Leenane rewarded by answering the goalkeeping call

Since her conversion from outfield player to inter-county goalkeeper two seasons ago, Laura Leenane has learned to see the world through a different lens.

PULL QUOTE: “I hummed and hawed for a bit but I said I wouldn’t see him stuck”

By Thomas Conway

Since her conversion from outfield player to inter-county goalkeeper two seasons ago, Laura Leenane has learned to see the world through a different lens.

In an era of ever evolving puckout strategies and constant tactical shifts, goalkeepers have no choice but to always think two steps ahead, to anticipate every outcome and react to every change. The Shannon Rovers woman has made the transition effortlessly, but even she admits that it hasn’t been easy.

The chain of events that led her to where she is now is interesting, and says as much about former senior, junior and minor manager Bill Mullaney’s shrewd camogie instincts as it does about Leenane’s own versatility.

She vividly recalls a career-changing conversation with Mullaney on the way home from a game against Wexford in the spring of 2024. He was in charge of the Premier Junior squad at the time and the team was in need of a goalkeeper. Sometimes a player can sense when something big is coming, but when Mullaney came wandering down to her seat on the bus, Leenane genuinely had no clue.

“I didn’t know what he was going to ask,” she admits.

“But anyway, he asked me to go into goals for two matches. So, I hummed and hawed for a bit but I said I wouldn’t see him stuck. You have to go where you’re put at the end of the day.”

In hindsight, it was a stroke of genius, one that continues to pay dividends to this day. Leenane quickly nailed down the position permanently and helped Tipp to secure All-Ireland honours later that year.

The most challenging aspect was yet to come. Her elevation to the senior panel was a logical progression, but she says she was forced to change her game dramatically, such was the jump in standard.

“The adjustment from junior to senior was just crazy,” she admits.

“The margins for error are very slim. I definitely had to transition my game - my puckouts, even just the way I hit the ball. So much changes from junior to senior.”

Refreshed and ready to go

The 2026 version of Leenane is more refined and also more polished. Having graduated this time last year, she spent the summer working before embarking on a four month travel stint in which she toured four countries - Malaysia, Cambodia, Australia, and New Zealand. It was probably the longest period of time she’s ever spent away from a camogie pitch but it did her the world of good.

“Unbelievable,” she says, when asked to describe the experience. “It just really opens your eyes to a lot of things.”

She returned to the Tipperary set-up refreshed and ready to go and has looked increasingly assured between the sticks as the season has progressed.

Leenane is cool and easy-going, but she’s also something of a straight talker. She knows and acknowledges that there’s a growing momentum around this Tipperary team, a building sense that they are capable of going the distance in the All-Ireland series. She doesn’t try to hide away from it, nor does she feel burdened by any weight of expectation.

“Any time you put on the Tipp jersey there’s an expectation within that dressing-room and across the county,” she says.

“It’s obviously a privilege to put on the jersey but every year you have to aim for the All-Ireland. At the end of the day that’s what every team in the senior championship is training for, so you have to always be ambitious and aim high.”

Shannon Rovers has a history of producing legendary Tipperary goalkeepers. Pat McLoughney minded the net for the Premier during the late seventies and early eighties and captured two All-Star awards.

His daughter Aoife is also something of a Tipperary camogie legend, having enjoyed an inter-county playing career that extended for more than two decades.

Add in her Shannon Rovers and Tipperary colleague Aine Slattery who is herself an All-Star goalkeeper from 2021.

However, you get the impression that Laura isn’t overly concerned by individual accolades. The focus instead is very much on the collective. Right now, and like every other Tipp player, she is preparing meticulously.

Leenane’s career might have changed rapidly, but things generally happen fast in inter-county camogie. It’s all about how you react to those changes.