girls are on the go for well over a year. It’s less than two weeks to Christmas, and they’re still playing camogie. It’s tough on the body, tough on the mind. But they’re a resilient group of girls, their mentality is strong. We’ll do our level best to keep the show on the road.”
Meanwhile, Brídíní Óga manager, Chris Dornan, fully expected the challenge that St. Dominic’s presented his charges.
“We told the girls not to look at any videos (of St. Dominic’s). It’s an All-Ireland final, no bad team get to an All-Ireland final. We knew it was going to be tough but, thankfully, we kept going to the end,” he summarised.
