Hard work pays off for St Paul’s
Winning the county final was an 'unbelievable feeling' according to Shannon Costello Photo: Paul Dargan
SHANNON Costello, captain of St Paul's who are Junior county champions, spoke about how much it meant to her to lift the trophy in Annanough on Friday evening.
“Unbelievable, we have worked so hard this year and to come out with that win is just superb. We really, really did fight till the end. Killeshin really put it up to us as well, so it's an unbelievable feeling,” Costello said The main objective for St Paul’s this year was to get a team together after failing to field one for the 2023 championship. After tough times, they have now gone all the way and claimed the Junior title, Costello commented on how much this means to the team.
“It's unbelievable, honestly, we've had a tough year. A lot of you may know what has gone on with St. Paul's, but we won't talk about that. But yes, the main aim this year was to keep a team together. We have such young girls coming up, so it was vital to keep them with us and to keep them going with us, and to win a county title as well, I can't describe the feeling, it's unbelievable,” Costello added Costello stepped up to take a penalty going into the final quarter but was denied by Sinead Dowling in the Killeshin nets, Costello worried this could have an impact on the game.
“When they levelled the game, I was like, why didn't I score that penalty? But stepping up, I don't really know to be honest, I picked the bottom right corner straight away, but she's a good goalkeeper and she saved it. So, it was unfortunate for me,” she said.
It takes a panel to win a game, and that was evident on the night as substitute Anna Keegan came on and kicked the winning score. Costello spoke about how important each individual on the team is.
“She was one of our young players to come on and she came on and she showed what she could do, it's superb. At the end of the day, it's the 35 players that we have, it's not just the 15 on the field,” Costello said.
St. Paul's are going to be Intermediate for 2025 and Costello says they will be a team to watch out for in the future.
“I wouldn't say two in a row, but I think if we just compete and go in and win two or three games to keep us in Intermediate, I think we'd be doing well. I think to get experience in Intermediate is needed. St. Paul's will be a team to look for in the future, I can tell you that,” she ended.
