by Daragh Ó Conchúir

The age profile of high performance team sports in Ireland is reducing, as the demands increase.

This year’s Centra Camogie League got under way without the likes of Shauna Healy, Annmarie Starr and Ailish O’Reilly lining out for Galway, though we might not have seen the last of all of them yet. Katie Power, who played in the 2009 All-Ireland final for Kilkenny, took time out to allow her body to heal from an assortment of injuries picked up along the way, most pertinently, her foot.

Cork were without a plethora of players. Hannah Looney headed for AFLW fare in Australia. The Mackey twins, who were also involved in the 2009 decider - Katrina coming on as a sub and Pamela having to look on – recharged the batteries but are back in training. Laura Treacy retired, ending a run in red that went back to 2012.

There have were plenty others too, but you get the drift.

There are enough examples in all Gaelic games of enduring figures still contributing at the highest level after more than a decade, however, and today’s Centra Camogie League Division 1A final at UPMC Nowlan Park (2.15pm throw-in, live on RTÉ2) between All-Ireland champions Galway, and a Waterford side pursuing a first ever top-flight national title offers a few other samples.

When the Déise edged out Down by a point in the 2011 All-Ireland premier junior final, Niamh Rockett was on the scoresheet for the victors, Niamh Mallon for the unlucky losers. Vikki Falconer was on the bench for Waterford.

Mallon would help the Mournewomen get over the line the following year.

Rockett split the posts in 2015 as Waterford overcame Kildare to secure senior status. Falconer was in the starting 15 by this stage, helping stem the threatening Lilywhite attack at Croke Park that day.

It was 2021 before Down could follow them, Mallon blasting 2-3 from play to account for Ulster rivals Antrim the previous December in a Covid final.

Since being senior players, Rockett and Mallon have illustrated their capabilities at the very highest level. They are both All-Stars, though it was a mystery to many that the latter had to wait until playing in an All-Ireland final with her adopted county Galway to do so, given her marvels in helping her native outfit maintain their top status for so long.

In the end, the travel from Portaferry to Galway city for work proved too much and she threw her lot in with the westerners. By her own admission, the new environment took some getting used to. Last year, she was stunning, as Cathal Murray’s squad squeezed past three-in-a-row chasing Cork to win the All-Ireland. Clearly, getting married in a free week during the League added to her feeling of Zen.

In the process, she beat Rockett and Falconer in the race to win the ultimate crown in each of the top three grades, the Waterford pair having had a chance in the 2023 decider, only for their hopes to be scuppered by an ACL injury suffered by Falconer in the second minute. The defender was in the throes of a player-of-the-season campaign at that point.

She has returned and appears as good as ever.

Rockett might even be getting better. The St Anne’s attacker was told by doctors as a 16-year-old that she should give up playing sport or risk being confined to a wheelchair. She is stubborn, however, and her father, the former Waterford hurler, Eddie Rockett, encouraged her to try everything possible. As relatives of the man after whom last year’s Grand National winner, Nick Rockett, was named, they don’t shy away from dreaming big.

The dodgy wheels have to be managed, but the periods of treatment or timeouts during games are far less noticeable than they used to be. That’s a testament to her professionalism and as her former manager and well-known hurling coach, Donal O’Rourke has revealed before, her absolute beast mode in a gym.

Meanwhile, she took on free-taking duties last year and has only grown further with the responsibility.

For her part, Mallon is also involved with the Galway footballers as a nutritionist. Rockett is enjoying increasing punditry duties.

But they are all business when it comes to the pitch. Falconer too.

The League can always be about the infusion of fresh blood.

But quality endures.

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