*Eimear Considine. Photograph: Dan Sheridan / Inpho
EIMEAR CONSIDINE is one of the Clare sporting stars of her generation and is within a hour of recording her greatest achievement in management and coaching.
An Irish and PE teacher at St Joseph’s Spanish Point, Eimear forms part of the senior ladies football management alongside former Clare ladies footballer, Shauna Harvey, ex Clare camogie player Fiona Lafferty and 2023 Clare IFC winning manager Paul Reidy.
“It is my biggest achievement as a coach because I’ve never coached any other team other than the girls in Spanish Point, it is a dream to be here,” Eimear told The Clare Echo ahead of Thursday’s All-Ireland final.
With her winning mentality coming to the fore, Eimear is keen for Spanish Point to capture the All-Ireland silverware that is on offer. “I teach it every day about smart goals but to even think would it be realistic to aim for an All-Ireland A final when we haven’t won a B or C so maybe it wasn’t realistic but it was achievable with the group of girls we have. We have one step further to go, it is great to reach the final but finals are there to be won, the main thing is the girls show up on the All-Ireland final day ready to work, when you get this far you have to win it and finish the job”.
England Women vs Ireland Women
Ireland’s Eimear Considine after the game
Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Evan Treacy
During a decade-long rugby career, the Kilmihil woman earned thirty caps for Ireland, the last of which was in October 2024 a month before she retired from the sport and seven years after making her Ireland XVs debut during the 2017 Six Nations
Prior to her rugby breakthrough, Eimear was one of the leading dual players in Clare, playing at the highest level in the county. She was vice captain when Clare lost the Division 1 camogie final to Kilkenny in 2014. At the age of eighteen, she won player of the match when Clare won the All-Ireland intermediate ladies football final against Tipperary in 2009, her exploits earning her an All Star nomination.
Indeed Eimear was part of the last ladies football side from the county to contest an All-Ireland A final, that being the Clare minors of 2009. She was one of the dual-stars alongside Kilmaley’s Shonagh Enright, Roisin McMahon of Newmarket-on-Fergus, Katie Cahill of Kilmaley, Doora/Barefield duo Louise Woods and Aoife Martin plus her younger sister Ailish who contested both All-Ireland minor A finals that season.
She recalled, “You train for days like this, I’ve played a lot of football and a lot of sport, only once have I played in an A division, top tier competition All-Ireland final, we lost it, the 2009 All-Ireland Minor A final to Donegal seven days after we lost the All-Ireland Minor A camogie final to Kilkenny. Since then, no Clare team has been in a senior championship final, a Division 1 league final, a Minor A or U16A final, no Clare team has reached the pinnacle of the ladies football world except for this Spanish Point team, it doesn’t happen often and it has been 29 years since the school has got there”.
Big-game experience is nothing new to Eimear but for the St Joseph’s panel it will be the highpoint of their sporting careers to date to line out in Dr Cullen Park in an All-Ireland A final. “My message to the girls is not to be nervous about the day because this is what it is all about, this is the top of the sport that you can get to and they are there, it is about putting on a performance for everyone who has watched them or haven’t seen them because when they play you can just sit back and watch how great they are, the way they work as a team and defend, the scores they get are phenomenal, if they perform to the best of their ability there is no doubt that they can beat any team, they have proven that they are unbeatable with their heart and determination, the skill might have lacked the last day with the conditions, the occasion of an All-Ireland semi-final and the nature of how the game went, the determination and grit they showed to never give up until the final whistle was why they won the game.
“The message I’ve said to them is it is not over until it’s over, they went out with that and fought for every ball and tackle, the goal at the end was the very last kick of the game, it shows the determination they have and they weren’t going to let a third All-Ireland semi-final slip through their fingers when they were so close. The shackles are off for the All-Ireland final because we have got to where we want to, it is about putting on a performance, there will be a huge crowd of Spanish Point supporters, all of West Clare, neutrals, a lot of people are talking about it and there is great hype about it. It is about not being nervous and showing everyone what we have seen at our 7am sessions and Sunday evening sessions over Christmas and the Mid-Terms, when a lot of students here in school are asleep the girls are on the pitch in Miltown training before school and the girls just walk in and get on with their normal school life, they are a fantastic group of girls who have given massive commitment, we wouldn’t do it if they didn’t put in the effort, it is a reciprocal relationship,” she added.
Part of the teaching staff in Spanish Point for the last three years, Eimear admitted the girls were inspired by the All-Ireland D success of the school’s senior boys gaelic football in March 2023. “It started three years ago when the likes of Lucy Shanahan who was our captain, Lauren Conway, Niamh Miller, Catherine Byrne, they drove it and our captains this year Aoibheann (Ryan) and Kayla (Darcy) are doing it again, it comes from the leadership and each year the girls have stepped up in the leadership role and brought on the younger girls, they know what hard work takes, it is no coincidence we have a lot of second and third years playing because they have put in the work and my motto is if you are good enough you are old enough, I don’t care what age you are and what year you are in, if you want to start you will start and if you are good enough to start you can be a leader on the field it doesn’t matter your number, your age or the year you are in, Spanish Point have proven that, it is quality over quantity”.
She joined Spanish Point from an all-girls school from Dublin and admitted it did require some adjustment. “It was very different initially, I taught in an all-girls school for twelve years, that is the draw to the girls football team because I can use my experience and what I’ve learned over my career to bring an element of professionalism, I care about the girls, they bounced back on the back of the boys being so successful in the school, the year previous the boys won the All-Ireland final which drove the girls on to prove they could be good too and they have come with massive determination”
Well-used to media appearances from her time as a TG4 pundit, Eimear is joined for her latest chat with The Clare Echo by her six month old son Tiernan who is smiling but impeccably behaved in his first media interview. She is currently on maternity leave alongside fellow coach Shauna Harvey. “It’s been a good three years for myself and Shauna who took over three years ago, Paul came in with us and then Fiona this year because I’m off on maternity leave and so is Shauna, I’m on maternity leave but full-time coaching”.
Preparations have been helped by having access to their full panel, she outlined. “Thankfully the county management have been very accommodating with the girls so they are solely with us for the last two weeks which allows them to be physically prepared and rested which is important”.
Unfazed with whatever can be thrown at them, the mindset of the Spanish Point players has led them to the big day, Considine felt. “They don’t panic when we go down, on numerous occasions throughout the year we have gone behind, the other team would score and we’d score, it is how we respond. In the semi-final, we got three yellow cards but the girls didn’t drop the heads or panic, what was great was we brought Emily Shannon back to corner back, she is our corner forward and there was no questions about it, we put Abbie Gallagher our wing back up wing forward, Abi Kelly went full forward, nobody complained about what was done because it was for the team, they will do whatever you ask them to do for the betterment of the team. We were under the pump and we made changes, the referee was very whistle-happy, we had to bring extra players back that weren’t going to get another yellow card and the girls just did it, no questions asked, it shows that they will do whatever they are asked for the team, that is the attitude we have and it’s why we are this stage”.
