Kildavin-Clonegal's Carroll set for biggest day in Carlow colours

Over the last number of years, Aoife Carroll has cemented her position in the full-back line for Carlow. She plies her club trade with Kildavin-Clonegal. No disrespect to the Wexford border side but they are a relatively small outfit compared to Old Leighlin and Bennekerry-Tinryland. Aoife also played camogie with the county but soon found out being a dual status intercounty player has become almost impossible now.

“I think I am in four years. The first year I was playing camogie and football. I probably started off as more a camogie player but now I think I am more of a footballer,” she says.

She came into a football side that were taking a long and tortuous road to Croke Park. Up to this year they were taking knocks at all stages of their ambitions to reach an All-Ireland final.

“There was such a big panel when I was in there first. I didn’t get any game time for the first year of the league. When it came to Leinster championship I started that year and have started every year since. It was so good to get my opportunity,” Carroll recalled.

She doesn’t use the words that “the odds were stacked against her” but she was starting from a slightly less elevated position than players from the bigger clubs were coming from.

“A few years when Kildavin set up the club, I don’t think I ever felt I would be playing in Croke Park in an All-Ireland final. It is kind of surreal looking back four or five years ago when I started.

“You would be fazed going into any county team. I didn’t know what to expect going in. I didn’t really know many people playing football at the time. I was with a junior club team at the time and there wasn’t really anyone on the county team that I would have known too well. I think the oblivion helped me a little bit not knowing anyone at all.

“When I got in there, I thought I would never get a starting position at all.” 

That is all behind her now. She has featured in fifteen of seventeen of Carlow’s National League, Leinster championship and All-Ireland junior championship games.

The league final win stands out for her.

“That meant a lot to us. Leitrim had been a division three team and were intermediate the year before. They are such a strong team and have such a strong panel. For us to be able to go out and beat them using the depth of our panel, that was just really special,” the Kildavin-Clonegal footballer acknowledges.

“Even though we had won all our games in the league we were still going in as the underdogs. To go and win doing ourselves justice was a really proud day.

I think it was the will to win got us over the line that day. I think we shocked ourselves in how resilient we were. In previous years we might have said it was just not our day.” So far the thought of playing in an All-Ireland final is not playing too many mind tricks on the squad. Carroll says she is embracing the build-up.

“It is only another game at the end of the day. We are here to enjoy it and that is what we will do. Nothing much will come out of it by stressing too much. We will go up and play our game. Obviously I have such belief of the thirty odd girls who are on the panel, such belief of the management and we will just go up and play our game. Whatever happens, happens.”