By Niall McCoy

EVERY September, a video does the rounds that causes Armagh camog Ciara Donnelly to smile and grimace at the same time.

It’ll reappear in a few months’ time too, especially as it is the five-year anniversary of her wonder goal in the 2016 All-Ireland Premier Junior final against Carlow at Croke Park.

Ciara Hill’s floated ball towards the Davin End was incredibly flicked over her shoulder to the net by the Eglish camog with The Sunday Games pundits that night labelling it as the “the goal of the season.”

It’s a quite extraordinary piece of skill, worthy of its viral status, but for Donnelly it’s also a reminder that their All-Ireland ambitions failed that day as Carlow ran out 4-10 to 2-7 winners.

That’s the competitive streak in her. It’s too strong, some around her would say, but how can you possibly expect to perform at the elite level without that ruthlessness?

That competitive streak has ensured that the mood hasn’t been great in recent days as Mattie Lennon’s side were beaten down the straight in their recent Division Three final against Wexford. Donnelly starred with 1-6 of the side’s 1-8 tally, but they lost so she isn’t going to find too much solace in that.

The season is still young though, and Lennon has appointed the reigning Premier Junior Player of the Year as captain as Armagh try to retain their All-Ireland crown. 2016 may have had the goal, but 2020 brought the title and that’s all that matters.

Before we get onto that wonderful, utterly bizarre season, Donnelly is asked the question she has become very familiar with – how does an Armagh star end up playing her club camogie with Tyrone club Eglish?

“I’ve probably played more in Granemore than I have in Eglish,” Donnelly said.

“I grew up in Granemore even though I didn’t go to school there. I went to Darkley because of family connections. I started camogie later than most people. I was nine or ten.

“I went over to Granemore. I lived at the crossroads there and you could walk to training every day. It was quare and handy.

“They took me under their wing and, to be honest, I wouldn’t be where I am if it hadn’t been for the Granemore club. A few women really looked after me at post-primary, u-14 or whatever and then I was actually playing with them at senior level, Mairead Doyle and Bronagh Keenan and others.

“I played there until I was 20 or 21 but my dad (Kieran) is from Eglish and we moved there in 2009. I had just finished school and we moved that summer.

“I continued to play for Granemore for a few years but when we moved Leanne (Ciara’s sister) was only P4 or p5, she was pretty young. My other sister (Aisling) is a wee bit closer in age to me and she was starting to play for the minors and coming on through to play for the Eglish seniors.

“I wanted to play alongside my sisters. I decided to make the move over. It was to get to know people as well because I didn’t know anybody from where I was living.”

It should come as no surprise to anyone that the fixture Gods soon decided to pit Eglish and Granemore together in Ulster Club competition.

The rumour mill was in full swing with Donnelly tipped to sit it out, but never underestimate that competitive spirit.

“It was awkward. I was playing against a lot of the girls I grew up playing against and would still be friendly with.

“There were rumours that I was going to play and then I wasn’t going to play and it was all up in the air, but at the end of the day sport is a competitive environment. I ended up playing.”

It’s that determined attitude that has enabled Donnelly to become one of Ulster’s top female stars over the last decade. The scoring machine had tried her hand at football and even a bit of juvenile refereeing, but it became clear early doors that she felt most comfortable with a stick in hand.

“I probably realised from a young age,” said Donnelly when asked when she knew camogie would be number one.

“I’m very competitive, most people would know that about me and I don’t like not being able to do something.

“From I got the stick in my hand it was the one thing I stuck at. I was in and out of the football, I tried a few other things for a bit of craic, but nothing beats the enjoyment I get out on the camogie pitch.”

That was manna from heaven for Armagh Camogie and her talents were very quickly utilised.

In 2009 she won an Ulster Colleges All-Star via Keady High School and was also awarded with the Armagh Sports Forum Sportswoman of the Year award. That season also saw her named Armagh Minor Player of the Year.

By that stage, it was no surprise to discover that she had already been called into the Orchard seniors despite her age, and that youthfulness would cause problems that were not something most of her team-mates had to worry about.

They were down to meet Roscommon in the Nancy Murray Junior A All-Ireland final in Cavan in ‘09.

