Niamh Gannon: League win has given Dublin camogie more belief

“Obviously with this group of players and myself, we’ve never won any kind of silverware with Dublin so to get that win and to finally get a piece of silverware is massive for us, a massive boost and it would have been a goal that we set out at the start of the year.”

Dublin savoured a first league win in 41 years when an injury-time goal by Grace O’Shea sealed a dramatic victory against Wexford. The match finished 2-10 to 2-8 at SETU Carlow almost three weeks ago.

“We would hope to push on,” said the St Jude’s player. “Obviously even seeing Waterford last year, they won 1B and ended up getting to an All-Ireland final. That’s the aim, that’s the standard, so it’s great.

“There’s that belief that look, OK, it’s 1B but we got the win and we can now push on and start winning matches and start competing with the teams in 1A. We still would be [thinking] OK, we were in 1B, but that’s not going to hold us back during the championship.

“We’ll be playing against the Corks and the Galways and we have a bit more belief in ourselves now so I think that will stand to us.

“And even just the way the match went, we won it in the last minute nearly. Years before, when they [Wexford] got that [late] goal, it probably might have been heads down; you know, put up a good fight, but the match is over. I just think that’s changed this year, we have that belief that we’re going to keep going, it will come to us and I just think that’s great, the way the match finished.”

Gannon, who is in her sixth year playing for Dublin, said relegation last year had been difficult. Dublin finished bottom of Division 1A, losing four and drawing one of the five matches, while Waterford won promotion from 1B.

“That was tough to take. It’s been tough as well over the years, we’ve had a lot of management changes. So there’s been that frustration and then we might have lost girls that have gone travelling and I’ve gone travelling myself.

“There has definitely been low points and it’s tough but it’s that main core group of us that have remained there, that’s what you keep coming back for each year. At least as well this year it’s the second year that the management has stayed so that really helps.”

Gannon was away travelling on a J1 and had her final year in college in 2023. She missed the Leinster final 0-13 to 1-14 defeat by Kilkenny in Nowlan Park.

“Initially it’s disappointing, you’re that close to winning a Leinster final. We would have spoken about that match again this year, like, it showed that when we are, you know, on the right day and when we play as we know we can play, we are within touching distance of those top teams that we speak about.

“And like, sort of what I was saying earlier, the fact that we’ve gotten over the line now [in 1B] ...because that [Kilkenny] match, I think it was a few points in the end that Dublin lost by but we were up in that game and it’s that thing, it’s closing out those matches and getting those wins, whereas now there will be the belief there that we had a tight affair with Wexford, in a final, under that huge pressure, and we got the win.”

Her two younger sisters, Aisling and Claire, were also involved in Dublin’s recent league win.

Dublin will meet Galway in the opening round of the All-Ireland series on May 25. They share the same group as All-Ireland champions, Cork.​​​​​