Ailbhe Davoren: 'You could call us delusional but we always believed that we could turn it around'
They Ailbhe Losses Belief: Galway Despite Always Davoren Reach Earlier That Said They Could That Believed Captain Picture: Final Ben Mcshane/sportsfile The
When Galway were beaten by Waterford in April, relegating them to Division 2 of the ladies NFL, manager Daniel Moynihan described it as their 'worst performance' of the entire league.
They stopped the rot briefly by beating Mayo in their annual provincial encounter before beginning the All-Ireland series with a loss to Cork. That was Galway's seventh loss in nine games and, frankly, few were backing them to win the TG4 All-Ireland title.
Three games, and three huge wins, later, Ailbhe Davoren finds herself just an hour from lifting the Brendan Martin Cup as Galway captain. The turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable.
"I suppose you could call us delusional but we always believed that we could turn it around," said Davoren, whose goal proved decisive in the semi-final win over Cork.
"To be honest, I'm not sure what the difference has been. We stayed training the same, we just tried to improve on a few things. There is nothing between so many teams, one point here or there, and thankfully we have been on the right side of that recently."
In defence of Galway, they lost four of their league games by two points or less. Their biggest losing margin was five points, so they were always competitive. But putting 7-22 on the board against Laois and following that up with an All-Ireland quarter-final defeat of holders Dublin still took everyone by surprise, perhaps even Galway's supporters.
"That was hugely exciting and meant so much to the girls," said Davoren of the win over Dublin. "I don't know, maybe from the outside it looks like we over celebrate our wins but we just were so happy to be, you know, kind of achieving really. Dublin are brilliant, they've driven the standard for years.
"We knew it was going to be extremely tight and it went to extra-time. We were dropping like flies, I dropped myself with cramp. It just shows the ferocious effort that people put in to win that game and we backed it up with our subs coming and doing brilliantly to get us over the line."
Cork must still have fancied their chances in the last four but Galway goals from Roisin Leonard and Davoren elevated them to a landmark win. In all, they've scored 12 goals in their last three games.
"We probably weren't able to create them in the past and it's been the difference this year in terms of getting through to this All-Ireland final," said Davoren.
The Dublin based schoolteacher plays for Kilmacud Crokes in the capital, along with Galway goalkeeper Dearbhla Gower. Another Galway icon, Shane Walsh, is a key figure for the Crokes men's team. Davoren was at Croke Park last weekend to watch Walsh and Galway come up short to Armagh in the All-Ireland final.
It wasn't her first time to feel the sting of an All-Ireland final loss there. She was part of the Galway panel in 2019 when the ladies reached their last final, and lost, to Dublin. A record crowd of over 56,000 turned up for that one but it was ruined by the weather as Dublin won it by scoring just five times; 2-3 to 0-4.
"No doubt it will be lashing again on Sunday," smiled Davoren. "Ah look, the conditions will be there for both sides, whatever it is. We can't blame the weather. It wasn't a particularly great game for that one, 2019, so we are just hoping for a good game this weekend."
Davoren is originally from the Moycullen club in Galway and is part of an elite group of athletes from the region. Galway men's captain Sean Kelly hails from the club too while Olympic rower Fiona Murtagh is another native.
"There is a big music scene as well, it's a lovely place to be from," said Davoren.