By Daire Walsh

While it hasn't necessarily been a major stomping ground in the past, trips to Croke Park have suddenly become a much more common occurrence for Leitrim's Laura O'Dowd within the past 12 months.

Having previously featured at the venue for Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins in their All-Ireland Intermediate Club Championship final defeat to Glanmire of Cork last December, O’Dowd is in line for a return to GAA HQ tomorrow week when Leitrim take on Tyrone in the TG4 All-Ireland Intermediate Football Championship decider.

The 29-year-old was also an interested spectator on All-Ireland finals day in Croke Park last year as her sister Eilish played a starring role at midfield for her adopted county of Dublin in their impressive senior showpiece victory over Kerry. Currently in Australia preparing for the start of the new AFLW season with GWS Giants, Eilish originally played alongside her sister for both Ballinamore and Leitrim before subsequently completing respective club and inter-county transfers to Na Fianna and the Jackies.

“Eilish did absolutely amazingly to come out on the Dublin panel and for them to win that senior title. The atmosphere and everything, it was unbelievable. We were just so proud of her. She had done so well. Her life had been in Dublin since she had gone to college. She moved there, she lived there, she worked there,” Laura said.

“It made sense for her to play with a club there and she was selected for the Dublin team. She has grown in leaps and bounds since that and she’s on a different journey, a different path, at the minute over in Australia. What can I say, three trips to Croke Park in a year isn’t too bad.”

Although current full-back Charlene Tyrell was part of the starting line-up back then, the fact Leitrim haven’t played in Croke Park since their All-Ireland intermediate triumph over Wexford all of 17 years ago means that most of the Mohill native’s team-mates will find themselves in unfamiliar territory eight days from now.

From that perspective, O’Dowd is pleased that both she and her fellow Ballinamore colleague Mollie Murphy can at least draw on their experience of playing in the north Dublin stadium at the end of 2023.

“That was both of our first times playing in Croke Park. I’m hoping that it will definitely stand to the two of us. I think when you go in for the first time it’s very overwhelming. Obviously every LGFA player dreams of playing in Croke Park. When it happens for the first time, it can be quite overwhelming.

“I think the fact that we have experience and it’s only a few months ago, I think it will definitely stand to us. We know what to expect when we get there. We know what it is like being surrounded by huge crowds. We know the layouts of the dressing rooms and all that.”

Having suffered her share of quarter-final and semi-final heartbreak since she first joined the Leitrim panel in 2012, O’Dowd is now just 60 minutes away from helping her county to bridge a 17-year gap to that last All-Ireland championship success.

Standing in their way will be a Tyrone side that played in Croke Park as recently as April 7 in a Lidl National Football League Division 2 final reversal to Kildare.

Leitrim’s quest for promotion from Division 4 of the NFL may have ended in a semi-final defeat against Limerick, but that didn’t stop the O’Rourke women from getting the better of the Red Hand when the two sides met in Group 4 of the intermediate championship in Ballinamore on June 2.

Eight points behind inside the opening six minutes of the action, before trailing by 5-5 to 1-8 on the stroke of 40 minutes, the Connacht outfit embarked on a remarkable late scoring spree to earn a 4-12 to 5-8 victory.

“We were climbing a hill for the first half to try and get back into the game, but we did. We took our scores when they were on and when the goals were on we took them. Next thing we knew we were back in the game against Tyrone.

“They’re an absolutely brilliant team. We hadn’t played Tyrone in a few years, so we didn’t know what to expect when we played them in Ballinamore. We know it’s going to be a huge battle, there was really nothing in that game. We came across the line as one point winners in that game and there is no doubt it’s going to be a very similar contest now in the final.”

Aside from the quality of players that will be on display for both teams, the fact that Leitrim manager Jonny Garrity is a native of Tyrone ensures there will be added intrigue to next weekend’s final. He even had a spell as manager of the Red Hand minor ladies in the recent past, but O’Dowd acknowledged Garrity has left the Leitrim players in no doubt as to where his loyalties lie.

“As he says himself, his loyalties lie with us. He’s been our manager for the last two years and we’re his main focus. It is just funny that it works out that it is his home county, but he has worked with other counties as well. We know that he 100% backs us and we have 100% faith and trust in him.”

Away from her commitments with Leitrim and Ballinamore Sean O’Heslins, O’Dowd has a busy working life as a physiotherapist. Whilst it can be difficult for some players to balance this particular occupation with inter-county football, this isn’t currently an issue for the UCC graduate.

“I’m lucky now where I am. I’m in the hospital in Manorhamilton, but it’s your standard. It’s a nine to half four job. There’s no on call, there’s no weekend work. I am very lucky that way. I do cover games for the local Ballinamore men’s team, but thankfully their games fall on a Saturday,” O’Dowd added.

“It actually works out really well in terms of training. I’m free every evening, our games are always on Sundays. I’m very lucky in terms of where I’m at, that there’s no clash and there’s no huge commute to training or anything like that. It works out really well for myself.”

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