Aisling Maher remains optimistic

By Cian O’Connell

“It isn't the way you wanted it to go when you're setting out at the start of it,” Aisling Maher reflects about Dublin’s Glen Dimplex All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship campaign.

A last group match against Derry beckons for Dublin, who reached last year’s semi-final. “Obviously, it was a particularly competitive group that we were in,” she adds.

“I guess, it also a reflection that camogie is in a pretty healthy state, you've a lot of teams fancying their chances, backing themselves, having a decent chance of making top six, top four or top two in any given year.

"While it is disappointing not to come out on the right side of that, I still think Dublin are a very competitive team. We saw that reaching the semi-finals last year, that is the nature of sport. Things don't run smoothly.

“You don't necessarily get the improvement you want, year on year without setbacks along the way. We're hoping that this is just one of those hiccups along the road, and that we can come back stronger next year. That is the plan.”

Maher acknowledges that it is important to retain that perspective, to realise it is an exciting time for the sport because several counties believe they can compete for honours. “That is the beauty of sport,” Maher replies.

“You've to be able to be resilient. You can't expect everything to go perfectly. The Camogie Championship is so competitive at the minute. Just because you've got to a semi-final one year, definitely it doesn't guarantee the same the following year.

“If anything, us doing as well as we did last year probably sent a message out to other teams, that is how possible or achievable it is. I know we'd have seen in previous years before that, the likes of Waterford reaching an All-Ireland final, that would've inspired us, giving that bit of belief and competitiveness to the team.

“That is the knock-on impact of seeing a team come from the middle of the table to making a top four. It encourages everyone else to do the same. It's great for the sport, it is great for the growth of the sport. What is important for us is that we reset, we set our standards high, and find places to go after improvements.”

The latter stages of the Camogie and Ladies Football Championships have been attracting healthy crowds in recent years, but increasing the audience for league and early summer fixtures is vital too. “Yeah, obviously I'm biased, but I think we've a great game, a great product,” Maher says.

“You've a number of unbelievably competitive games that have been played and will continue to be played for the rest of the summer. So, it is really important that we get that product out in front of people, that they get to appreciate the standard it is played at.

“It is a challenge to get people out at games. There is an element of it that it will take time to build up a support and build up a following and attendances.”

Maher is optimistic. “There is stuff we can do in the meantime that is helping,” Maher remarks. “You can see the likes of the quarter-final we played in being doubled up with the mens semi-final at Croke Park, it is the same set-up again this year.

“Things like that are brilliant because you naturally get a big crowd coming in that mightn't have been at the game otherwise, particularly in the second half of the camogie. They see the product, see the games, appreciate the competitiveness of it, appreciate the excitement.

“You'd like to think that encourages people to come back to watch more camogie games in the future. The more games we play in big stadiums, the likes of Croke Park, Parnell Park when we're in Dublin, the more of an occasion you can make out of games, you can make it attractive for kids teams and families to come to watch and support, the bigger the attendances will be.

“I'd like to think that has improved in the last number of years, but it is definitely something we need to keep pushing on because it can be better.”