Camogie Club Championship coverage proudly sponsored by Clare Credit Unions
*Claire McMahon with her daughter Laoise. Photograph: Ruthie Griffin.
PART of the four championship winning Kilmaley sides that lifted the McMahon Cup between 2008 and 2014, Claire McMahon is on the cusp of winning a fifth senior medal.
From the well-famed sporting family in Connolly reared by Ann and the late Eugene, Claire and her siblings Helen, Brian, Conor and Diarmuid have all represented club and county with distinction.
A two-time All Star nominee, Claire was part of the county sides that won the Munster senior camogie championship in 2012 and the All-Ireland junior title in 2008.
Saturday will represent her eleventh senior final when Kilmaley take on Truagh/Clonlara. “We were there with a super crop of players when we won our first in 2008, it took us a while to get there, we had been in ten finals and only won four but we’re back facing into number eleven and if we could get the fifth county medal I’d be thrilled”.
Captain of the side that last won the senior championship twelve years ago, that win over Clooney/Quin still feels like yesterday for Claire. “You say twelve years but it flies by, we had a brilliant crop of players and you go through a little bit of a lull, family and life gets in the way for a lot of players, then you come back. There is definitely a huge amount of underage talent coming through, you hang on, hang on and keep hanging on hoping that you will get back up there, it would be lovely to get one more”.
Alongside her sister, Helen, Shonagh Enright, Sinead O’Keeffe, Eimear Considine and Lisa Kennedy they are some of the surviving members of that 2014 side which overcame Clooney/Quin by nineteen points. Now that they are back in the decider, Claire is glad to have stayed loyal to the Kilmaley cause. “It is lovely to be involved, it is such a lovely group of players, it is brilliant to be involved. Every year you think ‘what am I doing I’ll wrap it up here’, the injuries, the physical demands are huge and obviously I’ve loads of time commitments outside of camogie, every year you think about yet you’re still drawn back and you keep coming back, you love the game and being part of it, I’m very glad I stayed on for this one anyway”.
Within the intervening twelve years, there have been big changes in life off the field for Claire including the births of her four children. “Life has changed a lot, I lifted the McMahon Cup in 2014, I didn’t think it would be twelve years until we got back here but I’ve had four children in that time, I’m doing a little bit of a side-job which takes up a bit of time too, I have plenty of commitments but camogie has always been there and it is a big part of my life at the same time”.
Pre-match preparation has undoubtedly changed but her children share her passion for the GAA. “They love it, my eldest is ten, she is right in the middle of it and comes to every training, she looks for the jellies at half time, I’ve two other girls and one boy, they love being part of it, they love the enjoyment of being part of the group, it is nice to show them what you can do in camogie and the friends you can make and the group you can be involved with”.
A general practitioner, Claire joined Saffron and Blue Medical Clinic in 2015, becoming principle and partner in the practice shortly afterwards. She was on the sideline as team doctor for the Kilmaley hurlers on Saturday when they ended a twenty two year wait to qualify for the Clare SHC final. “What a time to be in Kilmaley, we had the lads winning the semi-final at the weekend and there’s plenty of them that have been involved with us, Conor Neylon has managed us, Kieran Dillon has been the coach, lots of the hurlers, there’s plenty of brothers on that too, it is a great buzz in Kilmaley, the pop-up shops are sold out of bunting and flags, it is good, we get great support from the lads and the GAA club has been brilliant with camogie and hurling, we’re in a good space and hopefully have a couple of good weeks in Kilmaley”.
So on top of her demanding role as a GP, a wife and mother of four children, it’s an achievement in itself that Claire is playing senior camogie never mind serving as joint captain and chief scorer. The schedule leaves little time to work on freetaking,, she admitted, “There isn’t much time, I’m relying on that imprinted memory at this stage, there isn’t a whole lot of time if you can get to training at all you’re doing well, it is lovely to be able to play with a bit of freedom, it is something completely different to my work and home, to go out and play with sixteen year olds is brilliant and a lovely stress release, it is something completely different to what I deal with during the day”.
Rising underage talent has led to the creation of a youthful Kilmaley dressing room, mixing among sixteen year olds multiple times a week is “a huge change,” she told The Clare Echo. “Your head is melted when you come to training, you’ve had a long day, you maybe haven’t eaten a whole lot and then you arrive and the girls are talking about Love Island or something, that is all that is in their mind so it is completely different but they are a lovely bunch, they enjoy having the older crew with them too, in general it is a nice mix between the older ones and the younger ones”.
Eimear Considine’s return has been hailed by McMahon plus Caoimhe Cahill’s recovery from injury to help Kilmaley make it back to the county final. “We certainly wouldn’t have been too many people’s picks at the start of the year, we have struggled in the last couple of years to get the results that we were hoping to get. The draw was pretty favourable to us this year, it gave us time to get into a flow, we won three on the bounce and then you’re going into a semi-final with nothing to lose, we had a go at it. We have some big players back, having Eimear Considine back is huge after ten years gone to rugby, it is massive to her back, in the semi-final getting Caoimhe Cahill back from injury is huge. That with a mixture of some serious underage coming through, we’ve a nice blend and we could be the surprise package to win the county final this year”.
