ALL-IRELAND FINAL COUNTDOWN: O’Shea hoping to complete comeback with All-Ireland victory

There’s a photo of Siofra O’Shea from 2012 as a wide eyed 10-year-old taken at the 2012 All-Ireland final where Kerry took on the mighty Cork team of the era but came up short in the finish, with Cork pulling away for a 0-16 to 0-7 win.

Siofra was there to support the Kerry team but particularly the Southern Gaels girls on the panel Meghan O’Connell, Deirdre Corridon, Caroline Kelly and Anna Galvin.

Little did the young whippersnapper from Caherdaniel think at the time that 10 years later she would be lining out for the Kingdom herself in an All-Ireland SFC final, and that she would be playing with some of the stars that she had watched so fervently that day at the mecca of all things Gaelic, Croke Park. The young pretenders time has come to shine.

Siofra O’Shea is a player that has ice in her veins. She is the footballing equivalent of an assassin. Think Colm Cooper, David Clifford, Con O’Callaghan, Geraldine O’Shea; she is a combination of many parts, and nothing phases her.

She has the confidence, but not cockiness, which is an important point, to thrust herself to take the chances when they present themselves. A finisher of the highest order, one sight at goal and she will take you down.

Her goal against Mayo in the All-Ireland semi-final was a prime example. As soon as O’Shea saw Niamh Carmody creating a huge turnover in the middle of the field she was moving. Carmody delivered perfectly into O’Shea, who was surrounded by two defenders. No problem: two toe taps to the left, a bounce to bring her back to the right, and an unstoppable shot to the bottom corner of the goal from 21 metres.

A nail in the opposition’s coffin but also a strike so sweet and wholesome that it came from the top of the hit parade. As ruthless as it gets. It’s almost like Michael Corleone justifying the wiping out of McClusky and Sollozzo in the Godfather. “it’s not personal Sonny, it’s strictly business”. O’Shea knew what needed to be done.

“When Niamh Carmody gave me a great pass in, I turned and I saw the space around me and when I took that hop and spun around there was only one thing on my mind”, she recalled matter of factly; Siofra doesn’t do hyperbole.

“I suppose I do practice a good few shots from that range before training and we’d all be kicking the ball at Mary Ellen (Bolger), the poor girl!

“I feel for her sometimes! It was my first time playing in Croke Park after missing the two league finals the two previous years so I just wanted to go out and to try and enjoy myself and to do the best I could for the team”.

For Siofra the two-goal haul in the All-Ireland semi-final was a redemption of sorts after the heartache of suffering the dreaded ACL injury back in June 2021 in a league match against Wexford.

The road to getting back playing inter county football was tough, but Siofra got her starting chance back in the team when Erica McGlynn was forced out of the side after picking up a virus before the Westmeath game.

“I think with every training and every training game I was getting stronger and to get on in the Galway game and to start the Westmeath game was a big step, and then I suppose to go into the quarter-final against Armagh, the biggest game that I could have come back to after my recovery. I was really confident going in starting and I suppose that game gave me confidence then for the last day.

“When Kerry last played Meath in a national final, Siofra O’Shea was sitting in the stands as the horror show unfolded when the Royals took apart a Kingdom side that quite simply weren’t ready for the intensity that the Royals brought to the occasion.

Meath triumphed by 2-16 to 1-9 that day, and O’Shea feels that Kerry have a point to prove when they meet once again on Sunday.

She says Meath have developed a style of playing that is extremely difficult to break down but the Kerry players are not lacking motivation in terms of finding a way to win.

“There’s a lot of hurt there from last year’s league final. I know that up in the stands watching it we were quite disappointed, but I know that the girls on the field as well felt that they didn’t give their all that day and they didn’t show the best that they can play, so they want to get back at Meath.

“Meath are a different team; they have defensive structures and they do get players back behind the ball, but you know we’ve been working on teams that have done that this year, and we’ve done a lot in training on this, so going into training now we’ll analyse what Meath do and come up with the best way to break them down”.