*Liscannor captain Roisin Considine. Photograph: Burren Eye Photography
Sunday’s ladies intermediate championship win by Liscannor was made all the more sweet for the team captain Roisin Considine as it marked her first championship title win with the club.
She was hopeful their success would provide a timely lift for North Clare. “For most of the panel, this is our first county title and it is huge. On our return home on Sunday evening it was great to see all the kids turnout. Look this is huge for the community which covers Liscannor, Ennistymon and Lahinch. It’s been a very difficult year for the community which lost a number of young people and hopefully this will give a little lift to the area”.
Speaking to The Clare Echo, she said the pain of their final defeat to Éire Óg last season was a motivation for this season. “The hurt from last year helped drive us on this year. We have a strong character in the group. We had played some really good challenges against senior teams which also helped. We knew we were good enough and we didn’t want to let those early West Clare goals deny us. We missed a lot of chances but we always had the belief”.
Trailing by five points at half time, Roisin said there was strong belief within the Liscannor dressing room that they would turn the tide. “We knew we didn’t perform in the first half and we knew we had a lot more in us. We had that belief. Looking back on it now Katie’s (Considine) sin binning made us more determined. She was excellent and continued to be when she returned after the sin binning”.
Centre forward Roisin had extra reason to celebrate as her sister, Orlaith who played at centre back was named as the player of the match.
The captain was full of praise for the younger players in the side, “Ella Healy has been unreal for the team all year. She is only 16 years and she has brought so much to the team. Aoife Considine, another teenager and midfielder Shannon Cagney made major contributions”.
Roisin didn’t let the opportunity go without praising their supporters
“Our support was outstanding, any time we turned them over or got a score they were a big part of it. We wanted to give back to them”
On the team’s return home to Liscannor on Sunday evening there were bonfires and the players were paraded through the village. Celebrations continued in Joe McHugh’s bar, the premises operated by Roisin’s parents, Tony and Deirdre.
Roisin expects that the players will be back in training later this week in preparation for their Munster club game which will be away to the Kerry
champions.
