‘It’s an unbelievable club to be involved with’ – Stephen Quinn

“Every year there’s more building, and I have to say it’s an unbelievable club to be involved with this year,” Stephen Quinn, manager of Raharney’s senior camogie team, said after the club annexed a phenomenal tenth consecutive Westmeath senior ‘A’ camogie title on Saturday.

“Clonkill came at us at the start of the second half, and we knew they would,” said Quinn, reflecting on Saturday’s final. “We said that the ten or 15 minutes at the start of the second half was going to be crucial. They managed to get on top of us but it was that last ten or 15 minutes that won it for us.

“They got it back to a draw at one stage and they had the wind and the momentum, but our girls just don’t know how to give up. That is what won it in the end.”

Strength in depth is in evidence Deelside, and with the Blues taking part in the junior ‘A’ final against Castlepollard with a host of young players coming through the ranks, Quinn says the club’s repeated success is part of a bigger picture.

“All year, at senior, it hasn’t been about 15 but 17 to 20 players the whole time,” he said. “Then, last year, we didn’t even field a junior team, and the more we went on this year, the numbers just kept coming in and today, we had 28 or 29. Loads of those girls will be pushing on and will want to be out there for a senior final in the future.

“A lot of the work is done at underage. Every underage team has five or six people over them and every one of them, to a man or woman or whoever is involved, drives all of this on, including all those U16s who came on in the junior final. They are still coming through. It’s the easier job when you get them at senior but the work that’s put in at underage is unbelievable.

“Twenty years ago, the club decided to put a structure in place at underage and worked their way up, and it is bearing fruit now. We have 43 or 44 training now. We have that many it’s a job to set up training.

“The attitude the girls have is great, and every girl that comes in buys into it because the standard is set by all the girls – the senior girls especially. When a new girl comes in, they have to reach those standards not necessarily in their performance but in their attitude.”

Kilkenny opposition awaits Raharney in Leinster after their county final success, and Quinn insists that regular provincial and national success is where it’s at for his charges.

“We really have to set ourselves a target in Leinster,” he explained. “We played a lot of good challenges this year. We played Na Fianna, who were in an All-Ireland final last year, and we played Naas. We were down in Galway during the week for a challenge. It’s about getting to those standards. We have bigger goals as well.

“We’ve won today and got it out of the way. It is a huge achievement for the club to get to ten in a row, but I think this club is well capable of pushing on and representing Westmeath in Leinster and beyond.”

Player of the match Ellen Shaw, one of the new generation of Raharney camógs, really set out her stall with a battling display and she was rightly in ebullient form after the final whistle.

“Ten in a row is really special for all the girls past and present from Raharney. Some people have been part of all ten and some are only starting to get their first few senior medals, but we’re all really happy,” Shaw beamed.

“We never have it easy against Clonkill. Every single year they come at us, and we have a lot of respect for them as a team and we know it’s never going to be easy.

“We have a nice mix of young and experienced players. Our junior team was in a final today, so we have so many girls to pick from and that’s what drives everybody on. There is competition for places in Raharney on both teams, so that is what we aim for.”