McQuade realises her Croker dream

A TEARFUL Shannan McQuade accepted the West Country Hotel Cup on Sunday afternoon, following in the footsteps of Courteney Murphy in 2020 and Áine McGovern in 2017.

The Tempo player climbed the steps in the Hogan Stand, surrounded by a sizeable Fermanagh support and as she said her thank you’s to management and supporters, McQuade choked up as she thanked her teammates.

“To the best group of girls that’s standing in front of me from one to 31, I’m so proud of you all,” said the 27-year-old.

“Thank you for your endless hard work throughout the year that has allowed us to be standing here today as All-Ireland Champions.”

Summing up her emotions afterwards, McQuade said it felt “amazing”.

“I’ve been part of a lot of Fermanagh teams and this Fermanagh team is a very special one,” she added, “and the bond we have is very special. It meant a lot lifting it on behalf of them girls there today.

“We’ll be talking about this one for a long time, our first one in Croke Park, it’s very special.”

The emotion and the desire to win was something manager CJ McGourty homed in on the night before the game too, surprising the girls with videos from their friends and family. It was a touch that meant a lot;

“That was a lovely special touch last night (Saturday),” said McQuade, “It allows us to remember why we’re here and how we started to be here – mums, dads, families brought us out; partners, families, friends making sure we kept going back after all them losses, so it was important that they did remind us last night that that is why we’re here.”

Fermanagh had to hold onto their two-point lead for the last couple of minutes as Louth went in search of a goal. Having lost the league semi-final to a goal with the last kick of the game, it was a nervous watch for everyone in Croke Park but the players were not going to let this one slip away;

“That’s something we’ve worked on throughout the year, she said, “we learned our lesson early on in the year, and thank God it showed out there today.”

Louth tested the Erne side and it took a real team effort, led by the outstanding Eimear Smyth, to get over the line.

“We knew that Louth was going to be a tough battle, they’re an intermediate team coming down and they worked hard and we worked hard, and thank God we came out across the line the better.”

McQuade said there was a belief in the team that this was their year and so it proved;

“There was something this year, there was no doubt there.”

Summing up the performance of her teammate Smyth, McQuade said:

“Eimear stands up on big days, Eimear is just amazing, she did amazing again today.”

She also paid tribute to the travelling Erne support who made their voices heard all around Croke Park:

“It was brilliant. There were busloads. It’s amazing to see and it has grown throughout the year and it was brilliant there today – it was very special.”