'Future is bright for Cavan ladies' - Maguire

Ladies football news

Recently-retired Cavan ladies star Aisling Maguire believes the future is bright for the Breffni women.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Anglo-Celt this week, Maguire discussed her career and Cavan’s journey from junior to senior football.

“I definitely think, with the right direction, there is huge potential there. I have seen that it has been tough for girls to break into the panel. Some have been underage stars and great all the way up but it’s a big step up from minors to seniors,” she said.

“I’d really like to see more girls to come in and keep at it. It’s about having that mental strength as well to say ‘I’m in here and I really need to adapt and get up to the level these girls are at having been at the top of my own level for so long’.

“I definitely think there is a great bunch of girls there and they’re really committed to pushing on. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Gerry [Moane, manager] can get on with them. I don’t know much about Gerry but I know he did great work in Tyrone.

“There’s no doubt that we have the players in Cavan, it’s just getting a structure and a system that works for Cavan ladies as opposed to a structure that doesn’t suit the players. I’d love to see a style of play for Cavan ladies from underage up, that we train girls from 15 or 16 years of age to look to play a particular style, basically a player pathway so you’re not just thrown in at the deep end.

“This year is going to be tough because they haven’t got to meet up yet and it will be hard for the backroom team to get to know the girls properly because there are a lot of new young girls who have come in which is great to see but I’d say it will take maybe a year or two.

“They have the structure in place, there is a great backroom team. Michael Lee and Martin McKiernan are there and I really have to take my hat off to them. I got a bad injury last year and only for them getting me back… They have really helped the lads over the last two, three years they have been involved.”

For now, she is at peace with her innings with Cavan and her decision to step away. She will still line out with Templeport (“I wouldn’t get out of it that easy!”) but the change in lifestyle may take some adjusting.

“I was in such a routine since I was 14, 15 years of age that sometimes I’d think, ‘God, what do I do outside this or who am I outside this other than Aisling Doonan the footballer?’. I think Covid was good in a way, the break came and I was able to step back and assess. It probably made the decision a little bit easier that all the girls I grew up with were gone a few years now.

“I was probably happy with where I was at, I had achieved a lot with Cavan and I thought ‘there are younger girls than me that are well able to lead them and bring them on and instil what Cavan ladies football is about’.

“It was actually quite an easy decision in the end, I thought it would be harder. I left it for a while in case I changed my mind but I was very content in the end, I have to say.”

For the full interview with Aisling Maguire, see this Wednesday’s print issue.