Captain and selector, daughter and Dad: McCabes enjoying the road to Croker

Interview

Six days out from Croke Park and, in Canningstown, the atmosphere is relaxed. Sarah McCabe, captain of the ladies team taking to the big stage this Saturday, turns on the lights. Terry, her father and a team selector, pulls up a chair.

On a team with six sets of sisters and countless cousins, Sarah is in the unusual position of having no relations on the panel – although two of her brothers have provided the soundtrack to celebrations this season (more of which later) and, of course, there’s her Dad on the sideline.

The two have made it this far without a cross word, they say. Any arguments?

“Just don’t keep her waiting!” says Terry.

“No, we haven’t fallen out,” grins Sarah.

“You know if you’ve played badly, he doesn’t say anything at all! No, most of the time we agree. When he first said he was coming in I was like, ‘What?!’ but in fairness, we have got along fine.”

The team is managed by local man Ciaran Galligan, with Peter Reilly, one of the club’s greatest players, a key part of the backroom. Last year, Knockbride lost the county final to eventual Ulster champions Mullahoran but reaching a final was a sign they were making progress - because at one point, the team were finding it hard even to get a manager.

“Ciaran is the manager and has done a great job and Peter came on board this year, he has just been excellent, I’d say he is the reason why we are where we are. His attention to detail, his communication skills,” enthuses Terry.

“We had Yvonne Byrne for the last couple of years, she’s originally from Mayo, she has a couple of All-Irelands with Mayo and All-Stars. She decided to come back to play this year but unfortunately got injured. But she is on the panel and she has a wealth of knowledge, she was there for four years before this as part of the management.

“We lost one game last year, the county final. We went on and won the Division 2 league after that. The girls were back in the gym and running this time last year.”

Things began to change in the last four years, says Sarah.

“Yvonne really set the standard. At times, playing club football, you’re doing the bare minimum and wondering why it’s not working but she completely changed our outlook and definitely kickstarted the belief.

“Why did we not win before this year? We struggled with management for years. In Covid times we had to beg Ado (Carroll) to take us because nobody would take us. We’d be down training, I’d take the warm-up, someone else would run a few drills.

“You couldn’t keep asking the same people but then Ciaran took a notion, ‘if someone doesn’t step in now’… He knew someone needed to take the reins. Ciaran stepped in and rang Dad.”

Did Dad need much persuading?

“It took a wee bit. I don’t think I told Sarah for a week or two, I think she heard it from somebody else,” he laughs loudly.

“No, we came down here for a meeting and you were here!” Sarah interrupts, “I was thinking, ‘why is Dad here?’”

Terry laughs again, louder this time.

Things began to click from early on this season but nobody thought of Croke Park, of course – just to get back to the county final and win it was the thing.

“I think all we wanted was a county championship, especially after last year. We didn’t look any further than that but it kind of just snowballed,” says Sarah.

“Once you get the taste for it…

“Obviously Mullahoran were an excellent team but we also didn’t show up on the day at all last year. The whole event of the day got to us, I think that was a big learning curve for us this year.

“The occasion, the crowd and things like that. That experience was definitely a help this year. You look back on mistakes you made and then you don’t make them the next time.”

Things fell into place. Peter Reilly’s trainings were exceptional; the players worked harder than ever. Rebecca Davey, an experienced player from Dublin and sister of Dubs icon Lyndsey, moved to the area from Canada with her fiancée.

“She picked a good year,” laughs Sarah, who praised her for her tactical nous and ability to motivate others.

“We didn’t want to do what we did last year so we went in all guns blazing and thankfully everything just clicked on the day,” she says of the county final win over Gowna.

Then came the Ulster campaign. A win on the road against Carryduff of Down was followed by a long trek to the Donegal Gaeltacht to take on Gaeil Fhanada, with a gale howling in from the Atlantic. In ways, that match was the making of them.

“It was a tough game, the weather, travelling, completely different surroundings and preparations. Abby Reilly was just back and got injured in that game again and that definitely rattled a few of the girls,” says Sarah.

“Multiple girls had tears in their eyes, they were heartbroken for Abby. It was just one of those games where you had to get it over the line.

“It was all very out of routine, it was a good, tough game, they were an excellent team. Abby’s injury rattled a lot of people.

“We lost Katie (Rogers) as well,” points out Terry.

“Yeah, the first five minutes, the first ball she went for,” says Sarah.

“Even the shock of that, you don’t prepare for those things but then the exact same thing happened in the Ulster final when Abbi Connor went down after five minutes. But we had gained a bit of experience in Fanad, ‘this isn’t going to end the game, we’re still okay’. There are so many great girls on the bench who haven’t even got to feature yet.”

