'It'll take a good team to beat us'- St Brigid's goalkeeper Laura Dunne looking forward to All-Ireland semi-final

With an All-Ireland semi-final on the horizon for St Brigid’s, their goalkeeper Laura Dunne is excited at the prospect of what’s ahead of them on Sunday against Kerry’s Clanmaurice.

St Brigid’s are representing Laois and Leinster having defeated Naas in the provincial decider in Tullamore two weeks ago. The feeling that Dunne felt at full-time was something she could only dream of.

“It was unreal, it's something you always dream of once you get out of Laois. ‘Will you ever get to the Leinster final?’ In 2022, we got knocked out by the Kilkenny champions and we lost that by a point so to get over the line against Naas after such a tough match, it was just unbelievable. The crowd was unreal and they came onto the field and I didn't realise how many there were until they were all out in the field,” she said.

The support that the club has gotten in their journey to date has been nothing short of extraordinary. St Brigid’s quarter-final and semi-final fixtures were played in Carlow and Meath but their supporters still outnumbered the home sides which is something that Dunne is very thankful for.

“There are a good few villages and towns involved in St Brigid’s so everyone is emptying their houses every weekend. Down in Myshall, it was awful weather and they still travelled then it was up to Meath,that was a tough place to go, I think we still outnumbered them that day. I don't know whether it's just that every other team in Laois is knocked out and has nowhere else to go on a Sunday. I don’t think there's not many Christmas presents being bought but they seem to be following us anyway,” Dunne said.

The goal that Naas scored in the Leinster final came from nothing with Ciara Ryan flicking the ball off Dunne’s hurl and into the net. The St Brigid’s net minder says it’s important to get those mistakes out of your system as if you dwell on them too much, you’re more likely to make more mistakes.

“That was a bit of a mishap by myself. I've not been threatened very much with the goals, the backs are doing an unreal job in front of me and when it does happen it takes a bit of trickery or a bit of luck for one to go in. We were caught on the hop there for that one. Experience comes into it like it's gone, it's a mistake, it's gone, you can't take it back. It's the same as a player out the field and they miss a score, you can't take it back, so you just have to get the ball out of the net and not make another mistake by making one mistake.

“It’s just about regrouping again and looking for a player for a puck-out and thankfully the girls were showing well and we got back on top then. You can't look back, you have to keep looking forward. It's just a mistake, you have to just make up for it and do the next thing right,” she said.

Dunne was full of praise for her manager Brian Bowe for finding out information on the teams that they’ve faced outside of Laois as well as praising the St Brigid’s panel for their fitness.

“Getting out of Laois was always a major step. You get out of Laois and you see what unfolds in Leinster, you're going into the unknown every weekend, you have no idea what you're meeting, you don't know anything about the other team. I think BB does his investigating during the week and tries to find something. We know a couple of players on Sunday to look out for and unfortunately they are two forwards for me in the backs, but I'm sure we’ll deal with it. 

“A few days out from an All-Ireland Semi-Final, I would have never thought that at the start of the year. I was just thinking the majority of that team are in their prime and they want it so bad. They've got the travelling out of their system and they're all hands on deck since January or February this year.

“There were girls gone in with the county and they came back so fit. There's probably not a lot of them getting game time in there week in, week out, and some of them girls aren’t used to sitting on benches. It made them hungrier, if you ask me, coming back into the club, they just want to train so hard. When the matches are on, they're switched on from minute one until it's over and they’d go another 20 minutes, their fitness is just unbelievable. We're all really looking forward to Sunday, it's going to be such a test. I'm sure you're not going to meet a bad team at this stage and it'll take a good team to beat us, that's the way we feel about it anyway,” Dunne said.

Her performances in goals haven’t gone unnoticed either as Dunne was named the Laois Camogie Intermediate Player of the Year, an award which she says came as a surprise.

“I wasn’t expecting that. There are girls on our team that have been putting their hand up week in, week out. When you're in goal, you can go from hero to zero  in a second. The girls in front of me, I say it to them before every game, go for every ball and I'll be waiting behind you. 

“I’m so happy for my family and for them to see that everyone paid off. All the training, the days out, the days I've ruined because I had to be back early or they can't go ahead because I've a match. It just makes it worthwhile for them as well. I have five sisters, so it's such a bonus to have them on nights out when we do get our presentation and on match days when you see them coming across the field, it just makes everything worthwhile. The nights, the hours training and travelling the length and breadth of the country following me, it's for them more so than anything, she said.

The homecoming that St Brigid’s was superb and even Dunne herself was surprised at the crowd that greeted them as they walked behind a piper through the streets of Rathdowney.

“You see these sorts of things on social media of other teams up the country and you think that'll never happen to us. Pat Delaney behind the scenes, he does unreal work, he decorates the dressing rooms with Isabel before matches. He obviously had it planned because he said he'd be back around six o'clock in Rathdowney and we were wondering what had he planned. It was just unbelievable, walking down the street and the streets were lined with people. 

“It's very surreal, coming in on the bus after all the years and seeing how much support we've racked up and how much people believe in us, it's unbelievable. We'll never be able to thank them enough for everything because when the games are in the melting pot and you can hear the roar if we get a score or a block, it's to them too. It’s absolutely phenomenal what they give back to us and they probably don't realise it but we're so thankful for them for travelling week in, week out with us as well,” Dunne ended.

St Brigid's v Clanmaurice will throw-in at 2pm in Galtee Rovers GAA, Bansha on Sunday, December 1. The Leinster Express/ Laois Live will be providing a live blog from the game.