Maria O’Neill is not about to play it down – for St Ergnat’s of Moneyglass to find themselves preparing for Saturday’s All-Ireland club women’s senior football final almost feels like fiction.
They are the first Antrim club to reach this stage of the competition, having beaten Dublin giants Kilmacud Crokes in the semi-final. In Stillorgan.
“Oh, don’t worry, it was,” smiles Moneyglass forward O’Neill when it is put to her that the 1-12 to 1-10 victory has been disproportionately branded as one of the biggest ever shocks in the women’s game.
“To get out of Ulster was obviously a massive accomplishment for us, so then to come up against Kilmacud Crokes, [with] the players they have, the whole backroom team and everything – they’re such a well-established club.
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“So, I think everyone was kind of just hoping for the best. Then, to come out of it with the win, I think everyone was shocked. Once the final whistle went, I think everyone was just like, ‘oh my God, we’re in an All-Ireland final here’.”
Former Donegal manager Maxi Curran is in charge of the team this year. On Saturday, his players will face another powerhouse of the game, reigning champions Kilkerrin-Clonberne from Galway, who are seeking to secure five All-Ireland titles in-a-row.
“Moneyglass is a really small community,” adds O’Neill, who scored 1-3 against Crokes. “There’s the service station, it’s the shop, there’s the community hall, a hairdressers – it’s a really small place, but there has been an unbelievable buzz about.
“Everybody is just so excited to see us now playing in an All-Ireland senior club final.”
Former jockey Tony McCoy is probably the most famous son of the parish, so perhaps it’s no surprise the Moneyglass footballers have been defying the odds recently.
“The McCoys are a massive part of the community,” explains O’Neill. “He’s one of the most successful jockeys ever and we’ve got messages from him wishing us the best of luck and all.
“When you look at what he’s been able to achieve from such a small place, I think he kind of motivates us a lot as well.”
One of the challenges facing the Antrim and Ulster champions at the weekend will be to manage the magnitude of the occasion.
“It’s so easy to get caught up in the whole thing,” she said. “Obviously it’s the first time for an Antrim team to ever make it to an All-Ireland senior club final.
“It’s a massive achievement and you have everybody congratulating you and wishing you luck and all the rest of it. So it’s easy to get caught up in it all and be hoping for the fairytale ending.
“But Maxi has reminded us multiple times that this is not a fairytale, we’re going into this game as massive underdogs. We play Kilkerrin-Clonberne, who are the reigning champions over the last four years. They’re a serious outfit.
“But I feel like everyone’s taken it into perspective of what’s ahead and what it’s going to take to get over the line.”
– The AIB All-Ireland club women’s senior football final between Kilkerrin-Clonberne (Galway) and St Ergnat’s, Moneyglass (Antrim) will take place on Saturday at Croke Park (4pm).
