By Paul O’Donovan
Fiona Leavy has been playing both football and camogie with Westmeath for more years than she cares to remember, but that is what makes next Sunday so special for Fiona as she leads her beloved maroon and white camogie team onto the hallowed turf of Croke Park.
This week, Fiona took a break away from the intense preparations for Sunday’s final to talk to Topic about the final against Dublin.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I can’t wait and I’m immensely proud to be captain and fortunate to be captain of such a super bunch of girls,” said Fiona. “After so many years of trying, it is more a relief than anything that we have reached this final and that we are going to Croke Park. In that respect, the pressure is off now. For so many years, we have been so close and yet we have been so far away. At least, now, we have made it to the final but hopefully we can go and produce a performance that will give us a victory in the final on Sunday.”
So could the fact that so many of the girls will be playing in Croke Park for the first time affect them?
“I believe mentally we can get it right and we can overcome it. It is just another pitch. I was up in Croke Park during the week and the pitch is big, but I don’t know if the pitch itself is any bigger than other pitches we have played in, like in Galway. It is more the massive stands and the huge surroundings of the pitch that make it so enormous, but I’m sure the girls won’t let it affect their performance.”
Before commencing their All-Ireland campaign, Westmeath played in the Leinster Intermediate Championship where they caused a few surprises.
Fiona recalled those games and said: “The games against Kilkenny and Wexford in the Leinster Intermediate were huge games for us this year, especially as nobody was giving us a chance. We came in under the radar in both of those games and we really showed what we are all about.
“Even in the defeat against Laois, I think that was a huge game and a massive building step for us. It helped us mentally prepare for a final and on that day, we didn’t perform as well as we should have and we didn’t step up to the mark. So I really believe we have learned from that and we can take that with us coming into the final on Sunday.
“We know now what finals are about and we know we need a big performance for sixty plus minutes. So for the 15 players that start and the five subs that come on, it will have to be a real team performance from start to finish.”
In their final group game, Westmeath played Sunday’s opponents Dublin and beat them by a single point, but Fiona believes that winning matches by narrow margins has helped them immensely.
“Against Dublin in the group game, both teams were already through to the next stage, so it is hard to know what to take from that game. We obviously still went out to win, as did Dublin. It was such a competitive game; they are a great side but I think on the day we will be focusing on what we can do to maximize our performance. We had another tough game against Armagh in the semi-final and all of that will stand to us when it comes to the crunch in the final on Sunday.
“We have been through it all. We had comfortable wins, we had close games where we squeezed through, we have won games where we were losing but we came back strong to win. Looking back to this time last year, we lost a close game to Carlow by a point, but this year we are winning those games and we beat Armagh by a point, so I think we are definitely learning and progressing and that will all stand to us,” said Fiona.
Westmeath have a nice blend of youth and experience coming into this game with the likes of the experienced Pamela Greville, Dinah Loughlin, Denise McGrath and yourself, Fiona; then there are the younger players such as Hannah Core, Caoimhe McCrossan and Jade McKeogh, so do you feel it is a good mix?
“I was asked about the panel during the week and it was pointed out to me that there were seven or eight of the panel that were 25 years or over and the rest were under 25 and how would that affect the panel?
“I pointed out that most of those girls under the age of 25 have played in more All-Ireland finals than the senior girls. Those younger girls have all played in All-Ireland under 16 finals, in All-Ireland colleges finals and All-Ireland B finals, more so than the senior players, so that will all stand to the younger players.
“For the older players in the squad, we know how much next Sunday means to us. The senior players, and I include myself, we might not be around the block for much longer. You think you are going to go on and play forever but you never know what is around the corner, when the legs or body eventually gives in or when you pick up a long term injury, you never know. So it is brilliant to be looking forward to the final in Croke Park.
“Sunday is just another game, but you cannot take anything for granted. You just don’t know when this opportunity will come again, or if ever will come again. There is a great calibre of players coming up through the system here in Westmeath at the moment, but we have to remember other counties are doing the same at underage level, and all the other counties are progressing too. Each year some new team pops up and makes it their year. I suppose, these chances don’t come up too often, so we all have to grab it by the hurl in this case and the sliotar and give it our all and have no regrets on the day,” said Fiona.
