CATHRIONA McConnell won her second Ladies Footballer of the Year award at last Friday night’s awards ceremony – and the remarkable thing is that it bridged a gap of literally a decade from the first time she won the accolade. It’s fair to say longevity isn’t an issue with the star forward.

Not for the first time, she had a brilliant season with the Donaghmoyne ladies and was in inspired form throughout Ulster, and even carried the fight to their opposition when they fell short in the All-Ireland semi-final.

She was cheered to the rafters by the Donaghmoyne contingent when her name was announced as our Player of the Year, and she explained why it was important to return to the fold after temporarily stepping back a couple of years ago to have a child.

“I have to put it down to the help I get from the club, and all the girls who play with me, only for them we wouldn’t be coming back every year.

“Every year we want to go further in Ulster and further afield so they don’t let you step away for too long!”

Donaghmoyne came close to losing their grip on the Ulster title in a frenetic drawn final against Bredagh. A draw was very much a fair result, but Donaghmoyne learnt valuable lessons and were comfortable victors on the second day out.

Of course, McConnell was right to the forefront of their success, and one of the reasons why she’s our Player of the Year, is that not only is she a major scoring threat, but her distribution from the half-forward line was top-class throughout their winning campaign.

“The draw was a brilliant game and Bredagh are a great team. Thank God we managed to pull things back and get the draw, it definitely could’ve gone either way.

“We worked hard for each other just to get the draw, and then in the lead-up to the replay we looked at the things we did well and thankfully it went better for us.”