‘When that whistle blew, it was like the whole world stopped for a minute’ - Lawlor

EMMA Lawlor has been hugely influential for St Conleth’s not only on the day but all year. She has racked up a significant number of scores and spoke about how much it meant for her and St Conleth’s to get over the line.

“It's unbelievable. I'm kind of speechless, I still can't believe it. When that final whistle blew, it was just like the whole world stopped for a minute and you were just like a relief. It was such a tough match. It was literally a battle to the very, very end. And we only went ahead for the first time in the last five minutes, and we just kept going, we dug deep, we knew that we could dig deep, and we did, and we got over the line at the end. I'm just so happy to get over the line,” she said.

Lawlor is only home from her travels, and it was her first year playing with St Conleth’s having played with them through underage. She spoke to the girls prior to the match about the hurt they have felt losing out to Portlaoise the last two years in a row.

“I said that to the girls before the match when we got into the huddle. This was obviously my first year with them and I said, this is your third time, you have to get in bet twice. I said, you don't deserve to get bet a third time. And I said it twice to them and they knew they didn’t deserve it, and they really didn't. They're a savage group of girls on and off the field. Their commitment and their work rate, as shown tonight as we dug deep, they're an incredible group of girls and they really deserve it. We all do,” Lawlor ended.

Manager Chris Lynch also spoke after the match which saw his side crowned Senior County champions for only the second time in the club’s history.

“It's absolutely unbelievable. There's a great buzz around the camp. We knew this was building, and finally the girls went and played football today and played to their potential. It's absolutely unbelievable. There's a great buzz there now, it's unreal,” he said.

St Conleth’s only led twice in the game after the first point of the contest and then again in the 57th minute, the girls showed true character to come back into it and lift the trophy.

“This bunch of girls has great character. There's a lot of work done over the past couple of years. Noel and the lads did a lot of work, we just came in this year and kind of put the jigsaw together and we’re absolutely delighted,” Lynch said.

Lynch and the whole St Conleth’s setup knew it was going to be a close contest and he admired how the girls stepped up at the crucial stages and battled hard. The impact of his subs was vital with Aoibhe Byron scoring three frees that proved to be the winning of the game.

“We knew it was going to be a battle. We knew we had our match-ups right and we knew Portlaoise were a good team. But we just wanted a bit more near the end and the girls showed that. Coming to the last 15 minutes there, they pushed and pressed the kick-outs, got a few crucial scores. Our panel made the difference, we made four subs and at the end of the day I think that was winning the game. Aoibhe especially is a very experienced player, and I had a chat with her before. It was a tough call I made during the week. I had to give her a ring and I said to her, look, Ava, you could be winning the game, and she came on and she proved the whole county right,” Lynch ended.