The incredible season where the Rossas won it all

BY GER McCARTHY

O’DONOVAN Rossa used the hurt of losing the 2022 county final to fuel the fire that delivered Cork, Munster and All-Ireland junior A football success in 2023.

Twelve months is a long time in football. Just ask these Skibbereen footballers.

O'Donovan Rossa players, from left, Emer McCarthy, Allie Tobin and Sarah Hurley celebrate after the Currentaccount.ie LGFA All-Ireland Junior Club Championship final. (Photo by Ben McShane/Sportsfile)

The date: October 1st, 2022. The venue: MTU Cork. O’Donovan Rossa’s dressing-room is a sombre place. Noise echoes from outside as the players’ tunnel fills with delirious Naomh Abán players and mentors celebrating their Cork LGFA JAFC county final win.

No words are needed. O’Donovan Rossa’s players know that the 4-6 to 1-10 county final defeat is a fair reflection of a forgettable afternoon.

Hurt, pain, anger, disbelief, choose whatever words you want. This was not how it was meant to be.

Another year at the junior A grade? Another year outside of intermediate? Still two steps from senior? Exactly where do we go from here?

‘We’ve come a long, long way together,

Through the hard times and the good,

I have to celebrate you, baby,

I have to praise you like I should’

– Praise You by Fatboy Slim

Fast forward 12 months. The date: October 7th, 2023. The venue: MTU Cork, again.

A year after the hurt of losing to Naomh Abán, the Skibbereen club has rebounded. Boy, have they rebounded.

Slaloming through the junior A round-robin series undefeated, Rossas reached a second consecutive Cork LGFA JAFC county final and in some style.

Back to the scene of the crime but this time to face a familiar foe. West Cork rivals Dohenys stand in O’Donovan Rossa’s way of redemption.

‘Everyone thought a lot about that day against Naomh Abán going into this year’s JAFC county final,’ Rossas captain Lisa Harte admitted.

‘We knew we did not want to be in the same position again. Everyone could still feel the hurt of losing to Naomh Abán. That’s what drove us on. The panel got together shortly after that county final and from there, all the girls were so committed and trained even harder. Thank God, we managed to do it.’

Long-serving O’Donovan Rossa forward Fionnuala O’Driscoll concurred with her captain’s summation.

‘Dohenys are a great rival to have and when it is a local battle that drives you on,’ O’Driscoll said.

‘We definitely weren’t as nervous going into this year’s county final. James (O’Donovan) and the lads had prepared us so well. There was a quiet confidence about us. It was a case of taking each game of the championship one at a time. Go through our phases and we will get there.

‘It was a case of peaking for that county final. It was a big occasion to play your local neighbours but we learned an awful lot from the year before.

‘We were ready.’

‘Don’t you know I’m still standing,

Better than I ever did,

Looking like a true survivor,

Feeling like a little kid’

– I’m Still Standing by Elton John

Eradicating the memory of their previous county final appearance, O’Donovan Rossa were still standing, and standing tall, following a 4-10 to 2-5 JAFC county decider win over Dohenys.

The final score was every bit as convincing as the winners’ performance, most notable for holding Dohenys scoreless for close to half an hour.

‘Credit to our defence who do a huge amount of work and when we see them making a block or turning over possession, we, as forwards, want to get the score and punish the other team,’ O’Driscoll added.

‘Our defence has been unbelievable for us. In the county final, they held Dohenys scoreless for well over 20 minutes. That’s just amazing. To be able to chip in with a few scores was important as well.’

‘The management team has been absolutely unbelievable for us this year,’ O’Donovan Rossa player Kate O’Donovan commented. ‘From day one, they instilled a belief in us. We had a meeting at the start of the year about where we wanted to go and what, potentially, we could achieve.

‘Management set the bar high but, at the same time, kept us very much grounded and took things one match at a time. They had long-term goals in mind but they kept us going through our phases and focussing on our next opponents.’

‘At the start of this year, we knew what we were capable of and that we hadn’t delivered on county final day,’ Lisa Harte stated. ‘It did take us a while to get back into it as we had no luck in our league campaign. Dohenys beat us in the West Cork LGFA final but we would meet them again in the championship.

‘It definitely took us a while to get going and, initially, we weren’t gelling. From the minute we started our junior A county championship, we were on it and didn’t lose a single game. It all came together at the right time.’

‘We are the champions, my friends,

And we’ll keep on fighting,

Til the end,

We are the champions,

We are the champions,

No time for losers,

Cause we are the champions,

Of the World’

– We Are The Champions by Queen

Not content with becoming county champions, O’Donovan Rossa underlined their burgeoning steeliness by defeating Kerry’s Clounmacon/Moyvane 0-12 to 1-7 in the Munster LGFA JAFC final.

From county final losers to champions of both Cork and Munster.

‘We were down a point at half time but no one lost belief, there was no negativity and everyone was driving each other on,’ Lisa Harte said.

Captain Lisa Harte raises the cup after Skibb's Cork JAFC final win.

‘Yes, we had our fair share of wides but everyone was just positive out on the pitch. The supporters who came up to Mallow that day played their part as well. The support we have received from the town of Skibbereen has been a (positive) factor all year.

‘We knew Clounmacon/Moyvane were a great side and it would be our biggest challenge. We got there in the end.It boiled down to our determination and the fact every single person out on that pitch wanted it. That’s what got us over the line, the hunger to become Munster champions.’

They weren’t finished yet. The Rossas blitzed through the All-Ireland series to set up a final against Claremorris in Dublin before Christmas. Again, they won, 2-7 to 0-11, to spark massive celebrations in Skibbereen.

Another All-Ireland title for the club, 30 years after the senior success of the men’s team in 1993, and this latest one is a triumph they will cherish.