Kim Connors – What Being A Part Of The Wicklow Ladies Team Means To Her

It’s an exciting time to be involved with Wicklow Ladies Football as the game is really beginning to flourish in the Garden County and our Wicklow Ladies Team is consistently one of the most successful adult teams we produce. With Mark Murnaghan taking up the managers mantle, a fresh new era and a new approach is underway and hopefully the great progress made so far will continue for many years to come. To all Ladies Players both past and present we appeal to you to give the County trials a go or sign up to play with one of the many Ladies teams in the county. We asked one of Wicklow’s greatest Ladies players to give us an idea of what its like to be part of our Counties premier ladies football side and here’s what she had to say:

Kim Connors

Being asked what it’s like to play County, it’s a tough question to answer. Having played for only 7 years and 4 of them having been on the county panel, I guess I am longer with county football than I am without it.

I can sum it up by saying It’s a big deal to me and it always will be for however long I am, there. Lucky enough I don’t know too many bad times with Wicklow Ladies. I joined in 2016 just as the footballing tide began to turn. We registered some great results that year in Division 4 and have kicked on every year since. Some might say we’ve come full circle now having been relegated back down to Junior status for the All-Ireland but I‘d argue that we are in a much healthier place than we were pre the last Junior All-Ireland win in 2011.

Being relegated last season was one of toughest things I’ve experienced. Knowing the ability of the players involved made it harder to process. We have this problem in Wicklow, a severe lack of belief. Maybe we aren’t used to winning so we have ourselves beaten before we even cross the white line. I know myself; I was questioning why I would put myself through that for another year but again that’s another cycle we find ourselves in, an addiction we cannot walk away from.

Talking about the lows makes it even more important that I bring up the highs. Single handedly the reason we keep coming back for more. Aren’t we all just chasing one more? Whether that is at club level or county level we all want it.

I can rattle on here about the county team, but it doesn’t exist without your own club behind you. I was asked to give some insight into juggling both commitments but only those directly involved can see the sacrifices being made. I don’t just mean that individuals players sacrifice either. The clubs up and down the county that try their best to prepare for competitive games without their county players, Its hard on them too. You can just feel the frustration from them. Saying yes to one usually entails saying no to the other. These set ups work very different to the men`s so quite often it can be the player left in the middle of this situation. Its very important that we keep trying to work together to better football for everyone in the county. Things are definitely heading in a positive direction and the want is there for players to play for their county.