ROISIN BEGLEY of Clonlara has been named the the PwC GPA Women’s Player of the Month for May.
Clare have recorded three successive wins in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland senior camogie championship but they’ve also secured back to back player of the month accolades with Roisin following in the footsteps of April winner, Lorna McNamara.
Corner forward Roisin has had a lively start to the All-Ireland campaign for Clare, scoring four points from play in the opening round win over Dublin and backing this up with a tally of 2-2 against Wexford. In the absence of the injured Lorna, she has assumed the freetaking duties and scored 1-5, four of which were from placed balls in the most recent outing against Limerick.
Kerry goalkeeper Mary Ellen Bolger won the ladies football award for May with Roscommon’s Darragh Heneghan taking the gaelic football gong and Dublin midfielder Brian Hayes awarded the hurling accolade.
Division 1B success in the National League saw Roisin win her first medal at senior inter-county level with Clare and she is determined to push on and see the county qualify for the All-Ireland quarter-finals for the second year running.
To do that, they need to defeat Kilkenny on Saturday to be assured of a place in the knockout stages. “I suppose it is a cut-throat but if you look at the men’s, their championship is very cut-throat and we want to be in the same playing field as them. Winning, it’s great but I suppose if we had lost our first few matches it would have been a long slog to get over the line. We will have lots of matches under our belts and we’ll take great confidence in that going into the quarter-final hopefully, if we can manage to get one more win”.
Eugene Foudy has put a big focus on fitness during his first year in charge of the senior side, the Truagh/Clonlara attacker outlined. “I think this year we’ve had a huge emphasis on fitness and it’s something Eugene was definitely going hell for leather for when he took us over. We were running in muck and dirt, you definitely need to get your fitness up because once matches start it’s full on and you need to have all the work done in advance”.
