By John Harrington

Since making her championship debut for Dublin in 2014, last year was the first one in which Carla Rowe didn’t play in an All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football Final.

And at the outset of the 2023 season, she doesn’t mind admitting she thought that sequence would be extended.

Last year’s All-Ireland Quarter-Final defeat to Donegal felt like the end of an era, because it ushered into retirement long-serving players like Lyndsey Davey, Sinead Goldrick and Ciara Trant.

So, when Rowe gauged what might unfold in 2023, the prospect of playing Kerry in Sunday’s All-Ireland Final seemed like a distant one.

“I think any team that has had success and then all of a sudden loses in an All-Ireland quarter-final, you couldn't but think of the worst of the worst,” says the Dublin team captain.

“And what could come if there's a mass exodus of players or management. What does that mean? Would it be rebuilding for a couple of years?

“There's only so much time you can waste thinking of that before you have to become proactive in chatting to the girls and getting the group back together. And start to do a reflection on the year previous and then start looking forward to the year coming.

“At the start of the year, it was probably the first year where you might have questioned that with this Dublin team. Look, we rallied together. It's been really positive year even though it was challenging at the beginning. But here we are and we're just really excited.

“I suppose when you were writing down the list of players who were leaving the panel, there were some names that you'd have said you'd never replace. But the girls have stepped us hugely. That was given us pride for the girls. And real drive going forward.”

The rebuilding process was obviously helped by Mick Bohan’s decision to stay on for a seventh season as Dublin team manager when many thought he might walk away.

“Definitely,” says Rowe. “Look, everyone knows and we would say all that Mick is an amazing manager. Unless you're lucky enough to have experienced that, you'll only really know what that means.

“Between Mick himself and the coaching and experience he brings, but also the management team this year, I've said in a number of interviews, they could have taken a step back after 2021 and 2022.

“But, this year, they have just taken leaps forward in pushing this thing on. I'd say every minute of the day they're putting time into this Dublin team and we're really appreciative of that. And I think you can see the results of that on the pitch.”

New players like Niamh Donlon, Niamh Crowley, and Eilish O’Dowd have brought a lot to the team, but as the year progressed the project felt less like a rebuild and more like a continuation of what went before.

“At the start, we would have said it was a new group,” says Rowe. “But right now, the team is just so cohesive. Every week and every training session we get together, we're growing on the pitch and off the pitch in terms of friendship. That really comes onto the pitch then. You see that when you're backing each other up and you're there for each other. Right now, we're one group and we're really all rolling in the right direction.

Last year most of the Dublin panel descended on Rowe’s house in the Naul to watch the All-Ireland Final between Meath and Kerry, which should give you some insight into glue that bonds this group together.

And regardless of whether or not they come out on top against Kerry on Sunday, what gives Rowe most satisfaction about her time as a Dublin footballer is the friendships forged rather than the silverware won.

“We play the sport because we're all very competitive and you want to win,” she says.

“But with this Dublin team there's something a little bit more in terms of friendship. Mick always says that in years and years to come when you're not playing sport, you'll go down the street and you'll see one of the girls.

“You'll just know by the eye contact with each other what you've been through something together. That's kind of like a bond you just have forever.”