Susie Delaney ready for Croke Park test

By Daragh Ó Conchúir

Delaney in Laois is like McCarthy or Murphy in Cork in terms of its omnipresence as a surname and it is rare that there is a team representing the O’Moore County without at least one member involved from the clan that originated in Ossory, at the foot of Slieve Bloom.

There were three Delaneys on the Laois squad that overcame Wicklow with ease in the Glen Dimplex All-Ireland premier junior camogie semi-final two and a half weeks ago, and each hails from a different club.

But Susie Delaney’s heritage isn’t local at all. Her pedigree with the camán and sliotar is elite, however, as the niece of Jovita Delaney, who won five All-Irelands with Tipperary was named All-Star goalkeeper twice.

Further back, her family tree includes Arthur O’Donnell, a winner of two All-Ireland hurling medals with the Premier, also as a netminder.

“My mam and dad are both from Tipp,” she explains. “My dad played a lot of hurling. My auntie used to play for Tipp and she’s on the Jubilee team (that will be honoured on Sunday, as Tipperary won the middle leg of their three-in-a-row in 2000). She’s living in Kerry now.

“We were brought up with hurling and camogie all the time as a result. I played football for Portlaoise in the off-season I suppose but camogie was always the number one.”

She was never a goalie though.

“I was always a forward, moving between the wing and the corner.”

Chasing the glory.

“Someone has to!” comes the rapid-fire response, followed just as quickly by a hearty chuckle.

She may only be 20, but Susie Delaney is not prone to over-excitement. She is definitely not into hyperbolic statements. Maybe it is in the genes. She knows what’s what.

The Portlaoise attacker has been a key cog for Laois this year, player of the match when they won the Very League Division 3 title earlier this term and continuing to tot up the goals and points as the midlanders cruised to Sunday’s Glen Dimplex All-Ireland premier junior camogie final (1pm, live on RTÉ2).

Pat Collier and Rob Jones’ squad is on a redemptive mission, having lost last year’s League final to Sunday’s opponents Armagh by a point and then watched All-Ireland glory slip away by the same margin via a pointed free from Tipperary’s Jean Kelly in the fifth minute of injury time.

They had looked the epitome of a well-oiled machine in the first half when Delaney struck a brilliant goal, coming from a clearance after a penalty awarded for a foul on her was saved.

Their four-point interval advantage was scant reflection of their dominance in the first 25 minutes but they still led until the 52nd minute and wrested back the advantage just on the hour when Delaney scored a sensational point from under the Cusack Stand. It wasn’t to be, however.

Delaney was a totem of the minor team that lost the 2022 All-Ireland B final by the minimum also, despite her contribution of nine points.

So she knows the agony of the narrowest of defeats all too well. Not getting too high or too low is a vital defence mechanism in this sphere of competition and whether it is natural or learned, it is sure to serve her well.

A third year law and accounting student at University of Limerick, where she has won two Ashbourne Cups including as a goalscorer in the 2024 final, Delaney is whiling away the summer as a visual accounts person at CJ Sheeran’s in Mountrath. It has proven helpful, as she revealed when chatting towards the end of last week.

“It’s been a long gap, with three weeks from the semi-final, so I haven’t really thought about the All-Ireland much but it’s starting to come around now. And having the job is good, being busy all the time between that and training.”

Injury impacted most of her first season on the panel, so it felt like last year was a breakthrough but the what-might-have-beens are too many to think fondly of the season.

“To lose the three finals, with the Leinster as well, it was nearly a great year but we didn’t win any of them. It’s probably a balance to try to take what you can from them and not dwelling too much on it. But you have to look at the bad things and look at how you can overturn them.

“In the All-Ireland, we probably did miss a lot and it’s one of the things we’ve worked a lot on, being more clinical and converting our chances.”

Scoring an average of just in excess of 3-14 from 11 League and Championship games to date, suggests they have improved in that regard.

“Well, yeah, we hope so.”

Delaney scored five points in the League decider. It was the margin of victory over Roscommon but she makes light of it.

“To win was a good step forward. It still wasn’t a close game, compared to the games last year, where there was one or two points in it, whereas we won that comfortably. It’s if it’s a close game, it’s about can we see it out then.”

That is not the sort of question players tend to pose in a public setting. But as far as Delaney views it, it’s just a statement of fact. The same when she refuses to read much into the six-point defeat of Armagh in the final group game at the BOX-IT Athletic Grounds after a captivating encounter that finished 5-11 to 0-20.

“It doesn't really mean anything at the end of the day compared to the Sunday. They were down to 14 for a lot of the game. It’s the next day that counts.”

She says that they have learned from their outing at Croke Park last year, though is coy about revealing just what those lessons were.

“At the end of the day, it’s 15 against 15.”

Spoken like a veteran.