In attendance at the In the Zone – The Official Protein Cookies & Biscuits of the GAA & GPA Launch event at Croke Park in Dublin is Sarah Dervan of Galway.
By John Harrington
With calls for the GAA, the Ladies Football Association, and the Camogie Association to come together as one organisation growing louder all the time, Galway camogie star, Sarah Dervan, has joined the chorus.
The Mullagh club-woman believes that’s the only way to ensure girls and women playing Gaelic games are treated as equally as boys and men.
"It'll be massive for the Ladies Football and Camogie Association to be interlinked with the GAA, it'll be a huge positive,” said Dervan yesterday at the launch of a new Irish Protein brand called In the Zone, created in partnership with the GAA and GPA as The Official Players Choice.
“Especially for the kids coming up in today's world, that it shouldn't matter whether you play hurling or camogie or Ladies Football. At the end of the day it should all be one GAA and they have equal opportunities that their male counterparts have.
"There's four codes here today at the launch of In The Zone, we're all seen as equals and that's thanks to the GPA and WGPA merging and becoming the one brand."
“Everything needs to be equal. The senior teams for the Galway hurlers, camogie, men's footballers and women's would be all equal and we'd all get a fair share of facilities, funding, everything.
"It's the only way forward and all it can do is bring positives, especially for young girls starting out playing camogie, that they don't have this divide. That we're all one umbrella, one family and it shouldn't matter, you have the same opportunities as everyone else.”
Galway players Niamh Kilkenny, left, and Sarah Dervan celebrate with the O'Duffy Cup after their side's victory in the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship Final match between Cork and Galway at Croke Park in Dublin.
Dervan hopes that some day Camogie will have the exact same rules as hurling, particularly as the new rule change last year that allowed more physicality in the game had such a positive impact on the sport as a spectacle.
"Yeah, 100%,” she said. “The All-Ireland was a fantastic game, we are the same as the men. We do our gym sessions, we're building muscle, we're lean and we're fit. Free flowing games are what you want, it brings the crowd and I would definitely be hoping that that wasn't just at the All-Ireland, that it will factor into games in the league and the championship this year, that they are more open and free flowing.
"That's what girls want, they want to express what they can do and show their ability. The All-Ireland was a huge showcase for what camogie can bring.
"I'm all about physicality myself and the more physical it is, the better for me. Girls are strong now and it needs to continue that way. Camogie is hopefully on an upward curve and that it continues in that way, and hopefully it will be as equal as the hurling one day."
All-Ireland Camogie champions in 2021, Dervan makes no bones about the fact that her mission is to win back to back All-Irelands for the first time in her career in 2022.
“When we look back at 2019, and we won the All-Ireland, we couldn't replicate that in 2020,” she says. “That was a blow to us, that game took us a long time to get over.
“We dusted ourselves off, took 2021 by the two horns, and threw everything that we had at it. It's a new year, it's a new hunt. We have to improve.
“We know were we were last year isn't going to be enough for this year. We're now the hunted. Please God, come August, we'll be back trying to defend it.”