Both are hopeful that county underage star Abby (“a brilliant player and so humble”) may be fit enough to feature on Saturday.

Knockbride defeated Lisnaskea in the semi-final, at home, and then a win over Monaghan’s Brigid O’Neills in the Ulster final saw them advance to the All-Ireland semi-final, a momentous occasion in Canningstown in which they defeated a fancied Naomh Abán from Cork, 0-4 to 0-3.

“It was the second time it (hosting an All-Ireland semi-final) happened, it happened in 2002 (when Knockbride won the Ulster title previously). The crowd here, I’ve never seen the like of it. The amount of help that was here, sandwiches, tea, everything. The Cork crowd were very impressed that way,” recalls Terry.

Sarah described it immediately afterwards as the toughest match she had played in. Her sentiments haven’t changed since.

“We saw how defensive they were and we were very aware of that. Naturally, our defence is quite compact but that day was nearly a game of mirroring each other. They were an absolutely excellent team, it was a case of holding on for dear life.

“It was so tight, it was so slippy. There was one clip on the video, Katie turned it over, they got it back off her, she got it back again, all in the space of about 10 seconds. They were really excellent, it was unbelievable to get over that game.”

So, a journey which started in the back garden at home now leads to Jones’ Road. The question is asked of Sarah as to her first football memory, and father and daughter laugh uproariously again.

“He knows what it is! It’s being in the garden at home and Dad not letting me come back into the house until I’d done 100 soloes!” she says.

“I used to be mad into ballet when I was small but Dad wasn’t…”

“When you have three brothers as well…” Terry adds, not needing to finish the sentence.

In the clubhouse at St Brigid’s Park, the walls are lined with photos of successful teams. Football is big in Knockbride and the club were ahead of the curve in promoting the ladies game. It’s a different football world to the one Terry got to know as a boy.

“When I played football? Jesus! When we started playing football, it was at a field, Big Mary’s. You’d say that to the young lads now and they’d look at you like you have two heads.

“I show it to Sarah sometimes, that’s where we started. That time you hadn’t near as much underage football. It was through the National School, Phil Traynor took the team. You would have got five or six games a year, that was it.

“It was a farmer’s field, you’d get the lend of the field. It’s only over from the church.”

“And what’s in it now, cattle?” you ask.

“Cattle and rushes! When you look around at what we have here now, that time we had nothing. We went from there to east Knockbride to another farmer’s field, then we went to the church and then we eventually got this place. This building we’re sitting in, every bit of work that was done here was voluntary, there was nobody paid. You got a call on a Saturday and 20 or 30 lads showed up. Everything apart from the actual pitch was voluntary – stand, dressing-rooms, everything.”

The parish itself is quite large (“from Mountain Lodge over to Shercock, touches Bailieborough and Cootehill”) but deeply rural. What part of it produces the best footballers, you wonder.

“Oh Jesus no, don’t get into that!”

At one time, camogie was very strong in the area. When ladies football began to rise, Knockbride embraced it. Soon enough, players were gravitating from across the region, from towns where there was no ladies team. By the early noughties, they had the best team in the province, winning an Ulster senior title in 2003.

The hope is that this Saturday at HQ, they could bring an All-Ireland title home. Standing in their way is Caltra from Galway, a top side from a club who rose to national prominence when their men’s team won an All-Ireland in 2004.

“We watched their semi-final, they played very differently to Naomh Abán, much less defensive so you’d be hoping it’s more of an exciting game in terms of scores but they have a lot of experienced players from what we have gathered,” says Sarah.

“Six or seven of them played a camogie final last year in Croke Park. They won an All-Ireland junior in 2010,” Terry adds.

Incidentally, Sarah’s mother Mary is a Galway woman and with most of Terry’s siblings living away, it explains why Sarah has no close family links on the playing panel. But one of her brothers, Niall, captained Knockbride to the Junior final in 2023 and two others, musicians Liam and Kevin, have performed at the homecoming after the county and Ulster wins in the Bridge Tavern.

“Liam and Kevin played for the county final and Ulster final and they’re booked for the All-Ireland,” Terry smiles.

“In fairness to the two lads, I think it is kind of special to them, they’re into it. It’s not just another gig for them.”

Nor any of the rest of them.

“It’s such a class experience to be able to go out with your friends – friends, family, neighbours… For the whole community to be able to go up to Croke Park for the day, it’s just going to be a class memory to have,” says Sarah.

“There are loads of leaders in the team, they’re all leaders in themselves. It’s very rare you have to say anything or do anything extraordinary.”

And yet they’ve been doing just that all year. On Saturday, the final step arrives.