Progression is for everyone - Moloney
By Michael Heverin
Tipperary forward Aisling Moloney has said that Saturday’s win over Donegal means much more than just the team reaching the All-Ireland quarter finals – it’s a vindication of all that has happened in ladies football in the county over many years.
“For bigger counties such as Galway and Dublin, they are used to getting to the knock-out stages, but for us this means so much and for everyone involved in Tipperary ladies football down through the years,” said the Cahir star.
“I’m involved nine or ten years and have been there when we were in Division 3 and fighting to get to Division 1. We went intermediate, were relegated twice, so this means more. It means a lot for the girls who have gone before, for the County Board and for everyone involved at club level.
“There’s a massive push going on now in the development of young girls. We have thousands of little girls playing now which is incredible. This win means more than what you see today, it means more than winning the match, it’s finally the pride for everyone in getting over the line”.
Moloney, undoubtedly one of Tipperary’s all-time greats, made a huge contribution in the win over Donegal, with majestic fielding, accurate free-taking and attracting the attention of their opponents backs that freed up other players with more space. But she was quick to deflect the attention from herself.
“I was delighted to contribute to the team effort,” she added.
“But as I said to the girls after the game, that was a complete and ultimate team performance. If we wanted to get over the line then we all had to be rowing behind each other, so I am delighted with whatever impact that I can make”.
She remarked that Tipperary have been fighting relegation in recent years but believed that they had been in with a chance to beat Donegal.
“We had that confidence, but we needed to get over the line which we haven’t done for the last six years, so breaking that kind of mentality was massive for us today. We had a great start, but they came back at us.
Sport sometimes is a bit of psychology; you can get carried away and think you have the match won but you have to keep at it. The mental composure we showed throughout the game was massive for us, probably the first time in years we have shown that”.