‘No more one-point losses’- Aimee Collier’s rallying cry ahead of All-Ireland Camogie final

Aimee Collier has seen it all with Laois Camogie. Now, as the county prepares for another All-Ireland final, she’s ready to channel those highs and lows into one last push for glory.

One year on from that heart-wrenching defeat to Tipperary, Collier and her Laois teammates are back in familiar territory with a renewed determination not to let the chance slip away again. It’s been a journey shaped by setbacks, and Collier says those tough moments have fuelled Laois throughout their 2025 campaign.

“That's sport, like everyone has to lose at the end of the day and we were just unfortunate to lose out by that narrow margin. I’d nearly rather lose by a few points than just one point because you were nearly there and what could you have done to fix that? That's definitely a huge driving force behind us this year. I think that's driven us on the most, especially even losing in the other two finals by a point. We knew coming into this year that was our main focus, there's no more one point losses anymore like we have to drive on this year and we have to put things right and it's definitely showing on the field this year. We’re focusing on the third and fourth quarter to really drive on because we did go in up at half-time last year and in that third quarter, we took our foot off the gas. That's one thing we’ve tried to focus on this year, not to slip off,” she said.

While the hurt of 2024 has provided the emotional fuel, a more physical transformation has also taken place. Collier explained that Laois prioritised gym work early in the year and it’s a shift she believes has already paid off, particularly for the younger players.

“The lads came in and we were just gyming at the start of the year, that's all we did at the start of the year, even for most of the league we just gymed. I think it's made a huge difference, especially for the younger girls coming into our panel. Whatever about us, we probably lost out on a bit of strength and conditioning over the years, but for the younger girls to start with that, it's great. It's definitely made a huge difference on the field. I do feel that bit stronger and better on the field anyway, so hopefully that'll be an extra percentage that'll drive us over the line,” she added.

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Now just days out from another Croke Park final, Collier says the squad are doing their best to stay grounded. With the hard work done, the priority is to stay injury-free and composed amid the growing excitement.

“You just keep it as plain as you can. All the hard stuff is over now, so you're just trying to keep everyone injury-free. An injury could happen in training, so you're just trying to go hard, but go easy in training. Get the intensity up, but take it easy on ourselves as well. We don't want any injuries, but yeah just normal training session for the next two weeks and take it easy and take the stuff like this in our stride as well because obviously for the younger girls, they've never experienced that either, so just try and keep everyone in the game at the same time with all the background noise,” she ended.

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