The Rossies were favourites having beaten the Ulster side in the group stages, but a fine Collette McSorley performance forced a replay – and a change of plans for Donnelly.

“That was me coming out of school,” she said. “I was actually meant to go on a leaving school holiday with friends but I ended up having to cut that holiday in half because of the replay and then we went and lost!

“Getting out of the Nancy Murray after those three years was tough going, but it’s all built to where we now are.”

Those three years refer to five games, the draw and replay loss to Roscommon in ’09, a five-point defeat to Kildare the following season and then redemption in 2011 with a replay win over Westmeath.

Donnelly’s goal in the very first minute set them on their way as her first All-Ireland senior title with the Orchard county was finally annexed.

“Five All-Ireland finals in three years so it was just incredible to win that fifth one,” she said. “It was massive. That kick-started it all because that was a great team.”

The second All-Ireland title nearly came against Carlow in the 2016 Premier Junior, but it wasn’t to be. One thing Donnelly does remember from that day in Croke Park was the crowd. With the finals all on the same bill, over 20,000 turned up at the Dublin venue, night and day compared to that Nancy Murray success in Ashbourne five years beforehand in front of a couple of hundred diehards.

The player feels that camogie continues to gain traction within the county at an impressive rate, even if it’s still only really played in pockets.

“There is a lot more people talking about camogie and knowing what’s going on, even people who don’t know anybody that plays. There’s talk about it.

“Probably since we got to the All-Ireland Junior final in 2016, there has definitely been more focus. With social media, sport is everywhere.

“That promotion it is getting on the TV, the condition the players are in, the skill levels of some of the players – it’s unbelievable.

“Even last year, Rebecca Hennelly from Galway hitting sidelines over from 45 metres on either side. I know Joe Canning does it for fun but seeing a girl do that pushes young girls on to be able to do those things.

“Players are putting more in outside their actual training, not just in terms of their skill work but the gym side of it, the fitness.”

Hennelly’s shots drew plenty of attention but ask a camogie fan to think of a piece of skill off the top of their head and Donnelly’s 2016 effort will spring to mind. The Sunday Game Facebook clip of it is closing in on 150,000 views. Pundit Mags D’Arcy spoke of Premier League players being paid millions and trying to have the vision and awareness to do something as skilful.

But, still though, Armagh lost – and that’s the main takeaway from that day for Donnelly.

“Some would say it was a complete fluke but I’ll take it either way. I would have been happy to score nothing that day and come home with the trophy.

“The ball fell well for me. I’ve tried to recreate it a few times at the pitch with Leanne and Aishling and never came close. It was a right place, right time job and it was a great delivery from Ciara Hill.

“The way those games have got more promotion, being televised or whatever, means that I will have that memory for a lifetime, which is special too.

“It comes up on social media around that time and that is a reminder not only of the goal, but also that we did get beat.”

Rather than return to make amends the following year, Armagh’s stock fell over the next few seasons.

They started the 2017 campaign with a home loss to Kerry in torrential rain and while they recovered to get out of the group alongside the Kingdom, they went down to Westmeath by a point in the semi-final.

They would suffer another huge blow as Donnelly went to Doha for two years, and she admits that an All-Ireland title looked a fair bit away.

“Knowing the camogie that is in Armagh, and the players that there are, it’s just about getting the thing right and getting everyone out and pulling together.

“The talent was there but it was getting all shoulders behind the wheel and aiming for the same thing.

“Even before I left I remember going down to Roscommon and we struggled to get 16 players to go. After such heights in 2016, to come down to that sort of level leaves you asking what happened.

“You went from playing in front of huge crowds in Croke Park to trying to scrape players together on the morning of a match, and that was very disappointing.

“It was hard to leave but at the same time I hadn’t done much throughout my career because of camogie. It was time to put some experiences before camogie for a change.”

With Donnelly back in the country, the breakthrough finally came in 2020 in what will always be known as the Covid season.

Michael Murphy and Pauric Dowdall’s side won the title in front of no spectators at Kingspan Breffni, but with BBC NI streaming the final there were plenty of eyeballs on the encounter, and a lot of people would have been watching their first-ever game of camogie.

