THE higher you climb, the harder it gets – and O’Donovan Rossa’s all-conquering ladies’ football team will discover this in 2025.
Off the back of five championship trophies between 2023 and ’24, the Skibbereen team rose from the junior ranks to hit the big time, snaffling up county and Munster titles at junior and intermediate levels, as well as the 2023 All-Ireland junior crown.
In the season ahead, Rossas will line out in the county senior championship for the first-time ever and now they’re in with the heavy-hitters, including local neighbours Castlehaven, as well as current senior B champions Clonakilty.
Exciting times for the Skibbereen club, but manager James O’Donovan has sounded a note of caution.
‘It’s a big challenge. It’s great to get to this level but we know this won’t be easy; this is going to be tough,’ he told The Southern Star.
‘We haven’t played a lot of senior teams. We did play Mourneabbey last year and they beat us comfortably enough both times, and we lost to Kinsale as well so we don’t have much experience of playing senior teams.
‘Playing in Division 2 of the league isn’t giving us exposure to the senior teams so a big aim this year is to get promoted from Division 2 and get to Division 1 and be exposed to those top senior teams.’
Ellen Healy, Michelle Donellan and Jennifer Keating enjoying O'Donovan Rossa Ladies Club's celebration night.
It’s no surprise that O’Donovan Rossa will target Division 2 of the county league.
‘We want to get promoted to Division 1,’ O’Donovan stated.
‘This will be a big jump. To go from junior to intermediate is a jump, but to go from intermediate to senior is a bigger step. We would hope to go well in the league, push for promotion and then maintain our senior status in the championship. We know we will need time to find our feet.’
The Skibb team will be without some of the stalwarts for the year ahead as 2023 captain Lisa Harte and Jessica Beechinor are both heading to Australia, while Kate O’Connell, last involved in the county intermediate final win against Naomh Abán, is now working in New York. And given their exploits in the past two seasons, the squad is currently enjoying a much-needed rest.
‘They miss the football already and they can’t wait to get back at it, but we need to be careful too because we are after two really long seasons,’ O’Donovan said.
‘We don’t want to get burned out and be at a place where there’s no energy when the championship rolls around later in the summer. We are trying to manage that, and we will take our time and not be in a mad rush to get back in.’
Kate Hegarty, Eabha O'Donovan, Emily O'Donovan and Aoife O'Driscoll at the Skibbereen club's celebration night.
The O’Donovan Rossa ladies held their dinner dance at the West Cork Hotel in Skibbereen recently, and it was an opportunity to reflect on their success last season that saw them win county and Munster intermediate titles before losing the All-Ireland semi-final away to Annaghdown of Galway.
‘It was an amazing year,’ O’Donovan agreed.
‘The disappointment of losing the semi-final does linger and it took a while to move past it and realise how lucky and fortunate we have been to be involved in this group.
‘What has been achieved in the last few seasons is amazing, there have been so many great moments. Where we are right now, we can look back and appreciate what we have achieved.’
And the Skibbereen ladies aren’t finished yet.
Roll on the league and the start of the next chapter in this remarkable story.
