A team effort, says Niamh

A team effort, says Niamh

9 December 2020

DOWN’S Niamh Mallon has paid tribute to everyone in the successful camogie camp after they were crowned All-Ireland champions.

Derek Dunne’s side swept aside the challenge of Antrim in Saturday’s showpiece in Cavan to clinch the Intermediate title for the first time since 1998. 

The Portaferry player said the win had been a long time in coming with the final win secured by a group of players who have been together for almost a decade.

“We have been on the road and this journey together for a long time,” said Niamh. “I suppose it hurt in the past couple of years how we came so close, but just couldn’t quite get the title. But after that hurt, I suppose the big thing now is relief.”

The win was the crowning of an unforgettable journey for Down camogs, led by their manager and Laois native Dunne, with Niamh explaining that it has been a year they will never forget. 

“It’s a big win for all of us as individuals but it was all about doing it for Down,” said Niamh, playing down the crucial role she played in scoring two girls to propel her side to the coveted title.

“For the two goals I was in the right place at the right time,” she said. “We worked all week on how we would be able to get on top of Antrim. We knew they were young and a bit inexperienced, but a seriously talented team.

“We knew we could not afford to let them into their stride but, I suppose, in that first half we were guilty of letting them do that a little bit. At half-time, it was about getting in, regrouping and we really drove home the game-plan and swamped the middle third of the pitch.”

Niamh said she and her team-mates were convinced that once they were able to open up a gap it could prove too much for the fledgling Antrim side to overcome. 

“That is what we hoped,” she continued. “In many ways, we have been hurt by our results at this stage in the past, but it also does make you stronger and the experience we gained from the past undoubtedly was a help going into this final. 

“That was something we knew we had over Antrim and had to use to our advantage. We knew once we got that little edge on them on the scoreboard, we were on our way to the win.”

With the title secured, the Down camp can look forward to some well-earned rest and reflection over the Christmas period with Niamh admitting for a variety of reasons that it will be a year that will be impossible to forget.

“Without any doubt it has been a mad year but, if you know the Down camogie set-up, you’ll know we never do anything by half. Winning in 2020 in a pandemic is just like us. It’s great to get over the line with the win and great to get our hands on the title. We will enjoy this one for sure,” she said. 

Having joined the squad as a gifted 15-year-old in 2010, Niamh has endured junior final reverses disappointment in 2011 and 2012 along with a number of her teammates, admitting that after knocking on the door it was terrific to finally lift the title.

She continued: “We won the junior title in 2014 and a lot of girls then stepped away. We regrouped then in 2017 and 2018 and changed our approach this year. We didn’t look at the bigger picture and took it game by game. Obviously with the restructure after the pandemic you had to adapt and go again and we did and we’re just delighted.”

Niamh’s scars of battle are very evident with a cut on the nose but the Portaferry sharpshooter is understandably unconcerned. She has spent more time in deeper roles this year, making her harder to pick up when drifting inside to often stunning effect. 

This was evidenced on Saturday with 2-1 of her tally of 2-3 from play arriving within six minutes of Maeve Kelly’s magnificent 36th minute goal that gave Antrim the lead. That speaks of a big-game player, but Mallon reiterates her manager’s assertion that this a truly collective achievement. 

Modestly, Niamh doesn’t mention herself in her checklist of those the team used to lean too heavily upon, acknowledging the privilege of being allowed to congregate and socialise as elite sportspeople in the midst of COVID-19 when many are confined to their quarters. 

Niamh added: “Down is no longer reliant on Sara-Louise Carr [Graffin], Fionnuala Carr and Karen McMullan – it’s an overall effort from 1 to 33 with the title win coming straight from the training ground.

“It’s been massively enjoyable and I have been based from home since the pandemic struck. From a camogie playing perspective it’s been great. I’ve just been around home and able to train. 

“We haven’t taken for granted the situation we found ourselves in. We have been massively privileged as a lot of people have not had the opportunity to socialise like we did over the past couple of months. To enjoy it as much as we have and get silverware out of it at the end is class.”