By Daire Walsh

She has secured her share of individual and collective accolades down through the years, but Galway and Kilkerrin-Clonberne star Nicola Ward has admitted to being ‘really overwhelmed’ with winning the TG4 Senior Players’ Player of the Year earlier this month.

Already on the stage at The Bonnington Dublin Hotel on Saturday, November 16 after being named on the All Star team alongside three of her fellow county women, Ward was taken by surprise when it was announced that she had seen off the challenges of Kayleigh Cronin (Kerry) and Lauren McConville (Armagh) to be crowned as the LGFA’s best top-tier player for 2024.

Due to the fact her twin sister Louise was nominated for an All Star, and her close friend and club-mate Olivia Divilly was named in the team alongside the dynamic centre half-back, Ward was able to celebrate with those nearest and dearest to her on the night.

“It was a shock. Especially being up against the two girls, Lauren and Kayleigh. They had such brilliant years with their respective counties as well. It’s not something that I expected for sure, but I was delighted to get it. It’s a massive honour and especially as well that it was chosen by the players. I think it made it extra special, but I was just really overwhelmed with it to be honest,” Ward acknowledged.

“Louise was nominated and Olivia Divilly, who is one of my good friends and is from the same club, received her All Star as well. It was a great night for our family. Mum and Dad are very proud and the club is very proud as well. It was a special night.”

A couple of months before picking up her first All Star in November 2019, Ward was part of a Galway team that fell short to Dublin in a TG4 All-Ireland senior football championship final at Croke Park. It was a similar scenario for the 28-year-old this year as the recent awards banquet was preceded by the Tribeswomen’s defeat to Kerry in their latest Brendan Martin Cup decider appearance at GAA HQ on August 4.

While she was understandably disappointed to finish second best in an All-Ireland inter-county showpiece for the second time in her career, Ward ultimately looks upon 2024 as a year of progress for Galway.

“I would definitely see the year as progress. We had a poor league campaign and then after that really we kind of didn’t look back. We went on to retain the Connacht title and then built good confidence from that. Then obviously we got past a quarter-final stage, which hasn’t happened [for a while].

“We’ve fallen at quarter-final stages to Meath and to Mayo in the previous two years by a point. To break down that barrier that day [against Dublin], it was great. There’s a lot to take from the year and I would hope that we would carry it into next year.

“It’s definitely still disappointing, no doubt. They are very hard to get to, the All-Ireland finals, and when you get there, you want to try and give it your best shot. I think that is what is most disappointing for me, that we didn’t really give it our best shot on that day.”

You can fully expect that Ward will persevere in the maroon of her native county, given the way she had to overcome some frustrating days out with Kilkerrin-Clonberne before they went on to establish themselves as one of the most formidable club teams in the land.

After falling to a number of defeats in the last-four of the competition, they eventually reached the final of the AIB All-Ireland senior club championship in the winter of 2019.

Kilkerrin-Clonberne lost out agonisingly by a single point to defending champions Mourneabbey on that occasion in the TUS Gaelic Grounds, before turning the tables on the Cork outfit in the 2021 decider – which was played in January 2022 at St Brendan’s Park in Birr.

The Galway and Connacht supremos went on from there to add a further brace of Dolores Tyrrell crowns courtesy of final wins over Donaghmoyne (Monaghan) and Ballymacarbry (Waterford) with Ward’s father Willie at the managerial helm for all three of these national successes.

“He managed us at senior level back a good few years ago. He took a break and then came back four years ago. He’s still going strong at the minute. It’s lovely. We can bounce ideas off him from a players’ perspective and if he’s not happy with things, we can bring it back to the girls.

“I think we lost three semi-finals before we lost to them [Mourneabbey] that day in the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick by a point. To get over the line and to win our first, it was definitely a monkey off our back, because it was something that we really, really wanted.”

Having become the first team from either Galway or Connacht to secure three AIB All-Ireland senior championship titles on the bounce last December, Kilkerrin-Clonberne have their sights set on remaining at the top of the club ladder.

Yet with the three teams they have defeated to claim those All-Ireland crowns (Mourneabbey, Donaghmoyne and Ballymacarbry) all being knocked out in their respective county championships this year, Ward and her playing colleagues aren't taking anything for granted.

Armagh and Ulster champions Clann Eireann will be seeking to dethrone their western counterparts in an All-Ireland senior semi-final showdown on their home patch tomorrow afternoon, but Ward (who started a new job as a production planning analyst with Coca Cola Ballina Beverages in February) is more than hopeful Kilkerrin-Clonberne can rise to the occasion.

“It’s a lot easier being the chaser than the ones being chased. Plenty of teams are coming for us and trying to knock us back, but the good thing about us is that we’re aware of that and we don’t want to give up what we have,” Ward added.

“Because over the last number of years we’ve brought great joy to our community and it has been a golden era for us, that we’ve had such top class players all come through at the same time. We’re definitely not looking to give the crown to someone else any time soon.”

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