Meath captain has the right attitude

“Talent wins games, teamwork and intelligece wins championships” said American basketball player Michael Jordan and it's a view that the captain of the Meath camogie team Claire Coffey would find herself in agreement with.

It's that sense of working together, that esprit de corps that exists between the players, she picks out as one of the reasons why Meath are now on the cusp of claiming an All-Ireland Intermediate Camogie title for the first time.

“When you go out you want to play for your team, for you club, for your county, you want to make sure you are playing well for the girls in front of you, beside you, whatever, you don't want to let any of your colleagues down and I think that's one of the things that has helped this team get to a final,” she said. 

The Na Fianna player was speaking at the Meath Camogue media event at Drumree on Wednesday of last week and she clearly takes her role as captain very seriously.

For her it's not just a matter of putting on the armband and deciding what end to choose if she wins the toss.

There's much more to the role and right up there for her is sustaining the morale of her colleagues, especially when, during the course of a game the team's fortunes are ebbing. Her philosophy as captain could be summed up in the way she addresses her team before games.

“I just say go out and play for each other, watch out for each other and help one another. Make sure you go for every ball, make sure you don't come off that pitch disappointed and saying I didn't try my best or I didn't do as well as I could have. I'd say whatever comes into my head to be honest, but it's about making sure you leave everything out on the pitch,” she added.

A lab assistant in Mullingar Hospital the 26-year-old shares the belief with manager John Davis that the best way to get the best out of players is to encourage them or, as she puts it, “to make sure everyone is all right and their minds are focused on the game.”

As the team leader Coffey, whose sister Amy is also on the panel, doesn't see herself as a lone figure; a leader left in splendid isolation to make the hard calls.

She talks, instead, of the wealth of experience that is around her and how players can motivate each other to greater effort.

“There are a few girls who are in the set up for a long time now and have loads of experience, we've got leaders all over the pitch it's not just me, it's others like Hack (Katie Hackett), Kristina (Troy) and Jane Dolan and Emily Mangan, there are other leaders too.”

Added to that group, there are the younger players such as her sister Amy and the likes of Aoife Minogue and Megan Thynne who bring the youth to add to the experience. 

It's that combination of youth and experience that has helped Meath get to the final.

Not that it has been an easy journey for the girls in green and gold this year. 

The elevation to Div 1 brought a new set of standards and challenges. The step up proved to be formidable against Limerick, Clare, Galway and Offaly.

However, Coffey believes the players benefited greatly from taking on some of the best sides in the country, giving them a taste of what is required to prosper at the highest level.

“It was a real learning curve for us, we played the likes of Galway's first team, Clare's first team and Limerick's first team, we gave Offaly a close game, and all that, I think, has really stood to us and brought us on.”

The championship proved to be a more bountiful territory as Laois, Galway (2nds), Down and significantly Cork (2nds), were overcome before Kildare was defeated 1-12 to 1-10 on a dank afternoon in Ashbourne, much to the delight of the large Meath camogie fraternity.

That fraternity includes Claire's mother Ann, who is secretary of the Meath Camogie Co Board, and father Matt who is manager of the Na Fianna camogie team.

They will be proud to see their daughter lead the team out onto Croke Park's pristine pitch on Sunday - an honour relatively few people in the GAA get to savour.

They would be even more delighted to see Claire raise the trophy into the skies above the Hogan Stand, but perhaps they won't want to tempt fate by thinking about that just yet.

Coffey has already experienced playing a final in the big house. She was on the Meath team that defeated Down in the Premier Junior All-Ireland showdown in 2012. She has won Div 2 and Div 3 National League medals, Junior and Intermedaite Leinster championships as well as a Soaring Star Award.

She has, like this team, travelled far and wide in pursuit of success with a considerable amount of silverware bagged along the way.
Another big day in Croke Park awaits and Coffey is intrigued by the prospect of what all that involves. 

As she does every time she steps out in the green and gold Coffey will be seeking to show the way from her full-back position, hoping it will take her 

along the path to September gold.