*Chloe Moloney. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
It will be another busy weekend for Chloe Moloney but it will be nothing new to the Kilmurry Ibrickane club woman.
On Saturday, she will line out with Peamount in the ladies soccer against Bohemians at 6p.m. before travelling on to Newry on Sunday to line out with Clare in the opening round of the All-Ireland intermediate ladies football championship.
“It’s literally every week, Saturday and Sunday. Laurie Ryan is playing with Athlone and Niamh O’Dea while Sinead O’Keeffe plays with the junior camogie team, there are a good few of the girls doing the same. It’s tough but the travelling is nearly the toughest part of it”, she told The Clare Echo.
Living at home since Covid struck she said that’s when the travelling got tough. Chloe explained that she went away from gaelic football for a while as she concentrated on soccer between the age of 17 and 22. “When I moved home I really went back into football again, it was my first sport”, explained Chloe whose father Aiden is well known for his achievements in football having helped Kilmurry-Ibrickane to numerous successes both as a player and mentor while he was a key member of Clare’s Munster senior football championship winning team from 1992.
Does that mean that there is pressure on her to deliver on the playing field? With a broad smile she replied, “yes, he is on my back to deliver but that is a good thing as he drives me on. There is obviously a great love of football in our house and for soccer also. To have someone like my father pushing me is great. He knows the story about football and how it goes and it’s like to have someone like that to give me advice going into games”.
In her eyes, Sunday’s game “is a huge fixture for us. Last year we started poorly against Leitrim, we never got going from that loss. It’s important to start with a win and after three wins in Connacht, we are on a high. It’s going to be tough going to Newry but if we can continue the form we showed in Connacht and if we can keep every one fit we will be there or thereabouts”.
The talented footballer went on to say that “Ulster football is on a high at the moment, the Armagh v Donegal game showed that. Armagh were division 2 league and Donegal were division 1 and Armagh won that game. They are defensive teams up there and we know we are facing a huge challenge but if we can get a win up there it will be huge. All the focus is on Down on Sunday, we are not looking at the Louth tie. The Northern teams are tough defensive teams and they are hard to break down.
“We have trained well since last October and it has been a really long season. I think we are hitting form at the right time. Our strength and conditioning coach Mike Frawley has put us through our paces. The work has been put in and hopefully we can transfer that onto the pitch now. Everybody has put in the work. There is huge competition for places and you need that in training. We are focussed on Newry on Sunday”, she concluded.
