ALL-IRELAND FINAL COUNTDOWN: Kingdom legend with strong Meath connections

KERRY GREAT Eileen Lawlor won 10 All-Irelands with the Munster giants

There has never been a better ladies football team than the Kerry nine-in-a-row team of 1982 to 1990. The magnitude of what that team achieved has been underestimated for years, one of the reasons being that their triumphs were before the advent of digital media and the broad coverage that the sport gets both in the print media and on TG4 these days, writes Dan Kearney.

There was no glory to be gained from winning an All-Ireland ladies title back then. Maybe a few handy paragraphs in a national newspaper and a mention on the Radio One sports news that evening. You were either in it for the love of the game, or you weren’t.

When 1993 came around the greatest Kerry football team of all time looked a beaten docket, a punched out heavyweight boxer, having lost the Munster finals of 1991 and 1992 to the new fresh pretenders from Waterford.

There was one last kick to be had though and the forces came together in 1993 again. Hunger is a powerful emotion, and with a heady mix of young raw talent and the medal laden older stars, Kerry scorched to a 4-8 to 2-6 victory over Laois in the All-Ireland final.

Eileen Lawlor (Dardis) captained Kerry that day and in the process collected her 10th Celtic Cross. To this day she is the last Kerry captain to collect the Brendan Martin Cup at the top of the steps in the Hogan Stand.

It’s a fair distinction to have, but one that the genial Loreto Navan Biology teacher would trade.

“I’m hoping to give that title up pretty soon. It would be great for Kerry; it’s gone on too long”, she said.

Eileen has been residing in Summerhill for the past 32 years, but the Ardfert woman has the green and gold blood of Kerry coursing through her veins. She loves her life in Summerhill, but nevertheless the pull towards home will always be there.

“I got married in 1990 so I was commuting to when I finished up in 1993. I’m a teacher so I’m off for the summer and it was handy. We’d no kids at the time so Brendan (her husband Brendan Dardis) and myself would travel down for most weekends. My parents were still alive, so I’d be going down anyway. It was hard alright during the winter, but it wasn’t a chore for the summer”, she recalled.

“I played with Summerhill club for my last year or two. Before that I had been playing with Abbeydorney. We started a club up in Meath and I transferred up in 1993, the year that I was captain. Abbeydorney won the Championship in 1992 and then I transferred up after that.

“1993 was the last hurrah for a lot of the old team. I started a family, and I was away and a lot of the team, you know when you are getting that little bit older and slower and everything else even though you won’t admit it! A good lot of us retired after that.”

Eileen had family company on her sporting journey in the guise of her older sister Margaret, who she insists was a much better footballer than she was.

Eileen didn’t waste any time when she settled in Summerhill and herself and her husband Brendan, who managed Meath to win the Ladies All-Ireland JFC in 1994, soon had a ladies football team up and running in the local club.

She is well familiar with plenty of the Meath players that will be lining out against Kerry on Sunday because of her involvement in the club, and also her work in Loreto Navan,

“There was no club when we went up to Meath. And even in the school there was none. Camogie was a little bit stronger at that time. We started up and Brendan trained Meath for their Junior All-Ireland win in 1994.

“Mary Kate Lynch is the full back for Meath and she’s from our club, and Aisling McCabe who’s on the panel, she’s also from our club. I teach in Loreto in Navan and I started the football there as well; you know when Kerry people go away and I think that all we know is football so we spread the Gospel a little bit like!

“Stacey Grimes the full forward and free taker, she went through the school. Kelsey Nesbitt as well, they’re all about twenty four or twenty five. There’s a few more on the panel; Amy O’Dowd, her father was Mick O’Dowd who trained Meath for a spell, Ciara Smyth is another one on the panel, Orlaith Mallon. It’s great, and they’re at a great standard.

“I gave up the school team coaching reins a few years ago and I’ve left it to the younger staff to look after it. You couldn’t get people to train them before, but now teachers are coming in and they might be county players or they play club or something so it’s totally different. I’m sure it’s the same down in Kerry.

“I threw the reins away from club coaching as well last year. I’ve a daughter Meadbh who plays with Summerhill, she’s 25, and then I went down to be the Junior B trainer, we started a second team and I said I’d take over that. And then last year I said, ‘Listen, I’ve done my bit’ and left it all off. We’re a small club really, we wouldn’t be like the Ratoath’s or Dunboyne’s of this world. It’s a lovely tight knit community where everybody plays for the team”.

It's clear that Eileen still has a massive passion for Gaelic football and it’s still a huge part of her family life. Her son Barry played with the Meath senior team and was highly rated, until a knee injury put him on the sidelines for a year.

Eileen has been keeping a close eye on Kerry this year, although not religiously, as she says herself. She is honest enough to admit that she didn’t expect Kerry to beat Armagh in the quarter final of the All Ireland, but she was delighted that they did so.

“I genuinely thought that Armagh would beat Kerry because I saw them play Meath in one of the rounds of the Championship, it was a draw, and I definitely fancied Armagh”, she admits.

“Thankfully I was wrong, and Kerry are still in with a huge chance. It would be great for football if they can go all the way. When Meath won last year it was the best thing that happened ladies football. The euphoria was something else like. It was crazy.

“Then for them to sustain it and get to an All-Ireland final this year; I’m delighted for them because it means that they were no flash in the pan. It’s great; I mean we won for years as well and people get sick of it, like everyone was sick of Dublin and Cork and you feel like you couldn’t compete with them. It was the same with the mens when Dublin were winning.

“Meath beat Kerry in the Div 2 final but at the same time it felt like Kerry weren’t that far off. There’s nothing really between the top six teams. It’s just given everybody confidence that you can actually win."

So, who will Eileen be shouting for on Sunday?

“I can’t say who I want to win. I’m a Kerry woman through and through and I’ll always be a Kerry woman, but I can’t forget where I earn my bread and butter either at the same time. I’ve to live with these people. I think everyone is fairly understanding”, she laughed.