It would be October before the competition began due to the pandemic delay but Donnelly hadn’t lost any of her sharpness as she posted 1-4 in a comfortable win over Roscommon. She’d grab four points in a tough semi-final battle with Tyrone in Crossmaglen before the final against Cavan.

The Breffni county were in buoyant form after dismantling the Red Hands in the Nancy Murray Cup the week previous, and 3-7 in an All-Ireland final would often be enough for the title. However, a baker’s dozen from Donnelly, including seven points from play, ensured that the Orchard county prevailed.

Also starring was her younger sister Leanne, something that made the occasion extra special for the Donnelly household.

“It was touch and go that game,” said Donnelly. “Cavan were on for the goals that day and the last few minutes were heart-stopping stuff.

“Even though there was no crowd, with the subs on the sidelines and the management there was enough. You did feel the occasion.

“We knew that it was going to be tight. Tyrone ran us close in the semi and we were prepared for a tough, tough game.

“We had a slow enough start but we got going again after the water break.

“To finally win it was amazing and I was just delighted to see Leanne have such a good game. She was only 16 when we were in the 2016 final. She would say herself that she didn’t do herself that justice that day but I know what she is capable of and she showed it 10 times over in the final. She stood up and performed.

“All the girls were brilliant. Cavan had goal threats left, right and centre and though they got three, the players stood up so well.”

Donnelly said that the win was particularly special for the team due to the lift it gave to goalkeeper Ciarrai Devlin who had lost her father Gerard earlier in the year. Her embrace with her mother Bebe at full-time was one of the most poignant images from that final.

“It was nice to come home to Armagh with the cup,” Donnelly continued.

“With Covid it had been a tough year for many girls on the panel, Ciarrai Devlin had a very tough year. It was tough for her to keep it going but when she’s fit to do it then none of the rest of us have any excuses.

“It was great for her and her family. They are great camogie people so to give them that joy for the year they had is always nice.”

With team honours in the bag, individual recognition was next on the list.

It was no surprise to see the Donnelly sisters on the Soaring Stars team, but there was extra celebration as they both were short-listed for the Junior Players’ Player of the Year award alongside Cavan’s Roisin O’Keefe.

In the end, the elder sibling won out and Donnelly said that even though Covid prevented them from experiencing the banquet surroundings, they still made a real night of it.

“We have a bit of craic, our other sister Aishling would craic saying she is here too.

“It’s nice to be nominated for those awards but you only get those nominations on the back of how the team performs. There’s no one or two players who will ever, ever win a game. We had 35 of a panel last year and it took us all.

“We didn’t get the big night in the Citywest but we made a night of it ourselves. We found out a few days before that one of us had won it, so we kept it between ourselves who had won and left it as a surprise for everyone else.”

In the off season the heralded coach Mattie Lennon took on the Armagh gig and Donnelly anticipates bright days for the county.

“Mattie has come in and revived the whole thing,”

“We had 35 there last year and Covid probably helped with big numbers for teams. People were based at home more and could afford the time.

“Even more girls have put their hand up this year. We had trials at the start of the year and there have been 45 players there ever since.”

Back on the club scene, the decision of the Donnelly clan to relocate to Eglish a number of years ago had massive, positive consequences for the local side.

Three Ulster Intermediate titles in-a-row between 2015 and ’17 were glorious occasions and on March 2017, green and black flags adorned Croke Park as the side ran out for the All-Ireland Intermediate final.

Carlow side Myshall won by the minimum and Donnelly’s missed free at the death still haunts her, but with Aisling playing in the half-back line, Ciara in midfield and Leanne up front, it is still an experience that few families, and indeed clubs, get to experience.

“Amazing times. Growing up it was always a dream to be playing at Croke Park and if you’d told me I would be playing there twice within six months I would have laughed at you.

“Neither final went the way we wanted them to. It’s never nice to lose but to lose in Croke Park magnifies it 10 times.

“The Ulsters were a long time coming. There were one or two players (Brenda Horsefield and Leona Gallagher) who had actually played in the last success (1991) too. That’s a long, long time for them so it was nice to get over the line.

“The most special game over those years was the All-Ireland semi-final against Gaultier. The fact that we had won the chance to play at Croke Park with the girls you play with day in, day out was class.”